How long is "never"?

The word "never" is an adverb that means "at no time, on no occasion, or in no circumstance."  But how many times have you said, "Never again!" or "I will never..." and it didn't even last until the very next day?  Okay, maybe the quote above from Horace (that "a word once uttered can never be recalled") is an exception, but our resolve (especially when uttered in frustration) doesn't always mean forever.  For example, think about when you've said, "I will never speak to him (or her) again."  Did that really happen?  Or were you soon on speaking terms again?

Wednesday's word is change

A Dream Fulfilled: The Story of Barack Obama ~ by Tanya Savory, 2010, biography, 165 pages, 10/10

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are the ones we've been waiting for.  We are the change that we seek." — Barack Obama

Barack Obama grew up in a time when change was just beginning to come to black people in the United States.  He experienced an often difficult childhood, confusion over his own identity, and frustration when trying to help the victims of poverty and hopelessness.  But he never stopped believing that, in America, change for the better could happen.

A Dream Fulfilled: The Story of Barack Obama is about an inspirational man whose life shows us the value of hope, education and hard work.  Obama's journey — from his unusual youth to his travels to Kenya in search of his father to Harvard Law School and, finally, to the White House — proves that dreams can indeed be fulfilled.

Is "supposably" a word?

AI tells me, "Yes, 'supposably' is a real word listed in major dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and Cambridge Dictionary.  However, it has a different meaning from the much more common word 'supposedly,' even though the two are frequently mixed up in daily speech."  Here are the differences:

• Supposably:  Means conceivably or potentially possible (e.g., We could supposably finish today).
• Supposedly:  Means reportedly or by reputation, often with doubt (e.g., He is supposedly rich).

My negative neighbor

al·lit·er·a·tion /əˌlidəˈrāSHən/noun = the occurrence of the same letter or

sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

One of my neighbors is a Negative Nellie.  Whenever she sees me, she likes to point out every negative thing about me that she can think of, from how I look to how I walk.  That's why I usually find another way to go if I see her.  She caught me at the elevator on Monday.

I've decided I need to learn how to be rude (sorry, Mom) and walk rapidly away from her, even when she is talking to me.  As I fumed in bed that night, I came up with the negative Nellie alliteration.  Looking for an illustration for this post, I learned I am not the first to notice that "negative" goes nicely with "Nellie."

Three homophones: rain, rein, reign

I'm writing about these homophones because of an email announcement:  "I will be taking over the ... reigns ..."  Oh, is he becoming royalty?  No, but I hope he finds a good editor.  What he meant to say was that he is taking over the REINS.  He will be guiding this entity, like a rider guides a horse, using reins.

While "rain," "rein," and "reign" sound exactly the same (homophones), their meanings differ completely.  Let's define these three very different words:

• rain = water falling from the sky.
• rein = a strap used to guide a horse.
• reign = the period of time when a monarch rules.

We might say about the first one, "It looks like it will rain today, so take your umbrella."

The second one is used mostly in the plural sense ("take the reins"), meaning to take control of something.  Why?  Beause the leather straps attached to a horse's bit is used by a horse's rider to control and guide it.  A family might say:  "We're low on money until payday, so we need to reign in our spending."

Reign (the third meaning) is the time during which a king or queen rules a country.  As a verb, it means to hold royal power.  It specifically pertains to monarchies, authority, or dominance.  Examples:"Queen Elizabeth II had a remarkably long reign."

Two words for Wednesday = "fascist" and "antifa"

To Catch a Fascist: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right ~ by Christopher Mathias, 2026, political thought, xix + 313 pages

One of my neighbors suggested I read this newly published book, which is called a "provocative investigation into the rise of white nationalist and neo-Nazi movements in the United States, centered on the anti-fascist groups working to expose and stop these hateful factions."

Demonized as “extremist” by conservatives and liberals alike, “antifa” became a bogeyman during Donald Trump’s first term.  But few Americans understood the dangerous work antifa was doing to disrupt and unmask a new generation of white supremacists or listened when antifa sounded the alarm about these white supremacists taking positions of power. Now this underground network of militant anti-fascists is determined to stop the rising tide of fascism in America.  No matter the cost.

This book follows different factions of antifascists as they work to unmask hateful extremists before they commit devastating acts of violence.  To Catch a Fascist paints a vivid picture of the stakes in this ongoing, often unseen war between opposite ends of the political spectrum, highlighting the scrappy resourcefulness and resilience of antifascist movements against their increasingly violent adversaries.  Using storytelling and eye-opening insight, this timely book reveals the human cost, moral dilemmas, and unwavering determination involved in fighting white supremacy.  To Catch a Fascist is both a call to action and a look at the powerful work being done to combat this threat to democracy.

