by Dwane | Apr 2, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Antipodes: directly opposite. Once used in the United Kingdom to refer to Australia and New Zealand. After all, those countries are on the opposite sides of the globe. This means, of course, that the feet of the residents of those countries are directly opposite. ...
by Dwane | Apr 2, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Expedite: to make it happen faster; to speed up the process. Inigo Montoya wanted to expedite the death of the man in black. “I do not suppose you coulda speed things up?” – Inigo Montoya Expedite comes from the Latin verb expedio, meaning, to loose, or to set...
by Dwane | Apr 1, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
April: the fourth month. April derives from the French avril, which is from Latin Aprilis. Aprilis was the second month of the ancient Roman calendar… until it became the fourth month. No one really knows where the word comes from, but, that hasn’t stopped...
by Dwane | Mar 31, 2015 | Education, Vocabulary
If you are learning a modern language, this is a fun way to practice vocabulary. If you are in my online Greek class, play it. You will not do very well at all (at first), but it is a super helpful way to pile on the vocabulary. Best of all, you will get practice...
by Dwane | Mar 31, 2015 | Education, Latin, Motivation, ScreenCasts
This note just made me happy. Maybe I have a fragile ego. Maybe I just spent too many formative years in a very negative work environment. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I love getting emails like this one. “Your Latin teaching videos are fabulous and I...
by Dwane | Mar 31, 2015 | Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Apodal: footless Apodal comes from Greek ἀ (a): without and ποδός (podos), the genitive of πούς, the Greek word for foot. Eels, snakes, worms, snails, and slugs are apodal.
by Dwane | Mar 31, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Biped: a two footed animal. A two footed being. The Latin adverb bis, means twice, two, or two times. The Latin word for foot is pes. The genitive of foot is pedis. Combine both and you end up with biped, a two footed creature. According to Plato, man is a featherless...
by Dwane | Mar 30, 2015 | Education, English, Greek
Arthropoda: a jointed-foot invertebrate. Insects, crustaceans, millipedes, and centipedes are arthropods. Arthropod comes from the Greek word ἄρθρον (arthron), meaning joint. No, California, not that kind of joint. Put your hand down. The “poda” of the word comes...
by Dwane | Mar 30, 2015 | Education, English, Greek, Latin, Vocabulary
I am increasingly stunned by the debt English owes to Latin and Greek. Perhaps this is simply because I never seriously studied vocabulary as a child. Perhaps this, for everyone else, is general knowledge. Perhaps everyone knows Latin and Greek dumped boatloads of...
by Dwane | Mar 28, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
One of my favorite quotes comes from The Pledge, by Michael Masterson. “Words matter. They help us define meaning. We think with words. We learn with words. Words are the fundamental tools we use for communicating. If we use them well, we can cut, and shape,...
by Dwane | Mar 28, 2015 | Ebook, Motivation
“I’m reading your book, Via, and I’m very impressed. It is a wonderful life-help book and not just for languages. I’ve never been a very disciplined person, so it will take lots of baby steps; however, your book gives me hope for change. I’m going to have my husband...
by Dwane | Mar 28, 2015 | Education, Latin, Uncategorized, Visual Latin
I received this question: “My girls are working on Visual Latin 1 this year and enjoying it. I’m a little worried about next year and VL 2 as they are mostly following but I am noticing it getting a bit harder for them. If they enrolled in one of your...
by Dwane | Mar 28, 2015 | Education, Motivation
Ready for some productivity tips from the pro? Michael Masterson is one of my favorite authors. He gets more done than both of us together. The guy is a productivity machine. In this interview, he details the method to his madness. Worth an hour of your time....
by Dwane | Mar 28, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Vocabulary
Chevalier: In the old days, a chevalier was a knight. This definition is now considered obsolete. Instead, a chevalier is now a gallant, or chivalrous man. A chevalier can also be someone who keeps their word. You can see the root meaning if you look closely. After...
by Dwane | Mar 28, 2015 | Education, Tip of the Week
If you are not sure about the meaning of a word, do not use the word. People notice. Consider this example from the book, How to Sound Clever: Master the 600 English Words You Pretend to Understand When You Don’t: “A couple of years ago, I was in a meeting...
by Dwane | Mar 28, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Obsolete: Gone into disuse; disused; neglected; as an obsolete word; or an obsolete statute. Today, I looked up obsolete in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Obsolete comes from the Latin verb, obsolescere, meaning, to fall into disuse, or to be forgotten...
by Dwane | Mar 27, 2015 | Visual Latin
I received this correction today: “You haven’t heard from us in awhile. 🙂 You might have updated this since our last download, but Natalie and Spencer just finished taking test LIV. #28 is marked on the answer key as being C. to come. Natalie thinks it...
by Dwane | Mar 27, 2015 | Visual Latin
A student tipped me off to a mistake today. In Visual Latin, test 55, question 36, the answer should be eagle, not bird. 36. Aquila A) bird B) osprey C) eagle D) hawk I wrote these tests and quizzes during a writing marathon weekend. I got tired....
by Dwane | Mar 27, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Italian, Latin, Vocabulary
Type “come,” “see,” or “conquer” into google translate. Choose Latin as the target pronunciation. Listen to the pronunciation. Even the designers at google translate avoid the awful, silly restored “Classical”...
by Dwane | Mar 27, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Italian, Latin, Vocabulary
Cavalry: Once upon a time, soldiers who fought on horseback. These days, soldiers who fight from armored vehicles. Cavalry made its way into the English language from French. The French word cavalerie likely came from Italian cavalleria. Naturally, cavalleria...
by Dwane | Mar 26, 2015 | Greek, Latin, Vocabulary
I sent out this receipt today. If you need to repeat on of my online classes because it did not click the first time, you may do so for free. I doubt you will get such an offer from the eels… New Sale! Hello A Downloads purchase has been made. Downloads sold:...
by Dwane | Mar 26, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Latin
Cavalier Well, this word is tricky. Better to begin with the etymology. Cavalier comes from the Latin word caballarius, meaning, a horseman. Caballarius derives from the Latin word for horse, caballus. Caballus is the common, Vulgar Latin word for horse. It...
by Dwane | Mar 26, 2015 | Education, English, Latin
Since Classical Conversations adopted Henle Latin as their preferred Latin textbook, we have received requests from students asking for an online Henle Latin Class. Well… here it is! This fall I will take students through the first year Henle course! That’s...
by Dwane | Mar 26, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Hippogriff: A fabulous animal or monster, half horse and half griffon. I have to be honest. I question their existence. In the Harry Potter series, Buckbeak is a hippogriff. The U.S. Air Force, 50th Space Wing uses a hippogriff as their symbol. The word comes from...
by Dwane | Mar 25, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Hippotigris: the zebra. Well, basically, the hippotigris is the Zebra. Hippotigris is a subgenus of the Equidae family. While the family also contains some asses (doesn’t every family?), the most famous member of the Hippotigris family is the Zebra. In my research...
