What about "converge"? Two (or more) verges (edges) coming together?

Wondering whether "bulgur", the delicious Middle Eastern wheat foodstuff, is related. Probably not.

(Pilaf, made with half rice, half bulgur, and a smattering of crumbled vermicelli, is even more delicious than any one of those ingredients alone. Especially when cooked over a campfire.)

I've always thought it quite appropriate that the Greek "potamos" was so nicely replicated in the name of the Patowmack River that runs past Washington, DC. I've even considered whether hippopotami (plural thanks to Flanders & Swann) would find that river a pleasant place to inhabit; p...

2-cent stamp? Why, Slava, I just found a stack of (unused!) penny postcards! Remember those?

When you go out on a limb with a saw in your hand, be careful which side you turn to before you start cutting.

Ever since I first heard it, I've appreciated the slogan "Eschew obfuscation" of the sorely missed WCRB Saturday Night, when that Boston classical music radio station was still commercial. Other things learned about there were the charming songs of Flanders & Swann and the British come...

Oh, I use that word quite frequently, but I've always thought it would be spelled "squush". (I've never looked it up.) And in the cleanup project that currently occupies much of my time, I'm finding entirely too many things that are squushy from neglect.

Gargantua reminds me of Pantagruel, a fondly remembered restaurant that formerly existed on the St. Lawrence shore of the Gaspé Peninsula. The owner, a native of France, was delighted to hear from my husband a continental, rather than Québécois, accent. The food and service were both excellent, and ...

Well, David, my "splurges" have consisted mostly of books (some really gorgeous productions from private presses), travel (to the annual meeting of the user group I'm involved in, to an undeveloped island on the Georgia coast, and "educational" jaunts to places or on subjects I w...

Ah, I've always wanted to have just enough money to be considered eccentric rather than crazy.

The whole word is used as a noun only in reference to a collection of previously published works

Oh no! Flanders and Swann have a different idea, as realized in their
song "A Transport of Delight". Listen to it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7wnUIRpqGg

My immediate reaction to this was that the "in-" meant "not", as in infrequent or inconvenient, but those are adjectives and inosculate is a verb. Are there any exceptions to this dichotomy?

At the end of my college years, a good friend had a succinct reaction: "You're congraduated!"

So the little "leaf devils" that one sees spinning on city streets on breezy fall days are saltating. Is a waterspout an extra-large example of this phenomenon? The most memorable instance I've ever witnessed occurred when driving past a mint field near the Oregon coast. In the middle of t...

Debby, Beware of the TLA (three-letter acronym) or FLA (four-letter acronym, although "five" has been suggested). It's simple -- there are just too many acronyms; one of the horrors of modern connected life.

This term surfaced in the discussion about "tack". Baste (verb), in sewing, is to apply long loose stitches to hold the fabric in place until the final seam has been stitched. The noun is "basting". In cooking, it's applying a liquid or sauce to a food item, usually meat, while c...