Wednesday Words

• fascist = Fascism (FASH-iz-əm) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement that rose to prominence in early-20th-century Europe.  Fascism is characterized by support for a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.  Opposed to communism, democracy, liberalism, pluralism, and socialism, fascism is at the far-right of the traditional left–right spectrum.
• antifa = is short for antifascism, so it is the opposite of fascism.

Was "ai" a word before Artificial Intelligence? Yes

Historically, "ai" is the name for a type of three-toed sloth native to the tropical rainforests of South America.  The word entered the English language in the 17th century.  It was borrowed from the Tupi language of Brazil, where it imitates the animal's high-pitched, plaintive cry.

I inherited a brown tee-shirt showing a sloth hanging on a tree from my friend Donna after she died.  I found the photo above online, but I can't find one that is exactly like Donna's.  She got her shirt because she liked to play Bananagrams (a game like Scrabble), where knowing that "ai" is a word is very helpful.

Two words derived from Latin

LOQUACIOUS ~ characterized by or showing a tendency to talk a great deal → from Latin loqui (“to speak”)

MELLIFLUOUS (of sounds or utterances) ~ smooth or honeyed; sweet → from Latin mel (“honey”) + fluere (“to flow”) I subscribe to HarperCollins UK. Click HERE <www.harpercollins.co.uk> if you would like to see their weekly words.

These words are not what they seem to be

Abbreviation ~ is 12 letters long.

Monosyllable ~ is definitely not.

Non-hyphenated ~ has a hyphen in it.

Thesaurus~ does not itself have a synonym.

So these are not at all what they seem to be,

and I think that's funny.  I have started the list.

Can you think of some other examples to share?

Quiddity is today's word

quiddity (ˈkwɪdəti), quiddities (noun) =  (1) the essential quality of a person or thing; (2) a distinctive feature; a peculiarity.  Example:  My quirks and quiddities make me unique.  (I found the illustration HERE, to give credit to the artist.)

My word for today is ubiquitous

Ubiquitous (adj.), pronounced yoo-BIK-wih-tus) = a word that describes some-thing existing or appearing everywhere simultaneously.  One example would be the orange man's pervasive self-advertising.  (No, I will not include his photo.)

 

Today's words = kinship carers

This is what prompted me to post about the words "kinship carers" today:

"In England and Wales, 141,000 children are being raised by kinship carers, who in the majority of cases are keeping children out of the care system and within their loving families, saving the state billions.  Yet unlike working parents, including adoptive parents, kinship carers have no right to paid employment leave when they take on the care of a child."

AI says, "Kinship carers are relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings) or close family friends ("fictive kin") who raise children when biological parents cannot.  As the preferred, stable alternative to foster care, this arrangement helps children maintain family connections, cultural traditions, and reduces trauma.

Wikipedia says, "Kinship care is a term used in the United States and Great Britain for the raising of children by grandparents, other extended family members, and unrelated adults with whom they have a close family-like relationship such as godparents and close family friends because biological parents are unable to do so for whatever reason."

HERE is the link to the article where I learned this term, if you want to know more:  "I'm Raising My Sister’s Children After She Died.  Where's The Support For People Like Me?" by Natasha Hinde (published on 11/02/2026 in the UK).

Something new from Collins Dictionary

Collins Dictionary is a free online dictionary, thesaurus, and reference source.  Here's what's new there:

• Motivation Mondays = Words that set a positive tone or relate to motivating events/topics for the rest of the week.
• Trending Tuesdays = Words that are currently trending or tied to what’s trending in news, culture, or topics people are talking about right now.
• Wordy Wednesdays = Interesting, unusual, or obscure words that few people know about.
• Throwback Thursdays = Archaic or old-fashioned words and memorable objects from the past.
• Foreign Language Fridays = Words that originated from different languages.
• Slang Saturdays = Slang words, both from the present day and the past.
• Submission Sundays = Words that are chosen by users and they can submit their ideas every Monday on our Instagram story.

HarperCollins UK (www.harpercollins.co.uk) emailed me this information on Sunday, January 25, 2026.  Did you notice that they chose to present the week as Monday through Sunday and not the usual Sunday through Saturday?  You can find their Word of the Day, HERE.

Once upon a time . . .

Once upon a time, I used a pencil to put words on a page with a rubber

eraser on the top of that pencil to correct mistakes or to change the wording.

I took a typing class in junior high school and was faster at producing words.  I also remember having to erase mistakes while hoping not to ruin the whole page and have to start over completely on that sheet of paper rolled into the clickety-clack old typewriter.  It was NOT electric.  It sometimes meant crumpling up the whole page and throwing it away whether I used pencil, pen, or typewriter.

Now I use a laptop to write, skipping all that mess.  With a laptop I edit before the words ever appear on paper.  Much more efficient.  Yes, articles I've written appeared in my local newspaper back in the last century.  I have also had things I've written published in Baby Talk magazine and other places.  What I write on this blog goes all over the world, but I don't blog to get paid.  I blog to share books with friends, most of whom I've never met, but have gotten to know over the years as we read each other's posts.  It is definitely a different world now than the one I was born into in 1940.  My Wednesday Word today is "change."

