Noisome, noise, nuisance, noxious, nausea. All these words denote something unpleasant - but most of them are unrelated etymologically, it seems.

Notes: The plural of today's word is bon mots Most English dictionaries give only the French spelling for the (English) plural, i.e. bons mots . Those that give both spellings put bons mots first. That is the spelling I would use. The same applies to bons vivants (not bon(s) viveurs , which is pseu...

Slava wrote:What sound does barge end in? Is it not a zh preceded by a d?

I mean the pure 'zh' sound (not a component of the 'j' sound), as found in borrowings from French such as massage, mirage, cortege and beige.

The 'zh' sound (voiced 'sh') occurs relatively rarely in native English words, and only in the middle of them. For example: vision and its compounds, leisure, pleasure, measure, seizure, treasure, exposure, closure, lesion, plosion and its compounds, occasion, casual . It is not a difficult sound fo...

Thanks a lot. I have a few further comments/questions: In my opinion, in 1), "as" is a relative pronoun meaning "which." The antecedent is "argument" I would prefer to say that the antecedent is the whole of the clause "There was a heated argument". So we can ...

Consider the following sentences: There was a heated argument, as often happens . We disagreed, as is often the case . The answer is as follows . Think what will happen if we fail, as seems possible . As was customary , they sat on the floor. Is 'as': (a) a pronoun acting as the subject of the depen...

premises (meaning a specific area of real estate, as in "the premises is the headquarters of a tech company") I would use a plural verb here. "The premises are the headquarters..." "These [not 'this'] premises are the headquarters..." However, both "this headquart...

So, a 'curve' word is one that isn't what it seems to be. Contumely "arrogant rudeness" is one of my favorites, a noun that seems to be an adverb. Congeries seems to be a plural noun but it isn't; it is singular though it may be used unchanged in the plural. 'Congeries' is similar in form...

Word History: Lachrymatory comes to us from Middle French or Medieval Latin lacrymal from Medieval Latin lacrimalis, the adjective from Latin lacrima "tear". Etymonline refers to "the Medieval Latin practice of writing -ch- for -c- before Latin r- ", and states that "the -y...

street https://www.etymonline.com/word/Street A rare example of a word derived from Latin through Old English. From Latin (via) strata , "paved road". Ultimately from PIE root stere- , "to spread", from which many English words are derived. Street is related to stretch and, more...

Slava wrote:Does "see how it flies in Peoria" work?

Yes, that seems to be a similar idea.

A rather different kind of character is Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

Etymonline states that the earliest use of "head" as a verb meant "behead". So it seems that the "be-" prefix does not change the meaning; the privative sense belongs to "head" itself.

A recent visit to the London suburb of Clapham reminded me of this quaint British phrase. Originally a legal expression originating in the 19th century, it means 'an ordinary, reasonable person'. It is now mostly used humorously as a mock archaism. It is probably the only context in which 'omnibus' ...

It apparently comes from the Greek plio- meaning 'more' or 'greater'. (Compare 'Pliocene' in geology.)

http://dictionary.com/browse/plyometrics

http://dictionary.com/browse/plio-

Halo From Greek/Latin halos , signifying roundness: originally "threshing floor with a circular path", then "disk of the sun or moon", then "ring of light around the sun or moon", and finally (in English) "ring of light around the head". There does not seem t...