by Dwane | Nov 7, 2022 | Vocabulary
Laconic: using few words; terse; concise. Laconic means brief. Laconic comes from the Greek region Laconia, land of the ancient Spartans. The Spartans were famous for their blunt speech. King Phillip of Macedon once threatened to invade Spartan territory. “If I...
by Dwane | Nov 5, 2022 | Uncategorized
A few months ago on a long summer road trip, I listened to the audiobook Apocalypse Never by Michael Shellenberger. The subtitle says it all. Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts us All. Mr. Shellenberger’s book is a cry in the wilderness these days. As climate...
by Dwane | Nov 4, 2022 | Vocabulary
Criterion: a standard of judging or making a decision; any established law, rule, principle or fact by which correct judgment may be formed. A model or test. We also speak of meeting the criterion, as in “She met the criterion for the position and we hired her.” If,...
by Dwane | Nov 2, 2022 | Uncategorized
Debonair: charming and carefree; suave; gracious; urbane; nonchalant; having sophisticated charm We all admired the dinner guest with his laid-back, debonair attitude. Debonair comes from the old French phrase de bon aire. De bon aire in old French means “of a good...
by Dwane | Nov 1, 2022 | Ebook, Motivation
This year, I wrote another book. A book on goal-setting. Right now, I am in the process of editing. I am guessing it will take me a few weeks. As I edit, I will post sections as blog posts. As for the title, I am still tossing some ideas around. For now, I will...
by Dwane | Oct 31, 2022 | Uncategorized
Largess: Generosity in giving. The opposite of avarice, greed, or stinginess. As an adjective, largess is generosity with money. Often, largess is a rather showy generosity. The giver wants everyone to notice. As a noun, largess is the money or gift itself. ...
by Dwane | Oct 29, 2022 | Uncategorized
Inspired by all the swearing showing up in goal-setting books these days, I wrote a book on goals. How to set them. How to hit them. All that. Minus the swearing. Now, I am editing my way through the book. I am eliminating passive sentences, throwing out the word...
by Dwane | Oct 28, 2022 | Uncategorized
Mulct: As a noun, a mulct is a fine, a tax, or a penalty. As a verb, to mulct is to take something of value by fraud or deceit. Mulct is from the Latin word for penalty: mulcta. Got mulcted? If so, someone took your money. And, the money they took? That’s also...
by Dwane | Oct 24, 2022 | Ebook
This year, I wrote another book. A book on goal-setting. Right now, I am in the process of editing. I am guessing it will take me a few weeks. As I edit, I will post sections as blog posts. As for the title, I am still tossing some ideas around. For now, I will...
by Dwane | Oct 22, 2022 | Tip of the Week
Evidently, the tip of the week I sent out last week contained quite a few typos. My wife read it and asked me, “Did you speak your tip of the week into your computer this week? Did you check for typos?” So, I read the tip again. Sure enough, there were quite a few...
by Dwane | Oct 21, 2022 | Uncategorized
Obviate: to make unnecessary; to eliminate the need for something; to do away with; to prevent by effective measures. Diet, exercise, sunshine and water obviate the need for most pharmaceutical drugs. Obviate comes from the Latin word obviare “to block, to...
by Dwane | Oct 20, 2022 | Uncategorized
In preparation for a trip to France, I will be hosting a question and answer meeting in a just over an hour, on Thursday, October 20. Here is the information and the link to join the meeting: Topic: Trip to France Time: Oct 20, 2022 07:00 PM Central Time (US and...
by Dwane | Oct 20, 2022 | Vocabulary
Bode: to portend; to foreshadow; to forecast; to indicate the future by signs When something bodes ill, watch out. Trouble is on the way. But, bode isn’t always negative. If something bodes well, then future events will be good. Anglo Saxon beer commercials...
by Dwane | Oct 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
I received this question: Maybe there’s a place to ask questions, if so, could you direct me there? I have a couple kids using Vsual Latin 1. They’ve had some latin and I’m using this as some review. In chapter 11B – the translation portion,...
by Dwane | Oct 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
Contrite: Remorseful; penitent; repentant. A deep feeling of guilt for wrongdoing, combined with a desire to make amends. From Latin: contritus, “worn out, crushed, bruised” Synonyms: apologetic, repentant, sorry Contrite shows up in one of the stanzas of Rudyard...
by Dwane | Oct 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
by Dwane | Oct 18, 2022 | Vocabulary
Inexorable: Relentless; unalterable. Not persuaded or moved by entreaty or prayer; too firm and determined in purpose to yield; will not bend. Inexorable comes from the Latin prefix ‘in’ meaning ‘not’ and ‘exorabilis’ meaning ‘easily entreated, or influenced by...
by Dwane | Oct 17, 2022 | Uncategorized
In preparation for a trip to France, I will be hosting a question and answer meeting on Thursday, October 20. Here is the information and the link to join the meeting: Topic: Trip to France Time: Oct 20, 2022 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting...
by Dwane | Oct 17, 2022 | Uncategorized
Conundrum: a difficult puzzle or problem. A seemingly unsolvable problem. A conundrum is also a riddle with an answer containing a pun. In my research, I kept running across this example: What’s the difference between a jeweler and a jailer? One sells watches and the...
by Dwane | Oct 15, 2022 | Tip of the Week
Not too long ago, I read, How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger. (Of course, everyone dies, and Dr. Greger knows and admits this.) In the book, Dr. Greger shows us how not to die too young… because we ate ourselves to death. The book is a helpful analysis of the...
by Dwane | Oct 15, 2022 | Uncategorized
Ephemeral: short-lived, lasting or living for just one day. Synonyms: fleeting, short-lived, brief, temporal Originally, ephemeral was a medical term. Ephemeral described a sickness or a fever lasting only one day. Over time came to mean ‘lasting a short period...
by Dwane | Oct 14, 2022 | Uncategorized
Myriad: Ten thousand. A myriad can also mean: an immense number. We English speakers tend to use myriad to talk about something innumerable. For example, I ran across myriad this week while reading The Story of English by the Roberts McCrum and MacNeil. “All one...
by Dwane | Oct 14, 2022 | Uncategorized
For years, students have been begging me to take them to Europe. For a while now, I have been exploring various options. My wife is much better at travel organization. She has put a lot of work into making this possible. So, I am happy to announce that in May, I am...
by Dwane | Oct 8, 2022 | Vocabulary
Nebulous: Vague, cloudy, hazy. Lacking definition, form or limits. Nebulous comes from the Latin word nebula meaning “mist, or cloud”. We can use nebulous to mean cloudy, or hazy. When driving to work during a dense fog, the roads may have a nebulous look. But, we...
by Dwane | Oct 7, 2022 | Vocabulary
Spurious: Not genuine. Counterfeit. Believable, but false. This word started out in Latin as spurius, meaning “illegitimate.” It was even sometimes used as a first name among the Romans for a child born out of wedlock. These days, we still use the word to...
