by Dwane | Sep 25, 2023 | English, German, Vocabulary
Penny: a small coin worth one cent. In German class this morning, we learned the word for penny: Pfennig. Clearly related to English, my students and I went off to find out where this word came from. In Middle English, the word was peni. In Old English, pening, and...
by Dwane | Sep 23, 2023 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Pram: a stroller, a baby carriage, a small vehicle with four wheels designed for a baby to lie in while you push it around. I was born in England. I remember stories of my mom pushing me around Bicester, England in a pram. Back then, says my mom, the British moms...
by Dwane | Sep 22, 2023 | English, French, Vocabulary
My local French students and I (I am not fluent. We are learning together.) have been watching the language learning series Extra. In Episode three, one of the characters uses the phrase ça ne me dérange pas, meaning, it doesn’t bother me. This threw my...
by Dwane | Sep 18, 2023 | English
Karmageddon Karmageddon is like, when everybody is sending off all these totally bad vibes. And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer for all. Karmageddon comes from Sanskrit Karma, the sum of a person’s actions. This sum determines a...
by Dwane | Jul 25, 2023 | Education, English, Vocabulary
Bailiwick: someones special area of knowledge Your bailiwick is your area of expertise. Bailiwick comes from the word bailiff (an officer of the court) and the Old English word for village, win. Algebra was not my bailiwick in high school, or in college. Made me...
by Dwane | Jul 14, 2023 | Education, English, Vocabulary
Anomalous Abnormal, differing from the norm, the standard, or the usual way of doing things. Anomalous is the adjective form of anomaly. Anomalous comes from the Greek words ἀν (an), meaning “not” and ὁμός (homos) meaning “same”. Synonyms include atypical, divergent,...
