Wordwizard

Dear Mango, Mr. Mxyzptlk is a devilish character who, since 1944 when he first papered in a Superman comic book, has been harassing the man of steel. For more than most people would every want to know about this character see http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/comics.php?topic=special-reports/mx...

Allen, Now you’ve went and made me prejudiced! (<:)

Ken

Dale, I was not implying that NONE of them were any good, just that MOST of them weren’t any good. And I don’t think we should have to wade through a pile of your refuse just to discover the few that might have been worthwhile. Use some judgment in posting and don’t just indiscriminately dump on us ...

Nicolas, Simon is right but today succotash takes several forms. The first succotash consisting of corn and beans cooked in bear grease was made by American Indians who, incidentally, grew the corn and beans together with the cornstalks serving as bean poles. Colonists used the word in the early 18t...

Wiz, Well here’s a strange turn of events. I’m usually telling you to refer to reliable sources and you’re usually telling me I rely too much on reliable sources. And here I am saying ‘gut soup’ looks real based on a paltry number of Google hits. I agree with you that this one is pretty shaky, but I...

Dale, If you are wondering, the reason why I erased your Janus word posting is because after reading it through, I considered it an indiscriminate dump. It was long, and most of the examples were of extremely low quality. In the future please use some judgment and don’t post large quantities of uned...

I know it has been posted before, but this site is good!!

://www.fun-with-words.com/oxym_oxymoronology.html

Dale, For what it’s worth, in looking through the Google hits for ‘gut soup,’ it looks to me as though it appears in enough credible places, to conclude that it is real and current.

<2002 “The film [[The Bourne Identity]] has credibility flaws and a GUT-SOUP [[‘puke’]] ending.”—www.kinocite.co.uk >

Thank you Leif! I was so focused on trying to make sense of the word "dickens" that it didn't occur to me to look up "cute". I'm embarrassed to say that I was unaware of cute's original meaning (from "acute"). So "cute as the dickens" is now commonly used to mean the opposite of what it originally m...

In the first example of cute as the dickens, one must understand that cute can stand for clever or sly as well as pretty. One of the great characteristics attributed to the devil is that he/she can assume whatever shape he/she needs to practice his devilish trade. Therefore, he/she could assume the ...

“Cute as the dickens” is not mentioned in the reference below, but I believe that in our expression it also means “devil,” but in a less negative way, as in “devilish” and “mischievous” – “cute as a devil.” “You little dickens” is another expression which I always took to mean “You little devil” in ...

The use of 'dickens' as a euphemism for devil is dated by various sources as being much older than the period of the Victorian novellist. For example, M-W.com gives a very precise 1598, while Websters 1913 offers a quote from Shakespeare ("I can not tell what the dickens his name is."). So it seems ...

Phil, I agree with you. All, except one, of the notch expressions that I am aware of have connotations which are positive as in topnotch (first-rate, outstanding, superior): "His work is always topnotch"; to the notch (to perfection, exactly): "He was up to the notch in his game"; a notch in your be...

John, Michael Quinion always does a great job of sorting things out and is, from my experience, a source to be trusted. ______________________________________ World Wide Words by Michael Quinion JUMBO : Many people, especially here in Britain, would immediately think of the famous African elephant o...

Edgar, Both Russ’ and Dale’s interpretations make sense here and maybe the author realized there was a double meaning.