Since Jack went up the hill with Jill, Jack jumped over the candlestick, and Jack climbed the beanstalk (to name just a few of his exploits,) he must be wiped out. Doesn’t it seem like a disproportionate number of nursery rhymes and fairy tales contain a hero named Jack? Is this just a coincidence? What’s a nursery rhyme vs. a fairy tale? First things first, …
Every once in a while a show comes along and completely transforms bits and pieces of the English language. Parks and Recreation, we’re looking at you. Sure, Friends did it with words and phrases like pivot and how you doing? The Office turned the phrase that’s what she said into one of the longest running jokes in pop culture. But NBC’s Parks And Recreation has …
Let’s take a quick look at some of our favorite examples of Seuss's fanciful linguistics.
Poor Dan is in a droop. Sit on a potato pan, Otis. What do these—admittedly very unusual—sentences have in common? They’re palindromes. Palin-what-in-the-what-now? What is a palindrome, and where does the word come from? A palindrome is a word, sentence, verse, or even number that reads the same backward or forward. It derives from Greek roots that literally mean “running back” (palin is “again, back,” and …
What’s in a name? A lot, apparently! It’s no secret that writers agonize over what to name their characters. It’s for good reason: a name can make or break how audiences remember a character. It has the potential to be truly iconic. Many authors can’t even begin to write until they’ve given each and every person in their book a name. So how does one …
[ spir-i-choo-el; French spee-ree-tyel ]
Jun 1, 2020