ArcaMax

If you've ever been "on the spot" in a "kangaroo court," I'm glad you survived the ordeal to learn the origins of these two phrases:

-- on the spot: Inquisitors have used a variety of brutal tortures to elicit confessions from suspects -- the rack, the whip, crushing by stones, forced viewings of the movie "Ishtar."

By the time the 1800s ...Read more

A good friend of mine wonders about this sentence from a billing statement she received: "Beginning in April of 2025, your payment date will be moved forward from April 19 to April 26." She asks, "Shouldn't 'moved forward' be 'moved back'"?

(In raising this question, she perhaps becomes the first person in history to ever question a notice ...Read more

Today, we interview the coiners of two of our most overused cliches. Our first guest is Polly Anna Doubtful, creator of the expression "cautiously optimistic."

Q: How did this semi-oxymoronic phrase start?

A: Back in the early days of the automobile, I was working hard to invent the flashing yellow caution light. You know, the one that means...Read more

And now the renowned linguistic paleontologist Professor U. Stew Mean examines verbal fossils to discover the former meanings of words...

Hmmm... Here's the expression "walk tall," meaning walk proudly, bravely. True, "tall" could refer to physical height alone, and, yes, people do stand up straight when they're trying to look bold.

Aha! An ...Read more

Get your binoculars ready for some linguistic birdwatching!

The Latin word for bird, "avis," still soars quite plainly in several English terms -- aviary, avian and aviation, as well as in rara avis, literally meaning "rare bird" and, metaphorically, any rarity. (True slogan of Avis Rent-a-Car: "We fly harder.")

But the Latin word "avis" ...Read more

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to introduce the renowned motivational speaker Ward Back who will completely reverse your attitudes about life...

Thank you. Are you a reluctant beaver? A guilty bystander? A slim cat who got in on the top floor of an unsure-fire investment? Do you wish you were one of the great washed, a high man on...Read more

When English lacks the precise word to convey a subtle or complex concept, it often smuggles in a word from another language to do the job.

Where would we be, for instance, without those hearty German immigrants' "zeitgeist" (the mood or spirit of an era) and "schadenfreude" (pleasure at another's misfortune)? Or without that uncanny Turk "...Read more

A metaphor is a flash of lightning -- sudden, vivid and electric. In a single instant, it illuminates and clarifies meaning.

In a tribute to film critic Pauline Kael, for instance, New Yorker writer David Denby devised a metaphor that superbly captured Kael's cerebral yet natural style: "The point was to write as an intellectual without ...Read more

As we prepare to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday next year, this secret can now be revealed: During the Constitutional Convention, the Founding Fathers repaired to a Philadelphia Publick House to hatch a sadistic linguistic conspiracy.

"Just to torture future high school history students," snickered James "Icky" Madison, "let's require ...Read more

It's NFL playoff time or, as I call it, "Cabin Fever Consolation." You be the referee. The following pigskin profile of an imaginary team is laced with illegal procedures, false starts and personal fouls. Can you throw a yellow penalty flag at each of its 30 usage errors?

How did the Mudville Mudruggles make the playoffs? The principle reason ...Read more

"She pled guilty."

That sentence in a newspaper article stirred Sara Solomon of Roscoe, Pennsylvania, to write, "Isn't 'pleaded' the past tense of 'plead'? Is there such a word as 'pled'?"

I can't plead ignorance. "Pled" is, indeed, a word. Whether you should use it is another question. The verb "plead," like the similar verbs "bleed," "feed" ...Read more

Readers have sent me a fresh batch of bloopers from newspapers and magazines. Can you spot the blots?

1. "The signets had matured and their gander seemed to have mended his bullying ways." Is this about swans or seals? 2. "Patients chose to go elsewhere or forego treatment all together." A group medical plan?

3. "The fact that he was a ...Read more

"I have been to the endodontist and the periodontist (and had dinner with my cousin, an orthodontist)," a reader wrote me a while back. "So why am I going to a dentist and not a dontist?"

And why am I thinking of a bad poem?

I once had a dentist named Don.

My orthodontist was Denny.

When Don had done drilling and Denny his billing,

No ...Read more