ERICA ABBETT

You’re probably familiar with the legends of werewolves and madmen emerging from the dark on a full moon…but did you know that this legend is so pervasive, it actually made an impact on the English language? Yes, my friends. The word “lunatic,” among others, is directly pulled from the Latin root luna , for moon! In episode 61 of the Vocabbett podcast, I dive into some of the theories as to why this belief existed, and I also share a brilliant writing tip from Neil Gaiman’s

In case you didn’t already know, I have a strange passion for etymology. It’s fascinating to study how words change and grow over time,...

Love, jealousy, betrayal, friends turning each other into animals…all hiding in one tiny SAT word! In episode 43 of the Vocabbett podcast, we dive into the story (stories, really!) behind the word cynosure . You’ll never believe the path this word has taken, starting at the humble backside of a dog and ending as a word befitting the queen. To make a long story short... Cynosure comes from the ancient Greek words for “ dog’s tail .” There’s a constellation (which most of

I don’t remember the first time I heard the word “kudos,” but I distinctly remember thinking that it was 1970’s slang. How wrong I was! I...

Amid the recent inauguration news, I kept hearing the word “rostrum.” “As he approaches the rostrum tomorrow…”“Donald Trump began his...

Imagine not knowing how to say you’re tired. It wouldn’t make sense, right? And yet there’s an emotion that most of us experience all the time..that we awkwardly don’t name. If you don’t know the word “schadenfreude,” you’re not alone. In fact, its history is full of people who didn’t want to bring it into the English language. SCHADENFREUDE IS WHEN YOU’RE INTERESTED IN, OR HAPPY ABOUT, THE MISFORTUNE OF OTHERS. In more practical terms, it’s when you laugh at a video of some