Mexico on the World Stage Mexico holds more world records than any other Latin American country, and it shows no signs of slowing down. When it comes to world records, most of us turn to Guinness World Records, the acknowledged record keeper of the superlatives—biggest, best, worst, smallest, smartest, etc.—of just about any and every […]
Word Salad – May 2023 Read More »
April Fools and Jokesters April is the month of the prankster. We all recall playing pranks on our friends, siblings, even our favorite teachers on April 1st. Harmless tricking was great fun when we were kids. Oh, how clever we were. And quick! We’d get the joke in a nanosecond. Like it or not, for
Word Salad – April 2023 Read More »
It’s Hard to Top a Good Cliché “Let’s have some new clichés.”—movie mogul (and humorist) Samuel Goldwyn “One of the ironies of language is that striking figures of speech and vivid comparisons soon become clichés precisely because they initially express an idea so well,” says linguist Richard Lederer. Is there any doubt a person was
Word Salad – March 2023 Read More »
Spanglish, anyone? Just as the United States is referred to as a melting pot of nationalities, the English language has adopted many words and phrases from other languages, and over time they have found their way into English dictionaries. Sometimes we put an English spin on them, but they are inarguably products of other mother
Word Salad – February 2023 Read More »
We all know someone who insists on getting the last word, particularly in a disagreement. Or perhaps you are that someone. We say our piece and then move on. But there are folks who take the need for having the final word to a whole new level. In advance of their death they arrange for
Word Salad – January 2023 Read More »
In 1907, to bring attention to The New York Times’s new headquarters in Times Square, the paper’s owner, Adolph Ochs, came up with the idea of drawing a crowd to watch a giant ball drop at the stroke of midnight. Thus began a spectacle that attracts millions of television viewers and tens of thousands—not infrequently
New Year’s Celebrations Around The World Read More »
Play Ball! The union of word nerds and sports fanatics is not quite as unlikely as one might think. Listen up. For baseball fans, summer isn’t officially over until the best teams of the National and American leagues clash in the World Series. The Fall Classic was won this year—most impressively—by the Houston Astros. Were
Word Salad – December 2022 Read More »
English is a crazy language. And as in all languages, idioms form a unique part of its lexicon. Over time they sneak their way into daily use, more often in spoken rather than written language. When some idioms are taken literally, they convey the meaning quite clearly and concisely: “Hit the nail on the head,”
Word Salad – November 2022 Read More »
