Don't you love all those indignant letters to the newspaper about misplaced, or misused, apostrophes? It's easy to sneer at the greengrocer (now there's a word that's appearing les... read more
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Word of the day empirical
by Christine Lovatt
"This study is both ground-breaking and standard-setting as it introduces empirical methods in the study of international arbitration." Empirical means verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic. In other words, a hands-on approach rather than an academic one. You might think it comes from 'empire' but it has a different root. Empirical is derived from the Greek empeiria 'experience', whereas empire comes from the Latin imperare 'to command'.
The term POT-BOILER, used sometimes to describe a book, means it wasn't written for any artistic aspirations, but to put meat on the table
ALLIGATOR comes from the Spanish el Lagarto, meaning a lizard
Not widely known outside the US, CHARLEY HORSE is an expression meaning a leg cramp or pulled muscle
ASTHMA is the only common 6-letter word to begin and end with a vowel but with none in between
The term HARLOT started out as a word meaning a villainous man before becoming a word for a woman with loose morals
The early sponsors of SOAP OPERAS were detergent companies, hence their nickname
Canada's NEWFOUNDLAND was exactly that. Explorer John Cabot called it a new found isle, and the name more or less stuck
The name JEEP came from the abbreviation used in the army for the General Purpose vehicle, GP
Americans use ALUMINUM but the British and Commonwealth use ALUMINIUM with an extra 'I'
A LOBBYIST who seeks to gain political favour gets their name from the US practice of those people who frequent the lobbies of legislative buildings
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