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If you’re not arguing about politics or whether or not it’s time for Grandma to get some more grandchildren, there’s one topic that’s always guaranteed to make a splash at the Thanksgiving dinner table: are those yams or sweet potatoes in your holiday casserole? Wait a second, aren’t they the same thing? Not according to the dictionary! Yams vs. sweet potatoes Yams and sweet potatoes are …
We don’t know about you, but even though there’s a time and place for the phrase I don’t know, it can also be overused and misused. I’m not sure is a close cousin, and another phrase for which you may want to find a better choice—a choice that can make you sound and feel more confident and in control. These are such common phrases, it’s worth …
The words healthy and nutritional seem to go hand in hand. We often see them used to describe the same foods. For example, it makes sense that a carrot would be healthy and nutritional. But does that mean these two words mean the same thing? Sometimes food labels can be misleading, so it makes sense to ask, what does healthy mean? What is nutritional, and are these …
One of the first insult words kids learn (and then use ad nauseam) is dumb. Cries of “You’re dumb!” echo across preschool playgrounds, bested only perhaps by “poopy head” and the like. It’s the diaper-clad set’s version of a four-letter word, but unfortunately, many adults revert to using it as well, calling everything from the weather to politicians to themselves dumb, when that’s not really …
If you’re ever been bored in a lecture hall or class, then there’s a good chance you’ve been at the mercy of a didactic teacher. Or worse, depending on your tolerance for hyper-focused lessons on specific details, a pedantic teacher. Or perhaps the teacher was a bit of both? To know what type of a boring teacher you’ve been subjected to, you need to know …
Come Halloween, miniature ghosts, ghouls, and goblins ring your doorbell and haunt your candy stash. But each of these three freaky frights has a different history and personality. Is a ghost also a ghoul? What about a goblin—is it related to either of these two? Are these staples of the supernatural spine-chilling synonyms? What is a ghost? Ghosts are considered to be the souls of the dead. …
Does it ever sound like people overuse the word just these days, when being indecisive, indirect, or, worse yet, passive-aggressive—especially in the workplace? Maybe you’ve heard your boss ask: “I know it’s a Saturday, but if you could, you know, just send me over the document when’s it all done, that’d be great, thanks!” Or maybe you were the one smuggling in some criticism and …
No one likes a braggart, that much is true. As William Shakespeare so eloquently said, “It will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.” What is bragging anyway? People have been bragging for a long time. First evidence of the word brag dates back to 1350–1400. It can be used as a verb meaning “to use boastful language; boast” or a …
Some people spend a good part of their working hours daydreaming of the moment they’re able to utter the words, “I quit!” And then there are others who dread the idea of having to step back, step down, or step away from their current job, project, or relationship. Even when you’re ready to make a move, sometimes saying the word quit can be scary, especially …
Well, what a year it has been. From a global pandemic, protests and riots in parts of the United States, national and local elections, online learning and remote work, describing 2020 in just a word or two seems like a daunting task. With terms such as quarantine, social distancing, and Zoom parties, it seems like our everyday lexicon will forever be changed by the words …
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Nov 13, 2020