What does smurf mean? According to Peyo and Franquin it either means ‘salt’ or ‘stocking’ or whatever the smurf you want it to mean.
Irregardless Dictionary of Nonwords (entry #3)
Nonwords include: anakronphobia, babelnym, like, porange, scatagories, scuttlebutt and sthlee.
Goldilocks, Spurtles and World Porridge Day
On World Porridge Day, humans and bears join over a bowl of spurtle-stirred oatmeal that’s ‘just right’ for the hungry children of the world.
Digital Writers and Editors Need to Know Code
If writers want to blend typography, design and writing, they need an in-depth understanding of digital word processing: its advantages and its constraints.
Defining ‘Continental’ and ‘Contiguous’
Have you ever bought something that only ships to the continental US? Ever wonder whether that includes Alaska?
Etymology of ‘Cancer’
For everyone born in July, have you ever wondered how you ended up being named after a deadly disease and what the hell cancer has to do with crabs?
Etymology of ‘Cummerbund’
Some people call it a cumberbun. Indians call it a kamarband. But whatever you call the cummerbund, why do we wear it with a tuxedo?
Etymology of ‘Pee Like a Racehorse’
Ever wonder what made the urinary behaviors of racehorses so notorious? Why do we pee like a racehorse? Well it’s got something to do with equine diuretics.
The Writer Is an Artist, the Editor Is a Rhetorician
Some see editors and publishers as expensive vestiges of an archaic system, but writers should strive to develop symbiotic relationships with their editors.
Etymology of ‘Bullshit’
Are bull pies a particularly smelly brand of animal waste or is there something more to bullshit? And what exactly is a factoid?