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take me to your leader (paid)

  • Dave Wilton

Dave Wilton

30 Jan 2026 • 3 min read
Cartoon by Alex Graham of a flying saucer and two aliens addressing a horse, saying, “Kindly take us to your President!”

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B&W photo of a WWI soldier with a rifle standing in a trench and looking through a gap in a wall of sandbags

Tommy / Tommy Atkins

30 January 2026 The great joy of running this website is that now and again I uncover an origin that simultaneously connects with great historical figures and events and reveals how language, the most human of inventions, works. The British slang term for a soldier, Tommy, is just such a
30 Jan 2026 6 min read
A photo of poutine (French fires, cheese curds, and gravy) served in a cardboard carton
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poutine (paid)

28 Jan 2026 3 min read
B&W photo of the back of the heads of a number of university students in cap and gown

graduand

28 January 2026 Graduand is a rare but useful word. It refers to a student who has completed all the requirements for a degree but has yet to graduate. It is from the Medieval Latin graduandus, the gerundive form of the verb graduare, meaning to be graduated. It has its
28 Jan 2026 2 min read
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