Word With a Past
Word with a Past: Maverick
The word “maverick” has always had overtones of the American West in my head—or at least the American West of a childhood spent watching shows like Gun Smoke, Bonanza, and, of course, Maverick.[1] Imagine my surprise when I recently learned that the word in fact has its roots in nineteenth century Texas. Samuel A Maverick…
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From the Archives: Word with a Past: Genocide
I’m dragging with a nasty respiratory virus. Instead of writing through the fog, or leaving you without a Friday blog post, I’ve chosen an old post from 2014 to share. (Enjoy may not be quite the right word.) ***** Genocide as an activity is probably as old as the concepts of “us” and “them”.…
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From the Archives: Word with a Past–Parchment
And speaking of papyrus, as I believe we were, here’s a story that I first shared in 2013 in which papyrus played a critical role. It’s one I’ve always enjoyed. I hope you do,too. For hundreds of years papyrus was the principal material on which books (or at least hand-copied scrolls) were written. Since it…
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