Wow! That example is better than mine. Wish I'd heard it in time.

The definition is only slightly off: metaphors are not completely true but they are partially. For example, if I call someone a pig, I don't mean that they have a wet snout, a curly tail, and a tempting haunch, but only that they eat too much. In other words, a metaphor is the use of a word implying...

• mantra • Pronunciation: mæn-trê Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. A sacred phrase of Hinduism, usually taken from the Vedas, repeated in prayer or meditation as an invocation to the gods. 2. Any phrase that is monotonously repeated over and over. Notes: Today's word comes straight from Sanskrit bu...

A good one. We will do it.

What will we do here? Whatever doesn't fit anywhere else.

I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Although many of you have already taken advantage of our Contact page and sent us suggestions, corrections, and other comments, we will set aside a forum here, too, where that sort of information may be discussed in the open Agora, as well as sent to us.

We will send out notices of new stuff we add to the site in our Good Word e-mails and may do an occasional newsletter, something our old software didn't permit. However, sometime we need to say more than a few words about new items and you may have questions about them. This is the forum for new res...

Some of the phrase we use in day-to-day English are outrageous: to fly off the handle, to climb the walls, the coast is clear (even inland). Why do we say these things?

If the curiosity contains more than one word, this will be the forum to air it.

English may be the lingua franca these days but there are still about 1600 other languages out there. We may not always be able to answer questions about any language but, if the Alpha Agora grows as we hope it will, we will have others who can respond. Anyway, bring your questions of languages othe...

An historical moment? A historical moment? Judgment? Judgement? Spelling has never been precise. Using "Ax" for "ask", for example, has been going on for hundreds of years. This is the forum for asking questions, not only about spelling, but about pronunciation. The Good Doctor a...

The history of the words we speak is the history of ourselves. However, there are so many urban myths about the origins of words ("posh" comes from "port out, starboard homeward") that it is difficult to find ourselves for the trash. This is the place to come to sort these issues...

This is the forum for questions of grammar and usage. If your infinitives are split, your participles dangle, and you keep finding prepositions at the ends of your sentences, bring your problems here to the Good Doctor. He will attend them as time allows.

Glad you dropped by. We think this forum looks better and works better than the old one. We hope you agree. (Let us know either way.) This is where you can feed us the best words you know for our Good Word feature. It may take a month or more to consider a word, write it up, prepare the sound file a...

February 10, 2005 • husbandry • Pronunciation: hêz-bên-dri • Hear it! Part of Speech: Mass noun (no plural) Meaning: 1. Conservation, the careful management of money or other resources. 2. Scientific farm management, especially the management of farm animals. Notes: Women are probably surprised to ...

WELCOME Here is the new cabinet of Dr. Goodword, formerly Dr. Language of yourDictionary.com. We hope it will offer an even more comfortable environment in which to discuss the fascinating languages we speak. Why the Alpha Agora? Well, Alpha is our new name, of course. But this name also almost for...