By Hugh Rawson As if reading and writing English is not difficult enough, the language includes a number of words with opposite meanings within themselves. These are often called Janus words, aft...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2013/07/01/janus-words-two-faced-english/
By Hugh Rawson Yiddish has enriched the English language with many lively, often earthy contributions to everyday speech. A previous post listed a number of examples of what is sometimes called...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2013/06/24/yet-more-yiddish/
By Hugh Rawson Tough and loud, brash and irreverent, full of humor and chutzpah – he was our city’s quintessential mayor. — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking at the funeral of...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2013/04/22/speaking-of-yiddish-2/
By Hugh Rawson A national debate over gun control has begun in the United States, and you can tell where people stand on the issue without really listening to their arguments. Just pay attention ...
By Hugh Rawson President Richard M. Nixon and his men – and all his aides were men back in the benighted 1970s – leaned heavily on harmless-sounding, euphemistic language in order to obscur...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2013/01/28/words-of-watergate-part-2/
By Hugh Rawson The fortieth anniversary of the Watergate scandal is well worth observing not only for its political results – an American president, Richard M. Nixon, was forced to resign and ...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2013/01/07/words-of-watergate/
By Hugh Rawson “Do you want white meat or dark meat?” “Dark, please.” “Would you like a drumstick?” The key words in this snatch of dinner-table conversation – white meat, dark meat...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2012/11/19/fowl-talk-for-thanksgiving/
By Hugh Rawson The candidates in the 2012 American presidential election disagree on many issues, but when you come right down to it, much of the contest revolves around different interpretations...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2012/10/18/the-embattled-american-dream/
By Hugh Rawson Now that the national political conventions are over, and the candidates of the two major parties officially selected, the interminable campaign for the American presidency is head...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2012/09/26/red-state-blue-state/
By Hugh Rawson Gosh, darn it, and heck are euphemisms – mild, round-about words used in place of stronger, plainer ones. They translate as the much more forceful “God damn it to hell!” The ...
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2012/08/14/gosh-darn-it-to-heck/