Bet ya a million $, bet ya a billion $ you didn’t know this word. Bet ya a gazillion $ that we are not sloshed from all the $5.49 Chardonay (on sale, of course) we’ve been quaffing for the last few hours. Now, now, come on. No fibbing here. OK, so you say you know […]
As part of our charitable mission to expand your vocabulary, we’ve been burning the midnight oil in hot pursuit of words with libido. Here’s a sample of words we discovered during our priapic journey on your behalf: * Hymenorrhexis – Aha, the ultimate dream of every Indian male (alas, seldom realized). If you insist on […]
Curry bashing – An in word to describe the wave of attacks on Indians in Australia.
English is host to an endless list of confusing words that although eerily similar have different meanings. Being at a loose end today, we decided to compile a list of 14 confusing pairs. In compiling this list, we have relied heavily on the 879-page Garner’s Modern American Usage and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition). Here […]
Our 1,623-page Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th Edition) does not include the word Naxalite. A rather strange, and most definitely, a major omission. Origins of the Term The word Naxalite has its roots in the Naxalbari village in the Darjeeling region of West Bengal in the eastern part of India. It was in the Naxalbari region […]
Myrmidon, a synonym for hireling or loyal follower, comes to English from Greek. The original myrmidons were followers of King Achilles (he of the Achilles heel) in the Trojan war. Myrmidon is often used in a pejorative way to refer to a follower who obeys orders without asking any questions. Example: The BJP’s myrmidons would think […]