Tag: Wednesday Word of the Week

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Wednesday Word of the Week: translate

translate (TRANZ-layt) verb. to turn written or spoken text into a different language. Sometimes, the most difficult words to translate aren’t the most arcane or obscure. Consider this evaluation by the peerless translator William Weaver, perhaps most famous for his translation of Umberto Eco: “Some of the hardest things to translate into English from Italian are not great big words, such as you find in … Continue reading Wednesday Word of the Week: translate

carylsue2 Comments
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Wednesday Word of the Week: pareidolia

pareidolia (pair-i-DOH-lee-uh) noun. optical illusion involving the perception of a familiar pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist. Pareidolia can be seeing a bunny in the clouds, Hitler in a teapot, Jesus in a chapatti, or whatever you want in an inkblot. Landscape, however, provides some beautiful examples of pareidolia. And now, thanks to the geniuses at Google, NASA, and the makers of … Continue reading Wednesday Word of the Week: pareidolia

carylsue8 Comments
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Wednesday Word of the Week: border

border (BOR-dur) noun. natural or artificial line separating two pieces of land. Borders are interesting, at least to me anyway. I like mulling over maps with country borders. (So there’s the dividing line between Albania and Macedonia!) In my living room there is an artist’s rendition of the borders between the neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. I also love language and am tickled when I look … Continue reading Wednesday Word of the Week: border

Jessica Shea2 Comments
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Wednesday Word of the Week: epic

epic (EH-pihk) noun. long story of a hero and his or her adventure This definition makes me think of high school English class—of reading “The Odyssey” and wondering when, just when, is Odysseus going to make it home? (The night of June 16, 1904.—Ed.) I tried, just now, making a sentence using epic as a noun, for example, “Do you want to read an epic?” It’s … Continue reading Wednesday Word of the Week: epic

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