No man is an island, although I confess I am becoming a peninsula. The Latin for island was insula , and something that was almost an isl...

As an important piece of public information in these time of panic and brouhaha, I want to let everybody know that the role  that an actor ...

I was sautéing some pangolin the other day, when it occurred to me that there are several Malay animals in the menagerie of etymology. (It ...

There has been much chitter and chatter of late about the washing of hands. A central question is what you should sing or recite to yoursel...

I've been asked (in this twittering world), about the difference between diners and restaurants . The distinction is simple, diners com...

Quarantine just means forty. It's a shortening of the Italian phrase quarantina giorni, which meant (and means) forty days . This was b...

There's an Icelandic word, gluggaveður , that means "weather that looks really nice through the window when you're snug ...