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WORD OF THE DAY: LAVEROCK

Laverock is a shortened Anglo-Saxon name for that often unwelcome herald of the dawn--the lark.

During the Middle Ages, groups of adolescent boys and girls would go into the fields to catch larks, which were considered a culinary delicacy.

By the 1700s, influenced by Middle English laik (i.e., "play"), lark came to mean frolicsome adventure invoking whimsical gallops on horseback, mischievous merriment, and sexual flights of fancy.

Have yourself a lark of a day!

WORD OF THE DAY: TONSOR

Tonsor (a British word) is a barber. But with a twist. A tensor is one who shaved or otherwise cut hair. Before 1000 AD, barbers visited monasteries to cut the hair of monks according to each order's tonsure or hair pattern.

The barbers, by acting as assistants, learned the art of chirurgery (literally, "hand work")--in other words, "surgery"-- and began such practices as tooth extractor, tooth scaling, abscess lancing, bloodletting, and removal of urinary stones.

The red and white spiral-striped pole originated from the barber-surgeons' practice of wrapping rinsed bandages around a red pole to dry.

Its not a common word and is rarely used now. But you will recognize the look the next time you see a monk in a movie and notice that half his head is shaved bare: a tonsured look.

Let’s briefly talk about comparatives (-er) and superlatives (-est). These endings (-er and -est) are the oldest way we can form comparative words in the English language. English use to rely more heavily on inflectional endings (-er and -est) than it does now. It lost favor but made a comeback.

The use of more and most is a newer construction in the English language. These words were not used much in Old English. These words were slowly introduced into the English language in the 14th century and pecks in Middle English. But then something unforeseen happens. By the Renaissance the inflective forms (-er and -est) are reborn. This is unique because throughout the history of the English language the inflective endings are lost. There are many words that historically used the inflective endings but are no longer in use today.

What we see happening today is a division of function for the inflective endings. The -er and -est ending are used for shorter and more frequent adjectives. Generally speaking, adjectives with one or two syllables (i.e., tall, taller, tallest or happy, happier, happiest).

For adjectives with three or more syllables, we use more and most instead of the inflective endings (i.e., beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful). We would not say “beautifuler” or “beautifulest.”

With one syllable adjectives, you will find that 96% of the time -er and -est are used. I refer you to my post on the word “fun.” This statistic tends to strongly suggest that “funner” and “funnest” may just have a chance at entering our language for good. There are some infrequent one syllable adjectives that will take on “more” and “most.” Consider the word apt. Native speakers will say “more apt” or “most apt” instead of “apter” or “aptest.” The general rule with three syllable adjectives, you will primary use “more” and “most.” So why do we not have an absolute rule with two syllable adjectives?

Professor Alexandra D’Arcy conducted a style of New Zealand English and found that when one and two syllable adjectives precede a noun the -er and -est endings are favored. Consider the following sentence, “The warmest day ever” as opposed to “The most warm day ever.” However, when the two syllable adjective is out in the predicate, more and most modifiers are favored. Consider this sentence, “Elliot was more bright” as opposed to “Elliot was brighter.” Clearly each person sounds acceptable, but we are talking about tendencies. This is what D”Arcy’s research found.

The ending sound can also impact how we may want to form the comparative and superlative. Typically, words that end in “y” favor -er/-est. Words that end in “ful” (like grateful) favor more/most modifiers. By way of another comparison consider the words “mature” or “simple.” Mature tends to favor “more mature,” while simple favors -er/-est (simplest).

EZEL

Ezel was added to the English language in the seventeenth century. But it was corrupted in meaning and spelling as soon as it was introduced into the English language. The word is a Dutch word and originally meant any of several hoofed quadrupeds used for burden bearing, including the ass or donkey.

Whimsically at first, the name of this four-legged beast of burden was used to represent the three-legged frame that holds an artist's canvas. About this same time, a well-executed piece of artwork painted on an easel by a woman was referred to as a mistresspiece, a companion word to masterpiece.

Ezel can also mean a separation, ( 1 Samuel 20:19 ), a stone, or heap of stones, in the neighbourhood of Saul's residence, the scene of the parting of David and Jonathan (42). The margin of the Authorized Version reads, "The stone that sheweth the way," in this rendering following the Targum.

