Alexanderism:
"Flingo" (n): to fling and make go; to fly; to be shot out; to flip

Examples: "I put it in here, then flingoed it."
"It flingoed across the room."
"Be careful or the lid will flingo off."

Alexander's favourite word is "magnificent", but every day he says it differently. Today it's "magnicellent" and "fabnicellent"

A mostly tangential conversation on an email list I'm part of included the following exchange between two contributors (Carl and Kjell) which prompted me into thinking about (and looking up) the etymology of a trio of false cognates.

Carl: I am not sure that it would be correct to posit an etymological link between "Galloi" (etc.) and "Keltoi" ( ( Read more... )

Alexander: "Mommy, I need some lipstick. My lips came loose."
Translation: Mommy, I need some lip balm. My lips are chapped.

I'm taking another stab at reading Hold On To Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Neufeld and Mate. This section resonated with me this morning:

"The second way of attaching is usually well in evidence by toddlerhood. The child seeks to be like those she feels closest to. She attempts to assume the same form of existence or ( Read more... )

Every time I start to think seriously about dress in 12th century England/British Isles I immediately get bogged down by what I don't know. I'm going to start writing it down so I can focus on what I feel I need to research.( Read more... )

Help me LJ friends (and FB friends who will see this as a "Note"):

What does "Religion" mean ( Read more... )

My friend Rob asked a pertinent question over in his LJ:

{Warning for my more sensitive readers. There are two pejoratives used below. As they are the center of the discussion, they are used out of necessity.}

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Why is it acceptable for people to place a derogatory ( Read more... )

My current favourite Brit-word is "chuffed." It's not exactly onomatopoeic, but it feels that way, if you know what I mean. (Yeah, there some 300,000 words in the English language - with an average of 20,000 in common use by an educated person - and I am at loss for words to describe how I feel about a word. The irony is overwhelming.) It's ( Read more... )

It's the tenth day of Christmas, but I'm not sure I could muster much excitement about ten lords a-leaping if they showed up on my doorstep (mind you, it's a rather small doorstep, and I don't think they'd fit anyway ). I'm sick. I have been for a week and I'm tired of it. I forced myself to down a cup of boiled ginger and honey this morning and ( Read more... )