04 February 2021 IIn English “To Cow” and “To Kow-tow” byNadia A38 viewsNo comments3 minute read Although the idiom to be cowed has nothing to do with Elsie the Cow, the use of corralled in a review of The…
22 April 2020 IIn English Bureaucrats and Politicians byKatia L41 viewsNo comments2 minute read The word bureaucrat, derived from bureaucracy, acquired its negative connotation at the get-go. English takes bureaucracy from French bureaucratie, “government by bureaus.” The…
18 March 2020 IIn English 10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals byVladimir D34 viewsNo comments3 minute read How do you express numbers in your writing? When do you use figures (digits) and when do you…
12 February 2020 IIn English Sumptuous byVladimir D42 viewsNo comments2 minute read If they are, they must not know the meaning of sumptuous. English-speaking cooks who use unctuous to describe…
11 February 2020 IIn English Unctuous, A Humpty Dumpty Word byVladimir D38 viewsNo comments3 minute read A reader alerted me to a new use of the word unctuous that has escaped me until now:…
10 February 2020 IIn English Bare or Bear With Me? byVladimir D39 viewsNo comments4 minute read Commonly seen on the Web is the misspelled phrase “bare with me.” The correct expression is “bear with…
27 January 2020 IIn English Impeachment Latin: 8 Terms Related to Politics byVladimir D34 viewsNo comments3 minute read The phrase at the heart of the current impeachment process, quid pro quo, is unaltered Latin, but several…