Is “Funner” a real word? The answer may surprise you. Edit

How would your rate these sentences using the word “fun”?

A. “The party was really fun.”
B. “That party was so fun.”
C. “We went to a fun party.”

Your choices are:

1. Completely Acceptable
2. Somewhat Acceptable
3. Somewhat Unacceptable
4. Completely Unacceptable

Do you have any concerns over these sentences? The body that oversees the rules of English grammar in 2015 was asked to rate these sentences. These sentence may sound fine in spoken English, but would you be wrong to use this sentence construction in formal English writing?

The reason that some folks might have concern over these sentences has to do with the history of the word “fun.” The word “fun” is only relatively recently an adjective. The word fun shows up in English as a noun in the early 1700s. Scholars do not really know when the word started to be used as an adjective. There are examples of the phrase “very fun” in the 1910. But it is not until 1950 that the word “fun” is used with some regularity as an adjective. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) does not have an entry for the word “fun” as an adjective. For the OED, “fun” is only entered as a noun. But is this how the word is actually used?

How did the noun “fun” get reinterpreted into the adjective “fun”?

Consider the sentence “The party was fun.” Here the word “fun” operates as a noun. When hearing this sentence, however, it is easy to understand (or hear) how the word “fun” can become an adjective. Consider the sentence: “The party was great.” or “The party was terrible.” As you can see, the sentence structure allows for the switching of “great” (an adjective) to “fun” (a noun being used as an adjective). Again, the OED does not yet recognize “fun” as an adjective.

Consider the following two sentences:

D. “That party was funner than I expected.”
E. “That was the funnest party I’ve been to this year.”

How would you rate these sentence?

These words “funner” and “funnest” can be like hearing nails scratching a blackboard. But are these words really grammatically incorrect?

We need to consider that “fun” is a relatively new adjective. It has only been around in somewhat common use since the 1950s. As a noun, the word “fun” takes “more” and “most.” There is no problem saying “more fun.” Consider another single syllable adjective like “tall” in the standard comparative and superlative forms.

We change “tall” to “taller” (comparative) and “tallest” (superlative). We change “black” to “blacker” to “blackest.” Consider “wide.” The standard comparative is “wider” and the superlative is “widest.” So what is wrong with “fun,” “funner,” and “funnest.” Can you see the pattern? And is there anything wrong? If you hear a child say “That was funner than the other ride,” would you correct the child and say “No, No. It is “more fun.” Could we be seeing the birth of a new word choice? I would say that most adults would want to correct the child, but I think the children (as they grow up) will win in the end. And the final ruling will be that “fun,” “funner,” and “funnest” will continue to creep into our language and gain that status of proper English.

But we are not across the finish line yet. I would avoid the use of “funner” and “funnest” for now in formal writing. However, in advertising, “funnest” may make its way into our language sooner due to the Apple advertisement for its iPad in 2008: “APPLE UNVEILS FUNNEST IPOD EVER: INCLUDES SPEAKERS, NIKE+” “The Funnest iPad ever?” Our language rules are changing before our ears. And now you know.

WORD OF THE DAY: GLEED

Gleed is an Old English word that first appeared in 950AD and relates to the word glow (as in "live coal"). The word invokes images of embers or a glowing coal. Chaucer used the word gleed to describe a particular shade of red. In the sixteenth century gleed meant "shafts of sunlight." From the 1400s to the 1800s, the term gleed-eyes referred to one who squinted with one or both eyes. As late as the 1800s, gleed was the fire that nail makers used to melt iron. Thomas Jefferson would have used the term regularly as he was in the nail business (which was one of his most profitable products made at Monticello).

Etymology

From Middle English gleede, glede, from Old English glēd, glēde (“glowing coal, ember, fire, flame, instrument of torture”), from Proto-Germanic glōdiz (“incandescence, glowing ember, burning ash”), from Proto-Indo-European (“to shine”). Cognate with Scots gleed (“burning coal, ember”), Saterland Frisian Gloud (“blaze, fire”), Dutch gloed (“glow, blaze”), German Glut (“ember”), Scots glude (“glow from a fire”). More at glow.

