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iridium / osmium

  • Dave Wilton

Dave Wilton

17 Nov 2023 • 2 min read
iridium / osmium
Cluster of osmium crystals

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Colored drawing of Pinocchio with a long nose
Paid-members only

bald-faced / boldfaced / barefaced (paid)

15 Dec 2025 3 min read
Engraving the House of Commons chamber filled with men and a hatted man sitting, back to the viewer, in a dock at the center

misdemeanor / high misdemeanor

15 December 2025 As even non-lawyers know, in current U.S. legal parlance a misdemeanor is a less serious crime, whereas more serious crimes are classified as felonies. But what is the origin of the term? And how did it come to be used in the context of presidential impeachments
15 Dec 2025 7 min read
Photo of the US House of Representatives, with representatives crowding into the well of the House

impeach / impeachment

12 December 2025 The verb to impeach has a straightforward and unsurprising etymology, but the noun impeachment has an unusual twist. The English verb to impeach is a late fourteenth century borrowing from the Anglo-Norman empescher. This French verb comes from the medieval Latin impedicare, meaning to entangle or hinder,
12 Dec 2025 4 min read
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