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"Uncharted" or "Unchartered" and Other Sayings People Get Wrong
"Uncharted" means unrecorded or not plotted on a map, but is often used figuratively to refer to anything that is unknown.

Grace Kidder
Feb 4, 20213 min read
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Wassail: The Holiday Drink with a Surprise Meaning
It wasn't until the 1500s that the word was used to refer specifically to a hot drink served around Christmas.

Grace Kidder
Dec 18, 20202 min read
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"Boodle" and Its Connection to "Whole Kit and Caboodle"
"Boodle" is one of those words that definitely sounds made up (well, technically all words are made up, but you know what I mean).

Grace Kidder
Dec 11, 20202 min read
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Widdershins and Deasil
The word "widdershins" is a combination of the old German terms widar (meaning "back" or "against") and sinnen (meaning "to travel").

Grace Kidder
Dec 4, 20202 min read
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Circumlocution: The Reason We Have "TL;DR"
We all have that one friend who uses way too many words to get their point across. This is an example of circumlocution.

Grace Kidder
Nov 21, 20202 min read
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Happy Friday the Thirteenth!
This fear is called triskaidekaphobia, and a lot of people associate it with being afraid of Friday the 13th as well.

Grace Kidder
Nov 13, 20202 min read
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A Ribald Sense of Humor
For example, "The ribald comedian had everyone laughing at his racy jokes and innuendos."

Grace Kidder
Nov 6, 20201 min read
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Are You Afraid of the Dark?
If you're a person with nyctophobia, you also probably don't enjoy being scared, but your biggest fear would be being locked in a dark room.

Grace Kidder
Oct 30, 20201 min read
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Go Forth and Be Gruntled!
You may think that the term "gruntle" was a word first and the prefix "dis-" was added to create the opposite meaning.

Grace Kidder
Oct 23, 20202 min read
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Schadenfreude: The Emotion We Love to Hate
"Schadenfreude" is a German word that means "enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others."

Grace Kidder
Oct 16, 20201 min read
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