a whole nother word

every time someone criticizes the (perceived) downfall of contemporary english usage, i like to toss them historical examples of the exact same phenomenon they are so snippy about, which was, as i demonstrate, clearly necessary for the creation of the very language they are defending as pristine and untouchable today.

today's example: nother, as in a whole nother, much decried as "not a real word."

some other examples of shamefully fraudulent words, derived in fact from nothing more than the innocent process of juncture loss (or faulty separation) between a and an:

- newt (came from "an ewte")
- nickname (came from "an ekename")
- apron (came from "a napron")
- adder (came from "a naddre")
- umpire (came from "a noumpere")

fun vocabulary game

this is a fun vocabulary game i just found out about: www.freerice.com

they donate a little bit of rice to starving children in africa (or something) every time you play. but mostly it's just fun to see how smart you are, and to improve your vocabulary at the same time! :D

i was pleased to learn that i am apparently very good at guessing the meaning of words i don't know. i guess that linguistics degree and all those latin classes are finally coming in handy.