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truthiness (paid)

  • Dave Wilton

Dave Wilton

14 Mar 2025 • 3 min read
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Still image of Stephen Colbert sitting behind a desk with a Chyron that reads, “The Wørd: Truthiness”

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Photo of a male, pygmy goat with black-and-white fur
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buck up (paid)

22 Apr 2026 5 min read
Wooden plaque listing the incumbent rectors of St. Edmond’s Church, Costessey, England, 1213–1996

incumbent

22 April 2026 Today we usually find the word incumbent in the context of politics, referring to the current holder of a political office. But English use of the word was originally in the sense of the holder of an ecclesiastical office. Incumbent comes from the medieval Latin incumbere, meaning
22 Apr 2026 3 min read
Photo of a bighorn sheep with unkempt wool on a rocky hillside

wild and woolly

20 April 2026 The phrase wild and woolly is an Americanism referring to something, or someone, who is without order or control, untamed by law or social convention. Wild is clear enough, but why woolly? This is a case of a phrase that may seem baffling at first glance, but
20 Apr 2026 3 min read
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