MadMania

Faith, Books, and Stuff

Onomatopoeias and ulterior motives

Someone pointed out to me that I hadn’t disclosed the entire story in my previous post. The truth is, my friend’s real name isn’t Logan; we just call him that because he looks like Wolverine. To that end, he is the recipient of lots of Weapon X-related teasing. Like the day I looked at his hand […]

Caves and onomatopoeia

So I was talking to my friend Logan, who is also a logophile (pronounced LOG-o-FILE). “What’s your favorite onomatopoeia?” I asked him. First, logophiles like words, and not logs, and second, in case you’ve forgotten your middle school English class, an onomatopoeia (ON-o-MOT-o-PEE-uh) is a word that is formed from a sound, like buzz, zip, […]

Chili season has begun

Sunday I made the first batch of chili of autumn. I know it’s not properly autumn yet, but tell that to our pumpkins that have been orange for a month. If you don’t know me, I like to cook. I specifically like to cook chili. I started making it 11 years ago, and when I […]

Put your John Henry on this

One malaprop that drives me crazy is when people say, “Put your John Henry on this.” What they intend to say is, “Put your John Hancock on this.” This idiom comes from John Hancock, the last signer of the Declaration of Independence, who signed his name in a large, flourishing script. John Henry, however, is […]

Swine Flue / H1N1

You can’t call it Swine Flu anymore. It’s H1N1, ever since U.S. pork producers lobbied to have it changed. The difference between the terms ‘Swine Flu’ and ‘H1N1’ is that Swine Flu just rolls off the tongue, while Aitch One En One does not. I therefore propose the following pronunciation for the overhyped malady: pronounce […]