Plucky the adjective also has a noun form, pluck, which according to the Collins English Dictionary means: 1. courage, usually in the face of difficulties or hardship 2. a sudden pull or tug 3. (Cookery) the heart, liver, and lungs, esp of an animal used for food Usage: "She earned a promotion ...

Those who would appreciate a brilliant evocation of Pandemoniun should see Gustave Dore's illustration in Paradise Lost. It's easy to find on the net.

One of mine: "He inherited his brains from his father--in formaldehyde." (re Glen Beck)

A closely related but slightly different word from the world of Chess is "zugzwang." When a chess player is stalemated his king is not threatened with immediate capture, but if he moves he will expose himself to capture ("checkmate".) When a chess player is in zugzwang, any move ...

Some authorities make a fine distinction between restive and restless with restive applying to impatience or unease brought on by external forces, while restless implies the same condition, but for internal reasons. I wonder whether Dr. G would step to the podium to untangle the nuances, or have the...

It is worthwhile noting "egress" has an antonym, "ingress" that unlike "egress" may not have a verb form. We don't usually say that we "ingress the room." On the other hand (or foot) NASA at least has used "ingress" as a verb. See http://history.nasa...

The antonym "credulous" is worth mentioning; gullible, easily disposed to believe. The most interesting thing in this instance, however, is not the words themselves, but the Psychology of Belief: Why do we believe? The late Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman said: “The first principle is that ...

As Dr. Beard pointed out, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England factory produced goods displaced home-produced goods which in Victorian eyes were perceived as inferior and less stylish than their factory-produced counterparts. Home-produced crafts were too "homely." The ...

Doctor Beard is his name.
Words are his game.
With a Language Blog
He clears the fog.

MTC

Iris, messenger of the gods, was personified by a rainbow. She linked heaven to earth in a communicative arch and is the "personality" behind the word iridescent. In an intriguing parallel, the rainbow is also a means of communication between God and man in the Bible: " I do set my bo...

During the Qing dynasty queues (male pigtails) were mandatory. The penalty for failure to "queue up" was death. I would hazard a guess that there was a special dispensation for pilgarlics.

Crones, it seems, have been given a bad rap. There are benevolent crones too, according to Joseph Campbell. In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p. 59. Campbell links the "fairy godmother" of folklore and fairytale to the helpful or benevolent crone. Snow White encountered a malevolent crone...

It sounds to me that "oche" (an anagram of echo) is more suited to hockey than darts. At least there would be more rhyme and reason. All the sports and games have their line nomenclature: line of scrimmage and goal line (football); service line (tennis); foul line (basketball); touch line ...

Evil Knievel loved a dare
He crossed Snake Canyon like a hare
If he were more chary
It would not have been scary


MTC

A very interesting related word is "demiurge" which in ancient Greece at first meant public worker "demioergós" from "demos" (people) and "ourgos" worker (from ergon work.) In a case of breathtaking linguistic upward mobility Plato later elevated demiurge to m...