Fun. That’s a thing. A thing that started in the 1680s as a verb, meaning to cheat or trick. “Are you having fun with me?” The word is of uncertain origin — how like fun — but Online Etymology and Google suggest that it comes from the Middle English fon, which means to be a…
R/W: The Monks of Cool, whose tiny and exclusive monastery is hidden in a really cool and laid-back valley…
The Monks of Cool, whose tiny and exclusive monastery is hidden in a really cool and laid-back valley… I was looking for a word to write about this week and Claire suggested cool. It’s a funny one. The origin of the term is clear, as is its shift from meaning “kind of cold” to “new-interesting-awesome,”…
R/W: “That Certain Female”
Word Nerdery The English word female, derived from the Old French femelle, derived from the Medieval Latin femella, which is itself a diminutive of femina. Whew! Where femina meant woman, femella meant young girl. Now let’s talk about male. It’s likewise derived from Old French, masle was the adjectival form and mâle the noun form….
R/W: Do Not Stray From the Subject
Welcome back to R/W, your weekend roundup of essays and articles on reading, writing, and literacy. This week, the CIA style manual, Iggy Azalea, and The Fault In Our Stars bust into the dusty halls of the literary eeeelite.