Something or someone that’s “redoubtable” (rih-DOW-tuh-bul) - from the French for “to dread” - is formidable, arousing fear or worthy of respect.
Example (as used by Nicholas Delbanco in The Lost Suitcase): “At the head of the table, as committee chair, sat the redoubtable Howard Mumford Jones - a teacher famed even at Harvard for his [...]

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Next time you buy mints to freshen your breath, give yourself a fun little treat at the same time. When you bite into a Life Savers Wint-O-Green mint in the dark, sparks will fly. This happens because of the crystal structure of the sugar in the candy. Electrons fly from one side of the mint [...]

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“Officious” (uh-FISH-us) - from the Latin for “a sense of duty” - is another way of saying “meddlesome.”
Example (as used by Ken Follett in Code to Zero): “The guy was an officious twerp, but Luke and Pete were vagrants, and a railroad employee had the right to throw them out.”
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive [...]

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“I’ve just got to say how much I look forward to, and love, my daily ‘fix’ of ETR. I like it even more than my daily ‘fix’ of coffee - and that’s a damn lot!!
“Many thanks to you and all your colleagues. Keep up the good work.
“Cheers!”
Mike Coates
Liverpool, England
[Ed. Note: Want to get your name [...]

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It may seem a self-centered pastime, but keeping a journal is actually an excellent goal-setting tool. It can help you figure out a direction for your life, and then guide you where you want to go.
A journal you use for that purpose - recording, revising, and recommitting yourself to your goals - becomes a log [...]

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A “hachure” (ha-SHOOR) - from the French for “crosshatch” - is one of the short lines used on maps to shade or to indicate slopes and their degree and direction.
Example (as used by Zadie Smith in White Teeth): “It was an extreme close-up of an old man, the contours of his face clearly defined by [...]

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Mixed drinks have been taken to a new level of manliness. “Everything is better with bacon,” claims the owner of Jake’s Dixie Roadhouse (although we can think of a few things that wouldn’t be). He invented the Bacon Bloody Mary by frying up some applewood smoked bacon and letting it soak in vodka for a [...]

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“What are you doing for lunch today?” I asked Jessica Kurrle, ETR’s Marketing Director.
“Hmm… I definitely want a sub. I’ve had this sub song stuck in my head all morning. You know, the one that goes: ‘5… 5 dollar… 5 dollar foot-long.’”
“Oh,” I said “The Subway song.”
“Is that what it’s for? I didn’t remember that [...]

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Example (as used by Caroline Winterer in The Culture of Classicism): “American classics teachers’ choice… to focus on grammar rather than other aspects of the classical inheritance resulted from their primary pedagogical goals: to mold gentlemen who navigated between sciolism and pedantry, ministers who could intelligently read the Bible, and citizens who were moral and [...]

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We all have troubles. In many ways, they define our lives. But, according to philosopher Abraham Kaplan, we can deal with them more effectively if we recognize them as either problems or predicaments.
The difference? Problems, says Kaplan, can be solved. Predicaments can only be coped with.
If you work in downtown Baltimore, for example, you may [...]

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