Vocabulary

Hidden Cousins: Cognates That Look Like Strangers

We’ve all heard of "false friends"—words that look the same in different languages but mean different things. But what about…

5 months ago

The Million-Dollar Mistake: When False Friends Cause Chaos

We've all heard humorous tales of language mix-ups, but so-called "false friends" can have consequences far beyond embarrassment. From derailing…

5 months ago

The Death of the Latin Passive

Latin once expressed complex passive ideas with a single word, like amor for "I am loved". This post explores how…

5 months ago

The Latin Echo in Spanish ‘ll’

Ever wonder why the Spanish word for 'rain' is *lluvia* when its Latin ancestor was *pluvia*? This transformation is no…

5 months ago

Said the Blind Man: The Lost Art of the Wellerism

Uncover the Wellerism, a quirky three-part joke format that owes its name to a character in Charles Dickens's *The Pickwick…

5 months ago

Knock on Wood: The Grammar of Superstition

Why do we command actors to "break a leg" or whisper "speak of the devil"? These aren't just quaint expressions;…

5 months ago

Linguistic Fossils: Spain’s History in Idioms

Ever wondered why Spaniards say "there are no Moors on the coast" to mean the coast is clear? Many Spanish…

5 months ago

The Word Glue: Mastering Collocations

Fluency isn't just about the words you know, but how you stick them together. This article explores collocations, the natural…

5 months ago

Bulls, Bears, and Black Swans: The Language of Wall Street

From the primal imagery of charging bulls and swiping bears to the stark warning of a "dead cat bounce," the…

5 months ago

The Language of Salt: How a Single Commodity Carved Paths Across the Lexicon

Long before refrigeration, salt was a mineral so valuable that Roman soldiers were paid in it, giving us the word…

5 months ago

This website uses cookies.