When looking for my R word, I came across a new one for me: rebarbative.  I haven’t met that one before and now I’ll be looking out for an opportunity to use it. My trusty Readers Digest Wordpower dictionary tells me it means unattractive a... Read more

The Q word Quincunx is the title of a book by Charles Palliser.  I was given this book to read when I was convalescing after a cancer op, and that was the first time I met the word. I remember that it took quite an effort to get through the boo... Read more

The P word   I decided on the word 'pink' since our new puppy is a baby girl, although I wasn't tempted to buy her a snazzy pink collar at the pet shop this morning.   Wordpower facts tell me that the word for the colour pink comes from... Read more

The O word I thought the word 'obey' was topical, since there has been so much conjecture about whether Kate will be using it tomorrow in her wedding ceremony with William, and we now know the answer is that she will not. Hope she never ends up in t... Read more

The N Word   The word 'nice' is one of those that authors are advised to avoid, because it is so vague and has connotations of mediocrity. The dictionary defines it as meaning pleasant, agreeable or satisfactory, but it wasn't always so. It is... Read more

The M word.   Following my last piece about Latin, I thought the word 'missile' worth discussing.  It was derived from the Latin verb for 'to send'; mittere. This seems pretty appropriate.  It also influenced words like 'message, mis... Read more

The L Word   I've just disovered that the word Latin originates from the central Italian region that used to be called Latium.  (If you know Italy, think of an area similar to today's Lazio). In the 4th century BC, the Latins were ruled b... Read more

It's a while since I posted one of these so I thought I'd try to resurrect it.  I find that I'm up the K word so I looked up my surname, Knill.  It doesn't appear in my dictionary so I decided to look on-line and found out it has two possib... Read more

The J word.  I couldn't find anything interesting enough for J in my magic Readers' Digest Wordpower Dictionary.  That's why I haven't done any posts in this series for a while.  But today I was determined so I looked elsewhere and ... Read more

The I Word   I have been investigating the word ignoramus, which has taken me on a journey through philosphy in the 16th century and playwriting in the 17th.  I'll start from the beginning. Petrus Ramus (1515–1572) is our philosophe... Read more