Hope Archives – A Way with Words

Respair, A Return to Hope

Posted by Grant Barrett on November 14, 2020 · Add Comment

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Leaving Your Creative Fields Fallow

Posted by Grant Barrett on September 12, 2020 · Add Comment

In an essay in LitHub, Kate Angus urges writers to be kind to themselves when they have a creative block. Sometimes you can get past it simply by letting yourself not write at all, with the hope that lying fallow for a while may be just what you need to replenish and revive your imagination. [...]
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Current-Event Limerick Quiz

Posted by Grant Barrett on July 28, 2012 · Add Comment

Hope you’ve been checking the headlines, because our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a new set of current-event limericks. What’s been “occupied?” How long did the Kardashian marriage last? And who made ambiguous the definition of the word “winning”? This is part of a complete episode.
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silo funding

Posted by Grant Barrett on December 9, 2004 · Add Comment

silo funding other.— «But they don’t just dole out money and tell communities where to spend it. “That’s what you call silo funding—pour money in at the top and let it just come out at the bottom.”» —“Faith, Hope&Mdash;No Charity Handouts” Nottingham Evening Post (U.K.) Mar. 4, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
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without keys

Posted by Grant Barrett on November 28, 2004 · Add Comment

without keys adj.— «He was homeless—without even a car to sleep in. He was, in homeless parlance—”without keys.”» —“Giving homeless vets new hope” by Louise Continelli Buffalo News (N.Y.) Nov. 28, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
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dementia americana

Posted by Grant Barrett on June 25, 2004 · Add Comment

dementia americana n.— «“Ah, gentlemen,” said Mr. Delmas, dramatically, turning to the alienists who testified for the prosecution, “if you desire a name for this species of insanity let me suggest it—call it dementia Americana. That is the species of insanity which makes every American man believe his home to be sacred; that is the species [...]
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