My book is in excellent company on the staff picks table at Novel bookstore in Memphis!

the etymology of "naughty" is really something, huh? Well, the opposite of "really something," technically.

🧵 Are you naughty or nice? 😬

I am very naughty... in multiple senses of the word

"Whit" is semi-fossilized in phrases like "I don't give a whit," but it's also lurking in "naught" and "naughty." In Old English, the word for "nothing" was nawiht (na + wiht = "no thing" or "no amount"). (Wiht was used in the same general way we would use "thing" today. More on that in a sec.)

A little seasonal etymology fun.

“Reindeer” is unrelated to “rein.” It’s from the Old Norse hreindyri, literally “reindeer animal,” with dyr being a word for any wild quadruped—just like Old English deor—and hreinn being the typical/more specific word for a reindeer in Old Norse. (The Old English word for a reindeer was hran.)

Good morning from Fable and Obi!

@jesszafarris.bsky.social @robwords.bsky.social

gave away my copy of @jesszafarris.bsky.social ' s Words from Hell at a Yankee Swap - to spread the good word - and give myself an excuse to buy a new hard copy

NOM

What bookshelf is complete without a LEGO balrog?

There should be a constitutional mechanism for removing a president. Not impeachment, something that actually works, maybe like a catapult

The last installment of this "season" of my favorite YouTube show, WORDS UNRAVELLED was *so* right up my alley. I suspect up @emilyhare.com 's as well.

Btw if you haven’t read Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnamin, this is your sign to do so.

✅ Tickles your brain ✅ Tickles your fancy ✅ Supplies conversation fodder for dull holiday gatherings ✅ Looks great on shelves and coffee tables Whether you're the gifter of the giftee, Useless Etymology can make your holiday a little cheerier and a lot more thought-provoking. Grab a copy!

This week I joined Jess Zafarris @jesszafarris.bsky.social on the Grammar Girl podcast @grammargirl.bsky.social to talk about the 2025 words of the year! We explain each of the words chosen by different organizations this year and give our reactions. Have a listen at the links! ⬇️

#TTRPG, #DnD5e, #Shadowrun GMs, might get a lot out of this episode of a podcast you should be following anyhow. The oft-forgotten element of a custom setting? Language. You could include monsters that might not otherwise belong, or have reason to exclude the too-obvious. youtu.be/hcVF8b2w6n4?...

And, while I have your attention, I probably oughta… bsky.app/profile/jess...

The OB in OB/GYN of course stands for "obstetrics" which is originally from the Latin obstetrix, a word for a midwife, literally a woman who "stands opposite/before" the woman giving birth. It's very closely related to the word "obstacle," also something that blocks you by standing before you.

“Ragan Communications & PR Daily selected #slop as our word of the year because it is the enemy & antithesis of comms messaging & the muck that communicators have to wade through to get the word out in a meaningful and effective way.” — @jesszafarris.bsky.social ✍️👩‍💻📰🗞️ www.ragan.com/ragan-and-pr...

Hey #D&D and #ttrpg fantasy nerd, check out one of my favorite podcasts, the etymology podcast Words Unravelled (with @jesszafarris.bsky.social and @robwords.bsky.social ) as they look at the origins of "dragon", "kraken" and other monsterous words youtu.be/hcVF8b2w6n4?...

I know this is a long shot but I am craving a book that satisfies these requirements: Noir or neo-noir satire/comedy. Additional sci-fi/fantasy/cyberpunk elements are welcome but not required. Genre-typical gazing is OK but ideally less sexist would be great. And yes I have read Dresden Files.

btw calories don’t count till new years, harsh truth but i don’t make the rules

Obi is already bigger than Fable!

Please observe the audacity of this turkey I saw in the summer

@jesszafarris.bsky.social reminded me of you! My maternal grandmother would have me and my cousins dig up some of this. She’d put it in eggs and a bunch of other stuff. That and dandelions. Fun times youtu.be/VNScki_6CRY?...

I had missed that @jesszafarris.bsky.social‘s piece about “slop” is live. Great, as always. She has the history!

Surprising omission from @jesszafarris.bsky.social book Words From Hell. The Fear and Phobias section, pg 288-289, has a selected listing of phobias but excluded Luposilpaphobia, which most of us experience at one time or another....😀. The list did include Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia* tho.

Yep, Mignon (Grammar Girl) and I (writing for PR Daily & Ragan Comms) both picked this as our Word of the Year. Seems the most fitting choice. Read her thread for some of the other terms it has spawned. 👇

The word "plagiarism" literally evokes the "kidnapping" of thoughts and ideas. It's from the Latin plagiare "to kidnap" (or plagiarius "kidnapper"), from plaga "snare, hunting net."

Useless Etymology by @jesszafarris.bsky.social is fun and interesting. It introduces varies etymological concepts and rules (too strong a word?) through a continuous string of examples. And I believe she has a couple other books on etymology.

My baby boy already has his first beard! 🥹

Someone just pointed out to me that “facetious” (or “facetiously” if you wanna get kinky) contains every vowel in alphabetical order so obviously now it is my favorite word for at least the next five minutes.

Oh hey, I just noticed that Uncommon Goods is selling a box set of the Game Master's Books series. I contributed several scenarios and locations to the Legendary Locations edition. Lovely books with great material inside for TTRPG GMs! www.uncommongoods.com/product/the-...

cat tree

current working conditions

Worth it even with the numb-ish toesies. The look held up through the evening.

Has anyone ever figured out where you’re supposed to put the toe seam on footed hose and tights, or am I just doomed to have numb mangled piggies any time I want to wear them?

Happy birthday Rob! 🎈🎈🎈 I'd recommend Rob's Youtube channel (and podcast, and Substack) to anyone interested in words and etymology www.youtube.com/@RobWords

Happiest birthday to our word king @robwords.bsky.social, the brightest light in joyful wordy learning on the internet. I’m forever delighted and grateful to join this gentleman for an hour of etymology magic each week. 💙💛

I wrote a holiday RPG adventure for 5E in partnership with Parallel Dimension Gaming! Yuletown has been taken over by a sticky-sweet villain, Blyssaline Bubblesong. Players must find her lair and shatter her candy-coated curse. Back it on Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/pdg...

I'm editing Friday's episode of MONSTER MAN, in which I sit down with @jesszafarris.bsky.social of Words Unravelled to talk about etymology and monsters, as well as her Kickstarting-now holiday D&D scenario The Sweetest Curse. www.kickstarter.com/projects/pdg...

To say someone is delirious or in a state of delirium is the Latinate equivalent of saying they are "off the rails." The Latin noun lira means “furrow,” so the verb deliriare is literally "to go off the furrow."

I have no idea how I'm supposed to get anything done under these conditions.

My British book editor says "fortnightly" instead of "biweekly" and it's such an unambiguous breath of fresh air.

Fable's first beach day!

Fable just spat out one of her baby teeth

Sup?