W.I.P. of the Day 10/14/2013

Saying one is nonplussed seems to becoming back into style. I have noticed it lately in several TV shows and in recent novels. To be honest I thought at first it was what I call a designer word because it is trendy to say so and really that still may be the case. However, because it has not been over used, as of yet, I am not yet offended and actually kind of like it.

Nonplus means that a person is surprised, bewildered or dumbfounded to the point that they are actually speechless.

"I am nonplussed, honestly I don't know how to respond to that"!

W.I.P. of the Day 10/12/2013

I am going to introduce a new type of post for this blog. It is called W.I.P. of the Day which means word, idiom or phrase of the day. One of the things that I find fascinating is the Etymology of words, idioms and phrases. Some of this type of speech will be language that we use a lot, falling out of use or have become extinct.This is language that I find interesting and would like to re-introduce in our speech.

So with out further ado.

Hobson's Choice

We actually use this phrase still to this very day but we use the more familiar "Take it or leave it"! It is when you have an illusion of choice but you really have only one choice to make. This expression orginated with Thomas Hobson back between 1544 and 1631. He had a stable of 40 horses, but he would offer his customers the choice of either taking the horse nearest to the door of the stable or none at all. This was so that his horses would get rotated enough so that go plenty of exercise.