Words of the year for 2025

Rage Bait (Oxford):  

Online material designed specifically to provoke anger and boost engagement.  Rage bait is online content — posts, articles, videos — intentionally designed to provoke anger, outrage, or strong negative emotions to boost engagement (such as likes, shares, comments) and drive traffic or revenue, leveraging algorithms that favor controversial content for profit.  Rage bait uses inflammatory language, false premises, or divisive topics to make users react, essentially "baiting" them into an argument or heated discussion for clicks and attention.  Oxford University Press named it their word of the year for 2025 because of its widespread impact on online discourse.  I like that this image from Merriam-Webster shows smiley faces which are NOT smiling.  :D

67 (Dictionary.com):  

Nonsensical slang from Gen Alpha, highlighting new communication patterns.  This image from the New Yorker shows two people who are writing those numbers over and over.  Pure nonsense, right?

Slop (Merriam-Webster):  

Digital content, often AI-generated, that is low-quality, misleading, or just plain bad (e.g., "AI slop").

  I already shared this definition, HERE, before I learned about the others.

Merriam-Webster's 2025 Word of the Year = AI slop

“Slop” was first used in the 1700s to mean soft mud, but it evolved more generally to mean something of little value.  The definition has since expanded to mean "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence."

Creepy, zany, and demonstrably fake content is often called "slop."  The word's proliferation online, in part thanks to the widespread availability of generative artificial intelligence, landed it Merriam-Webster's 2025 word of the year.

I got this information HERE, if you want to view the CBS video about it.

Today's word is architecture

Great Buildings ~ by DK, 2017, architecture, 256 pages, 8/10

This book gives you an overview of the history of architecture from the ancient world to the present day, a guided tour of more than 50 masterpieces of every architectural style, from the Great Pyramid of Giza to Chartres Cathedral, Sydney Opera House, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.  Each building is analysed visually.  CGI cutaway artworks peel away walls to reveal the bones of the building, and close-up photographs home in on details of style.

It takes a global look at both historical and contemporary architecture.  What is the difference between a Doric and an Ionic column?  How does a flying buttress work?  Why do concrete balconies appear to float in thin air?  You will find the answers here, along with a wealth of intriguing stories about the patrons, builders, and architects who made each architectural masterpiece possible.  

It's like being taken on a personal tour by a guide who shows you exactly what to look at.  I especially enjoyed Chartres Cathedral (pp. 72-77) because I've enjoyed walking labyrinths, and this may be the most famous one ever.  "The huge labyrinth, or maze, inlaid in the floor at the west end of the church, symbolizes the pilgrim's journey to Jerusalem and the path of the soul to heaven" (p. 76).  Click HERE to see some of the times I've written about labyrinths on this blog.

Parasocial?

I have never even heard the word "parasocial," but it is Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year.  Okay, the article says parasocial relates to "a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence."  Since I've never "adored" a celebrity, I guess that could explain why I've never heard the word.

Common phrases

Common Phrases: And Where They Come From (second edition) ~ by Myron Korach with John Mordock, 2008, etymology, 200 pages

In the tradition of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, this is a fascinating guide to the origins of our language.  Wonderful stories reveal the real meaning of Adam’s apple, nick of time, stool pigeon, armed to the teeth, raining cats and dogs, at sixes and sevens, dog days of summer, and scores of others.  I chose a phrase at random as an example:

Adam's Apple = The prominent lump in the human throat took its name, "Adam's apple," from an old superstitious belief.  Everyone is familiar with the story of Adam and Eve.  But what many people might not be acquainted with is how the Bible story was actually embellished.  It was said that when Adam swallowed the forbidden fruit, one large piece of the apple remained in his throat and formed a lump there.  The lump in every man's throat was named for the very first man, and so the "Adam's apple" was born (p. 67).

Word of the Day

phrase / frāz / noun = a small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit, typically forming a component of a clause.

Solve this problem, if you can:  What are those yellow things at the top of the front cover, over the title?  Do they mean anything to you?

Why would an unmarried woman wear a kippah?

An unmarried woman might wear a yarmulke (also called a kippah) at different times depending on her community and personal conviction, such as during prayer, studying Torah, participating in religious services, or to express feminist or egalitarian beliefs.  While the mainstream custom in many communities, including Orthodox Judaism, has been for unmarried women not to wear kippot, more liberal communities and individuals may adopt this practice as a personal symbol or as a statement of equality.

Yesterday, during the blowing of the ram's horn to celebrate the beginning of the Jewish New Year (for year 5786 — which is 2025-2026), I noticed one of my friends wearing a kippah.  I do not remember ever seeing her wear one, so I searched online for an answer to my question in the title.  She was participating in a special service to bring in the Jewish new year and chose to wear a kippah.