In all my eighty-one years, I have never heard anyone say this word. I knew the definition of it as a purse. I was unaware it was the name of crosshairs. So, I have learned something.

The Dallas Mavericks is a professional basketball team. Their logo is the head of a very menacing horse. I had never heard that a horse could be a maverick. Here in the hinterlands, we only use maverick in describing an unbranded calf.

The US interstate highway system was ostensibly built for troop movement. The real reason was to increase the number of automobiles the manufacturers could sell. As a result we lost much of the superb railroad system we once had.

Lithe is a lovely word. Don't call a girl skinny. Say she is lithe. Willowy is also a nice complement to someone who has kept her girlish figure. Boys, however, don't rate this description. When I was young I was the original 90 pound weakling. Now I am a 220 pound weakling.

call_copse - Your friend experienced a not very fresh freshet

The chorus of a gospel song:
"Farther along we'll know all about it
Farther along we'll understand why
Cheer up my brother live in the sunshine
We'll understand it all by and by,"

One can get into trouble with differences in British and American meanings to the same words. In the US a bum is an itinerate beggar. Not so in England.

In France at the time they had kings, they had a privy council in the king's privy. Then king was multitasking!

An adjective I frequently apply to myself.

A lovely word. Use sit whenever it is appropriate or even when it is not.

I don't remember if Good word discusses phrases. There is a phrase "it begs the question". I know what it means. Apparently hardly anyone else does. In common discussion this phrase is used as if it means "this leaves this question to be discussed." In reality it means something ...

I like this word. It gives a boost to the discussion. We use it a lot here in the hinterlands.

I like the word. I may rename my clodhopper boots as clarthoppers. Here in the hinterland some of us don't own any shoes, but most of us at least have a pair of clodhoppers. If I can arrange it, my feet go au naturel at all times. They won't let me in some places barefoot. "Put your shoes on, L...

I abhor euphemisms for death. If one is dead, she/he is dead. Other words do violence to the totally adequate word "death." The discussion about life after death is a religious one. I am among the believers. I am reminded of a little rhyme: "I had a dog and his name was Rover, and whe...

I have a rather long list of words I have no use for. Will someone give me kudos for not liking kudos.

The wonderful meat, potato and onion dish my mother dealt out makes me salivate more than Pavlov's dog did. The original assassins were wont to take hashhash [opium] to give them courage to assassinate their enemies. I think the neat symbol # has been kidnapped by social media nerds to mean what it ...