How could you pass up the opportunity to mention Pennsylvania and Transylvania?

Fraught is a word that I hear increasingly in the news (perhaps an indictment against the current political situation?), but more and more, I hear it used without the preposition "with". "The situation between the pro-party and the con-party is fraught." Or, "The atmosphere...

Rather, I don't think many people at all (in America or England) have ever heard of a Slavic Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz), whose similar appearance is not generally considered an origin for Santa Claus' appearance, as much as it might be a parallel development. On the other hand, Saint Nick is a ra...

Forgive me for only just now catching up on my daily "What's the Good Word?", but I must take exception to a comment from your discussion of Easter, in which you claim that Santa Claus has a non-Christian origin. Although certainly not from the New Testament, Saint Nicholas was indeed a Ch...

We use the words pre-prandials and post-prandials often in Catholic religious life to describe drinks before or after meals. I learned these words in the seminary back in the 1980's and everyone in our religious community (from my period of time at least!) will happily remember what they mean!

I'm guessing lucrative is related as well, no?
Thanks for your daily emails.

Thanks for the welcome. Being a teacher off for the summer, I am now going through quite a backlog of entries! And enjoying it. I was subtly suggesting, however a bit too subtly, that the Part of Speech for Frolic should include both Verb and Noun! It currently defines a verb, but labels it a noun. ...

Am I the only who thinks Frolic can be a noun, but is more frequently a verb?