Wordwizard

The cover story in this week’s issue of the news magazine The Week says: Trump’s ‘truthers’ — The tinfoil-hat campaign to discredit Mueller’s Russia investigation The cover shows two investigators with grim looks and wearing what looks like aluminum foil hats that rise to a point. In the article it ...

One could argue that "prepared to" implies that one has the tools to do the job, whereas "willing to" says that "I'll give it a go" even if I don't necessarily have the tools to do the job (e.g. "I am prepared to go to war" vs. "I am willing to go to war.") Perhaps the ones who are prepared have bee...

In the USA I would say 'exposed' or showing.
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Ken — January 17, 2018

In Italian we have 'bizzarro' for bizarre. They threw in an extra 'z' to make it really strange.
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Ken — January 16, 2918

Tony,

Could be.
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Ken — January 16, 2018

<2017 “Some conservatives see upside-down [[Christmas]] trees as yet more proof of liberals’ politically correct war on Christian traditions. ‘It’s like the upside-down world . . . the bizarro world,’ . . .”— The Week , December 22/December 29> The meaning is obvious. Using this word I got 4 hits i...

Bob,

I always have the gut feeling that there should be an apostrophe. Same story for hers. It doesn't make sense, but that the way it is.
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Ken — January 13, 2018

Phil,

Thanks for pointing that out. I got a bit paranoid about that and so have dated all my postings since then, which is probably unnecessary, but I do it anyway out of habit and just in case.
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Ken — January 9, 2018

“Overseas, Trump has pounded ISIS to the brink of defeat [[fake fact?]], taken a tough line with Iran and North Korea, and finally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. ‘None of this is to deny Trump’s failings’; he remains a deeply divisive figure, with ‘a shambolic governing style.’”— Th...

<2018 “If 2016 was the bravura opener and 2017 the tension-building second act, 2018 could deliver an action-packed conclusion to the Russia imbroglio.”— npr.org , 2 January> Although one might guess its meaning from the context, I’m unfamiliar with the word so I’ll do some delving. Erik did use it...

Phil,

That YouTube is beautiful. And a Happy New Years to you all.

Ken

<2017 “It seems ludicrous—all that futzing for ‘a’ [[the word]]. No one pays attention to little words like this. Everyone knows what they mean, and all this foofaraw has zero impact on the way we live our lives. Then again, debate over the meaning of ‘is’—one of the simplest words in the English l...

I'm not much of a grammarian, but here's what I think on this. I would use the singular verb since the subject is "one" and "in a million is just an adjectival addition which describes the "one."
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Ken Greenwald — December 26, 2017

Happy holidays to one and all.
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Ken Greenwald — December 24, 2017

I was not paying attention when I wrote this post, but rather than toss it I will be redundant and add it to the pile: :cry: According to Wikipedia [ Afghan (blanket)] : Defintion : An afghan is a blanket [[or woven rug]] of knitted or crocheted wool, cotton, linen (or many other kinds of natural ma...