Word of the Week: pulchritudinous

It's not as if I don't come across new words all that often; I like to think I read enough variety that I should be coming across new words on a frequent basis, but more often than not, the beautiful words I come across are those of which I already have a knowledge. Or vice …

Beautiful People: H’s Cathy

*gasp* What is this, an actual Beautiful People post on my blog in 2016? I know, I’ve been as lax in keeping up with the writing tag as a printer sans ink, partly because I’ve not tackled any new big novels for a while and instead have been trying to focus on the importance of …

Photo of the Week: Musicae

I know, I know, it's a Thursday, and we can't destroy the schedule - but I did warn you that I'm not quite back into mind yet. 😉 Plus, I haven't had much to shoot. But we went into Oxford today, and that city is home to me; and so I get so inspired by …

Diction: Latinate versus Anglo-Saxon

Reblog Thursday is back! (Ish) This reblog post is from all the way back in 2012, but I only stumbled across it a couple of days ago, as I only started following Lara’s blog last year.

Ever wondered why synonyms are sometimes so very different to each other? Or why some words, especially in writing, are sesquipedalian and polysyllablic ( 😉 ) whilst others are short and simple? In this post, Lara explains how the roots of words can effect how they are read and which genres they better suit.

Kind of explains how my Latin studies effected my propensity for lengthy sentences and florid oratories! 😛

Lara Willard

Diction = word choice

Synonym = a word’s twin in meaning, e.g. “big” and “large” are synonyms.

Ever wonder why English has so many freaking synonyms? Because it’s the lovechild of Germanic and French languages. (French isn’t called a romance language for no reason. ) While having so many choices can be a wonderful thing, it can also be disastrous. With great vocabulary comes great responsibility. I’m talking to you, Christopher Paolini. Step away from the thesaurus.

You’ll notice the language split when two political candidates start campaigning and one plays the “smarter than thou” card and the other plays the “average joe” card. Smarter-than-thou is going to try to dazzle you with a academic, million-dollar vocabulary. Average Joe is going to give you a pat on the back with neighbor-speak. John Kerry vs. W. Bush. I’d watch their debates for examples if I didn’t hate politics so much.

Latinate

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7 Quick Takes about the 80s, Blogging, and Reviewing

It’s Friday. Let’s wipe the sweat from our brows and settle into our weekend routines after sharing our days. Hosted by Thisain’ttheLyceum: Friday’s 7 Quick Takes. ~1~ Our host Kelly did some getting-to-know-you abouts today, but there's frankly not much I can actually add to my own factoid. I'm a Catholic convert and have been for …

The Bookcase Tag

Time for one of these bookish posts, considering that I’ve done a creative and a thoughtful, and I’m going to do a reblog tomorrow and a link-up on Friday. Apart from this picture, which is of my makeshift bookshelf under my bed (my ‘portable’ one, too), be prepared for lousy-webcam pics. I’m working on improving …

Quick Takes Friday – Returning Home, Birthday Cupcakes, and Latin Harry Potter

Feel free to join me and other bloggers at ConversionDiary to share our weeks. Feel free to join me and other bloggers at ConversionDiary to share our weeks. ~1~ My first week back home I’ve been hard at work, even if I’ve barely left the house. Mornings unpacking and reorganising all my junk; afternoons spent …

Poem: I Was Working Away The Pain

I see you in the dark shapes under my eyes, Where I’ve been losing sleep Over contemplations and other intangible Mysteries of the black storm beneath my chest. That heavy block – organs, flesh, blood… Of all things, my blood shares not your blue hue, But if I were the sky, I’d bleed in globules …

History Boys Quote

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now, here it is, set down by someone else…someone who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out …

Photo of the Week: Shielded

So, anyway, this happened: Look - it's my name above 2013! On Friday, it was my school's senior school prizegiving. I didn't expect much from the event (knowing my surprisingly low tolerance to envy-producing situations), but going along meant I got to see a few people from the class I hadn't see since July, so that …