Noun

gleed (plural gleeds)
a glowing coal

Anagrams
degel, edgel, glede, ledge, leged

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In recent years, developing college-level writing skills seems to have taken a back seat to other subjects. It shows! Studies have found that:

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics and National Center for Educational Progress, only one in four students can write a well-developed essay with proper language use.

The NCES & NCEP also found only one in five students is a proficient writer.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills found that 28% of college graduates were deficient in all written communications, meaning they had trouble fulfilling the most basic writing duties that their jobs required.

You know how important it is to help your child develop the writing skills needed to complete and succeed. As you look ahead to college and life beyond, investing in a Reading & Writing Tutor is a great investment and a step moving toward a brighter future.

WORD OF THE DAY: VAMPYRARCHY

This word from the 1820s is a derisive description for a parasitic group of politicians. It essentially means a set of ruling persons comparable to vampires.

The word "vampire" entered the English language in the 1730s. Vampire is derived from Slavic words such a the Bulgarian "vampir."

In eastern Europes at the time, myths about vampires were abundant. In earlier times, pronouncing someone dead was so often then result of guesswork that a device called a Baterson's Belfry was sometimes installed in coffins. The deceased could ring the Belfry from six feet under if he awoke unexpectedly after the burial.

EXPERTS DISAGREE AS TO WHAT IS A SENTENCE

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "sentence" to mean "way of thinking, opinion." The word "sentence" first appeared in 1340. The OED continues by stating that sentence means in the second sense: "The opinion pronounced by a person on some particular question, usually, one on which he is consulted or which is being deliberated upon."

Less philosophically and more academically, Margaret Shertzer writes that "a sentence expresses a complete thought and consists of a subject and a predicate. (If either the subject or predicate is not expressed, it must be readily understood from sentences that precede or follow.)"

A "sentence" is also an authoritative decision by a court. For example, the criminal defendant was sentenced to a 6 year term of imprisonment. If you are a native English speaker, this is is nonsense.

You are probably asking yourself: what does it matter whether I can define a sentence, I know what a sentence is, I know one when I see one. There are plenty of reasons, I submit, for knowing how to define the simple word "sentence." First, its fun (at least the way I do it). Second, it opens up our language and all its constituent parts. In short, defining the word sentence will expose you to the richness of our linguistic and grammatical language.

To fully understand a sentence, we are better off breaking it down into its constitute parts. A better question when considering the word sentence: what parts are needed to have a "sentence?"

I'm sure you know that a sentence needs a subject (even if you don't know the subject of the sentence). But do all sentences require a subject? Hum . . . let take that up later.

A subject is, generally speaking, a noun. A noun is the name (or the word we use) for a person, a place, an object, or an idea. There are many sub-categories of nouns and we will cover that later as well. For now, know that nouns are used as the subject or subjects of a sentence (house, car, wife, iPhone, Facebook account, etc).

Don't forget (and not to confuse matters) but nouns can be the object of verbs (which shows the action or state of being, and it also indicated the time of action or being) and prepositions (which show how a noun or pronoun is related to another word in a sentence).

Simple examples

Verb
She played the violin. [verb = played]

Preposition
The clown came bounding into the restaurant. [preposition = into]

To write a grammatically correct sentence (as opposed to oral sentences, which we will see are quite different), we need "agreement" between the verb and noun and the adjective and noun. Agreement simply means if the nouns is singular the verb is singular, if the noun is plural the verb is plural.

Simple Examples

Singular
The dog is chasing the cat.

Plural
The dogs are chasing the cat.

WORD OF THE DAY: BOANTHROPY

Does anyone feel this way with Monday coming up?

Not necessarily a word that you will use in everyday speech, but an interesting word nonetheless.

Boanthropy is a form of madness where a man (and I suppose a woman too) imagines himself (or herself) to be an ox. Weird form of madness.

The Book of Daniel has a reference to this word. King Nebuchanezzar "was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven."

The Greek prefix bo (as in bovine), was used in words such as boopic, which means "having prominent eyes like an ox." Ox are not as common in our culture nowadays. I can just imagine those big black eyes as big as golf balls staring me down.