“Yes,” in answer to Dr. Goodword’s question. “Entailment” is a legal process designed to keep property within a family—often male heirs- indefinitely. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Longbourn, the family estate, was entailed exclusively to male heirs, leaving the Bennet sisters out in the cold...

There are two legal traditions that predominate around the world: Civil Law and Common Law. Civil Law codifies laws in statutes which attempt to comprehensively address every situation that could arise between the parties. Common Law mostly relies on precedent called Case Law—the decisions of appell...

Just a couple of off the cuff reactions: It’s worthwhile distinguishing sympathy and empathy. You might feel sympathy for a friend audited by the IRS, empathy for the same friend if you are audited or have been audited yourself. (I haven’t!) In the category of oxymorons, it is difficult to find a mo...

Odd then that Dr. Goodword employed a political example to illustrate today’s word: "Wexler achieved a high position in the court by pandering to the emperor's fascination with magic and theurgy." If “Wexler” were replaced with the candidate alluded to, and “the emperor’s” were replaced wi...

Deus ex machina comes to mind. Or, a certain well-known politician thought by some to be a messenger from God descending an escalator from heaven to rescue the faithful and otherwise set the tangled affairs of mortals aright. And then there’s that saying about religion as the last refuge of…what was...

It is sometimes said of those who age gracefully that they “age like fine wine.” Why not, “like fine cheese?” Doesn’t seem fair to cheese lovers, does it? “You age like ripe Gruyere, my dear.” Try that on your greying sweetheart sometime. But, be sure to have one foot in the stirrup if you do. Searc...

Thank you, Dr. G, for this most interesting word. It appears Rumspringa is a major fork in the road for Amish youth rather than a typical rite of passage—one road leads back to a familiar way of life, the other to a new world. The question arises, does an adolescent with minimal experience of the ou...

Very timely, considering the political season, and nice rhyme with “bunkum.”

A word in the same cozy nest (ahem) as nestle is the German loan word “gemutlichkeit” which Dr. Goodword may already have covered. Interesting aside, the corporation, Nestles, is named after its founder whose name means “nest” in German, and whose family coat of arms depicting a bird in a nest was t...

Thanks for the informative reply, Dr.Goodword.
The unfamiliar (at least to me) sense of “quantity” not recorded in two reputable dictionaries reminds me of how many word senses have evaporated over the years, and may be recovered only in the OED.

I could not find the second sense of “quantity” as you define the word in either the OED (Shorter Version) or Merriam-Webster.
Doubtless you can provide supporting authority.

Thanks

“Shivaree” is a word with a somewhat similar meaning.

Very timely in view of the State of the Union speech. Almost as though you had it in your hip pocket.

You could write a book about “amok.” The word has even found its way into the psychiatric lexicon. I recommend the Wikipedia article as a starting place for those who would like to learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_amok

Philosophunculist reminds me of a group of words formed with the suffix “aster,” such as “poetaster.” According to Wikipedia: Used to form diminutive and pejorative nouns, labeling someone pretending to be what they are not. ‎poet + ‎-aster → ‎poetaster (“unskilled poet”) ‎critic + ‎-aster → ‎critic...