Wordwizard

"It's winter, and it's just a cold," the doctor said. "There is no cure, and you'll just have to live with it until it goes away." "But Doctor," his patient whined, "it's making me so miserable!" The physician rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. Then he said, "Okay, go home and take a hot bath. Aft...

In this context the Latin word 'more' means 'like' or 'in the manner (of)'. "Speaking more metaphorico " therefore means something like 'speaking in a metaphorical manner', which is as close as dammit to 'speaking metaphorically'. Other examples using 'more' in this way are more majorum ('after the ...

As responsible scientists and concerned citizens, we applaud the recent trend towards legislation requiring the prominent placing of warnings on products that present hazards to the general public. Yet we must also offer the cautionary thought that such warnings, however well-intentioned, merely scr...

But now everyone else is going to have to go back and delete their posts also, in order to preserve the coherence of this thread and the rhetorical balance of insult and riposte. In this manner, Che, we are all doomed to revert to our starting-point through the domino effect that you are responsible...

Annoyed by the professor of anatomy, who liked to tell risqué anecdotes during class, a group of female students decided that the next time he started to tell one they would all rise and leave the room in protest. However, the professor got wind of their scheme just before class the following day, a...

The first-grade teacher was overseeing her pupils as they experimented with the computers on their desks. One boy sat staring at his screen, unsure how to get his machine going. His teacher walked over and read the message on his screen. In her most reassuring voice, she told the lad, "The computer ...

The minister had just gone over the quarterly accounts, and it was apparent that the finances of his church were heading for some difficult territory. However, while he was searching for a spare surplice in the church storeroom, in a dusty corner he also discovered a number of cartons of new bibles ...

What's the context?

One could also announce without awkwardness, "Tiger Woods, twice the winner of the British Open at The Old Course"; or for that matter, "Lance Armstrong, seven times the winner of the Tour de France".

Arnold and his wife Gemma were cleaning out their attic when Arnold came across a ticket from the local shoe repair shop. The date stamped on the ticket showed it was over eleven years old. They both laughed and tried to remember which of them might have forgotten to pick up a pair of shoes over a d...

Phil: While it's probably true that emotional considerations have always prevailed over rational ones in politics (and indeed ought not to be ignored completely), that does not also imply that a system in which the most important factor for the success of politicians is their ability to persuade vot...

After digging to a depth of 100 metres last year, Japanese scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years. They concluded that their ancestors already had an established telephone network one thousand years ago. Not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed American scientists dug dow...

But Idaho is in north-west USA.

It seems to me that the broader concept, not restricted to its use by governments, of 'language engineering' (which itself is a euphemistic term for 'the organised or systematic manipulation of language') is a type of persuasion that is generally practised by people who either have strong conviction...

An elderly couple was driving across the country. The woman was behind the wheel when a highway patrolman pulled her over. The officer said, "Ma'am, did you know you were speeding?" The woman turned to her husband and asked, "What did he say?" The old man yelled, "He says you were speeding!" The pat...