• Etiology is the study or attribution of where things have come from. Too much etiology can make you grumpy and start accusing people of using words incorrectly. The fact is the meanings of words change over time. In conversation, most people know what a word means because of the context and inflection.

    Lawyers need to know the exact meaning of a word in context. A bit of shrewd, applied etiology can entirely alter the wishes of the deceased!

    Learn a new word every day.
    Repeat it and remind yourself what it means at least three times in a day.
    Try to use the word in conversation or writing today.
    Get a dictionary and look words up.

  • I had a meeting this afternoon which gave me the excuse to have a walk round Lower Lydbrook, a long, straggly village with a coal mining history, that meanders down from the Forest of Dean to the edge of the River Wye.

    I came across a fabulous bit of Ice. Cars had splashed water from a puddle over a fence and the lower branches of the hedge, where it had frozen to create fabulous shapes.

    There seems to be a lot of mistletoe around this year. One clump of trees over the river, they look like may trees, looked as green as summer.

    I walked up a very steep footpath and found a massive stone bulkhead at the top. It seems there used to be a viaduct crossing the valley. I’ll have to find out why.

    The path took me down to the main road, which I have driven down many times in the past twenty years. It’s amazing what you see when you are walking. I was taken by a flattened shed – it must be dug out inside because you couldn’t stand up.

    On the side of the road was this now dried up spring – I say dried up – of course it could just be frozen up. I feel there must have been a trough underneath it once for the horses to drink from.

    I felt quite brave walking on my own of my immediate turf. I guess the more you do things outside your comfort zone the more normal it becomes.

  • It’s so easy to get worked up over this word. It actually comes from the latin meaning to killed one in every ten soldiers in an army.

    It has come to mean – to wipe out. So you will hear, “Our postal service has been completely decimated.” Purists will then say, “Oh, you mean it’s been reduced by 10%?” But that’s not the way most people understand the word. In theory, its current meaning should be that something remains after decimation, but most people think of it as total wipe out now.

    I suppose etiological pedantry could do with a bit of decimation. Etiology? Wait till tomorrow.

    Learn a new word every day.
    Repeat it and remind yourself what it means at least three times in a day.
    Try to use the word in conversation or writing today.
    Get a dictionary and look words up.