Let’s end our April Showers Word Powers with an intriguing downpour! The following 8-letter words end with the same 4 letters they begin with: 1.   beriberi: a nervous system ailment caused by a thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency 2.   caracara:  a bird of prey 3.   chowchow:  a breed of dog;  a green tomato relish 4.   couscous: made from two different sizes [...]

Today’s word:  aitch HHHHmmmm.  How would you pronounce this word? What the heck!? How ’bout H, as in the letter H. Yes.  The letter H is spelled aitch. Different languages treat the H a bit differently… but in English we want to use the voiced H in most H words, but not in unvoiced H words like hour, honest,  honor, [...]

Today’s word:  Muse The word Muse refers to one of the 9 goddesses known as the inspiration of learning and the arts… especially of poetry and music. Do you know the names of the Muses?  Here they are:  Clio, Thalia, Melpomene, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia, Calliope, Urania, Erato Each Muse is assigned a particular mythological-inspiring function.  Clio is the Muse of [...]

You’ve heard of the gorilla… but have you heard of the zorilla? Yes, zorilla, derived from the French zorille and Spanish zorrilla/zorrilla. The zorilla is an animal of the African genus Zorilla allied to the skunks and weasels. Although the zorilla resembles the skunk, the common name for the zorilla is the polecat.  The zorilla’s stripes stretch from its head [...]

There are days when the fritinancy of insects awakens me to the realization that I am yawpish for jentaculum. WHAT? There are days when the twittering of insects awakens me to the realization that I am hungry for breakfast. THAT’S WHAT! Today’s WORD: yawpish, meaning hungry.  The word yawpish may have been more common during the 18th century, but I [...]

X marks the spot. (This idiom means the exact location of something, and has nothing to do with our WORD OF THE DAY except that our WORD begins with the letter X).  I, simply, love this idiom! Today’s WORD is one of those few words that begins with the letter X: xiphias… a noun meaning swordfish, especially of the genus [...]

You may very well know of Wuthering Heights, the novel by Emily Bronte. But do you know the meaning of wuthering? wuthering is a wonderful word to share and to use with your kids in everyday conversation.  Why?  Because to wuther is a verb meaning to blow with a dull roaring sound. wuther is derived from wither, meaning a rush, [...]

A WORD can come to us in the most interesting way.  Take the word varec, for example.  Do you have any idea what varec means or where the word comes from?  Do your kids know what the word varec means? If not… have a little fun. The word varec means seaweed.  Yes, seaweed.  The word varec is derived from the [...]

Can you finish this sentence:  An urson is the Canadian ___________. How ’bout another hint:  The urson was once thought the only species of  ____________ which has the power to climb trees. OK:  The word urson refers to an animal sometimes known as the quill pig or spined pig. Got it?  Yes!  PORCUPINE! An urson is the Canadian Porcupine. The [...]

We’ve gathered quite a menagerie of animal types under our April umbrella of APRIL SHOWERS BRING WORD POWERS! Kids love the animal kingdom and kids love to know awesome things about not so common, but awesome anyway, animals.  Let your kids in on some interesting, intriguing and fun animals and their names. Let’s see… we have the dobbin, kob, lammergeir, [...]