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In a word: Stereotypes and the language of aging One word we should all embrace: 'Activity.' 'We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing,' warned writer George Bernard Shaw. By Jim WitherellSpecial to the Sun Journal Read Article “Age is something that doesn’t matter — unless you’re a cheese.” — Billie Burke, who played Glinda the Good Witch of the North in “The Wizard of Oz” at the age of 54. This week I’m sure of one thing: that this week’s column is going to be one for the ages. That’s because I’ll be looking at words that pe...

COVID-19 also spread new words, phrases In a Word: The simple act of getting (or not getting) a shot — also called a 'jab' or a Fauci ouchie — has spawned its own additions to our vocabulary. Words and phases include "streetery,” "the moveable middle” and "vacctivists." By Jim WitherellSpecial to the Sun Journal Read Article With our “summer of freedom” from COVID-19 hopefully now upon us, this seems like a pretty good time to pause and take a look back at some of the new words that were coined during the pandemic, as well as some existing ones that suddenly took on new meaning...

In a word: Collocation: Soon to be your odds-on favorite Collocations come in handy in telling the inspirational story of the woman who went from rags to riches after becoming tired of wearing mix-and-match clothes . . . By Jim WitherellSpecial to the Sun Journal Read Article This week, word lovers, with the weather turning warm and our thoughts turning to ice cream and frozen drinks, it’s high time we talked about “frozen binomials.” Say what? A frozen binomial is also called a “collocation,” which is the habitual juxtaposition of a particular word or words with a frequency grea...

In a word: Ado, petard, champing, dint and other fossils Think about it, when was the last time you heard anyone use the word 'immemorial' when they weren't referring to time? By Jim WitherellSpecial to the Sun Journal Read Article “Sleight of hand and twist of fate . . .” — from the song “With or Without You” by U2 I recently discovered a fossil, and the best part about it is that it was right in front of me, no digging required. Even better, it jumped right out at me while I was sitting at the kitchen table reading the sports pages, where retired pioneering race car driver Jane...

In a word: Origins of IKEA, Legos, Arby’s and more Just my luck, backing out of my garage, I smashed into my old Fiat, which stands for Fabbrica Italiano Automobili Torino (not "Fix it again, Tony"). By Jim WitherellSpecial to the Sun Journal Read Article A couple weeks ago, when I was sitting at Arby’s, my seat afforded me a wonderful view of the old Kmart sign across the way. So naturally I started wondering just where the names of businesses came from. Right then I made it my mission to find out the origins of actual company names that are just initials or perhaps peppy-sounding acr...