Jim Witherell: Socrates cautioned his countrymen of the dangers of writing. ‘If men learn it,’ he warned, ‘it will implant forgetfulness in their souls.’
in a word
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Tariffs ‘roil’ while ‘society’ becomes highfalutin
Jim Witherell weighs in on ‘Redditors,’ ‘kakistocracy,’ and other recent words during this ‘historic’ time.
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Faster mail delivery put zip into state abbreviations
Jim Witherell: Postal officials were no nonsense in 1963, insisting on two-letter abbreviations for all states. And except for Nebraska, it stuck.
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Mmm . . . oligarchy, bevel, jazz and other tasty leftovers
In a word: One study indicates the Wordle word we Mainers found trickiest to solve in 2024 was ‘bevel.’
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Cognac, chihuahuas and cheddar: Pack that in your duffle
Jim Witherell takes a look at the many words we have that come from places.
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An AI test drive and the definition of ‘plagiarism’
Jim Witherell: Questions about accuracy and authenticity quickly emerge during this writer’s first experience with artificial intelligence.
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When a homophone is not quite a homophone
Jim Witherell: More words that (kinda) sound the same but have different meanings, did I hear that right?
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Similar sounding words spell confusion to me
Jim Witherell: Homophones like ‘you’, ‘ewe’ and ‘yew’ have me wishing for a tropical ‘I’ll’ … er … ‘aisle’ … er …
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Dealing with year-end brain rot and polarization
Jim Witherell: The final Words of the Year are old-school, getting boosts from social media and the current political atmosphere.
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Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and other life-saving words
Jim Witherell: Ack, Beer, Kilogramme, Uppsala, Xanthippe and other words that saved lives and led to our current phonetic alphabet.