All Verbal Energy
Ruth Walker, member of the Monitor familyMs. Walker has passed on. Here鈥檚 a brief bio and a link to some of her best columns.
Shaking off late-summer hebetudeThere are several roots for our terms for summer doldrums 鈥� and none of them are positive.
Give us your tired, your poor cosmopolitansA new term of political insult from the White House carries some serious baggage.
Peal, repeal, rappel 鈥� and climbing downAfter the Senate鈥檚 healthcare votes, the word 鈥榬epeal鈥� took on a new fascination for me.
Awakening to all kinds of possibilitiesWhy English has so many forms for the verbs referring to coming out of sleep
Putting the 鈥榬oar鈥� into extraordinaryMaking the case for a go-to term for journalists who want to signal newsworthiness.
鈥楥ollusion鈥� and its playful rootsA look at the surprising etymology of this dark word in the news.
When the sense of reality starts to flickerA vintage mystery-thriller flick provides a very current term for a form of psychological warfare that seems much in use lately.
Setting down the rules on 鈥榙eposing鈥�A look at a word with two very different senses alive and well in the news columns.
Emoluments: grinding out or softening up?A high-flown term for 鈥榮alary鈥� seems to be rooted in a metaphor of ground grain, but the word鈥檚 sound symbolism suggests something else.聽
Just how many 鈥榖ehalves鈥� make a whole?An obsolete term still has its place in some legal contexts.
Unshackling the roots of 鈥榠mpediment鈥�A hardworking ancient three-letter root turns out to be at the foot of many words across Indo-European languages.
Going off, leaving the furniture in chargeThe Monitor鈥檚 language columnist is reminded that bureaucracy is literally 鈥榬ule by desks.鈥�
Public memorials and private memorandumsA leaked memo and the controversy about Confederate memorials are both potentially monumental stories.
Will France be all right in the center?After the French presidential election, a look at our vocabulary for describing political parties.
Negotiating in haste, and not at leisureThe roots of this common word hint that striking a deal can be such hard work.
Refugees and the cities of sanctuaryThe story of the Huguenots may have some lessons for us today.
A 鈥榬e-accommodating鈥� hospitality industryAfter the 鈥渄ragged passenger鈥� incident, United Airlines has an opportunity to learn what it really means to 鈥渁ccommodate鈥� the public.
Congress, all caught up in their caucusesA look at a distinctively American political term and its distinctively obscure derivation.
Are those crickets I hear, even under snow?A phrase much in use lately to describe uncomfortable silences reminds us how idioms work best when they stay in touch with their origins.
