Podcasts about Webster

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 3, 2026 is: tittle • TITT-ul • noun Used chiefly in British English, tittle refers to a very small part or amount; it is often paired with the word jot. In writing and printing on both sides of the pond, tittle also refers to a point or small sign used as a diacritical mark. // There is not a jot or tittle of evidence to support their claims. See the entry > Examples: "First-class engineering allows the listener to savour every sonic jot and tittle." — Clive Paget, The Guardian (London), 13 Feb. 2026 Did you know? When most of us dot our i's and cross our t's, our minds are with the words we are writing rather than the anatomy of the letters we employ. But those dots and crosses? The types who love type have names for them. The mark that sits above the lowercase i (as well as j) is known as a "tittle". Tittle comes from the Medieval Latin noun titulus, meaning "title," and has also been used over the centuries for diacritical marks including tildes, as well as any small mark or sign in writing or printing—hence the figurative use of tittle to refer to a very small part of something. For those curious about additional letter components, stroke refers to one of the lines that form a letter, including the horizontal lines that mark the lowercase letters t and f (which may be described more specifically as a "cross strokes"). Typographers even have a word for the negative space enclosed by strokes, such as the hole in the letter o: it's known as a “counter.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 2, 2026 is: heterodox • HET-uh-ruh-dahks • adjective Like both unorthodox and unconventional, heterodox describes something, such an idea or belief, that is contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or an established religion. Heterodox can also describe a person or group that holds unorthodox opinions or doctrines. // The two new faculty members' heterodox approach to teaching science initially met with some resistance from their peers. See the entry > Examples: “The result is what researchers call the ‘spiral of silence' (Noelle-Neumann, 1974), which describes the process by which dissenters go quiet, fearing social backlash; this, in turn, makes other dissenters feel even more alone, producing a false consensus that further suppresses dissent. The group appears unanimous, and everyone with a heterodox view assumes they're the only one.” — The Open Therapy Institute, Psychology Today, 22 June 2026 Did you know? Hot take: individuals often see other people's ideas as unconventional while regarding their own as common sense. On second thought, this take may be more on the mild side—in other words, closer to orthodox (“conventional”) insight about human nature than to heterodox (“unconventional” or “contrary”) opinion. Both orthodox and heterodox developed from the same root, the Greek doxa, meaning “opinion.” Heterodox combines doxa with heter-, a combining form meaning “other” or “different”; orthodox pairs doxa with orth-, meaning “correct” or “straight.”

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Links For The Occult Rejectshttps://linktr.ee/theoccultrejectsOccult Research Institutehttps://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/Substackhttps://substack.com/@theoccultrejects?r=7auau0&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-pageCash Apphttps://cash.app/$theoccultrejectsVenmo@TheOccultRejectsPatreonhttps://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejectsBibliographyPrimary Sources, Historical Texts, Legal Sources, and Reference WorksÆlfric of Eynsham. Ælfric's Catholic Homilies: The First Series: Text. Edited by Peter Clemoes. Early English Text Society, Supplementary Series 17. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.Ælfric of Eynsham. Ælfric's Catholic Homilies: The Second Series: Text. Edited by Malcolm Godden. Early English Text Society, Supplementary Series 5. London: Oxford University Press for the Early English Text Society, 1979.Attenborough, F. L., ed. and trans. The Laws of the Earliest English Kings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.Bosworth, Joseph, and T. Northcote Toller. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1898; Supplement, 1921. See also the revised Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, especially the entries for wicca, wicce, wiccedōm, and related terms.Elliger, Karl, and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. 5th corrected ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1997.England. 33 Henry VIII c. 8. An Act concerning Witchcrafts and Sorcery (1542).England. 5 Elizabeth I c. 16. An Act against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts (1563).England. 1 James I c. 12. An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked Spirits (1604).Great Britain. 9 George II c. 5. An Act to repeal the Statute made in the first Year of the Reign of King James the First, intituled, An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked Spirits... Commonly known as the Witchcraft Act 1735; royal assent 1736.Great Britain. Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951, 14 & 15 Geo. 6 c. 33.Forshall, Josiah, and Frederic Madden, eds. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocryphal Books, in the Earliest English Versions Made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and His Followers. 4 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1850.Gardner, Gerald B. Witchcraft Today. London: Rider and Company, 1954.Gifford, George. A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcraftes. London: John Windet for Tobie Cooke and Mihil Hart, 1593.Krapp, George Philip, ed. The Junius Manuscript. Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records 1. New York: Columbia University Press, 1931.Liebermann, Felix, ed. Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen. 3 vols. in 4. Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1903–1916.Lyly, John. Mother Bombie. London: Thomas Scarlet for Cuthbert Burby, 1594.Murray, Margaret Alice. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921.Perkins, William. A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft: So Farre Forth as It Is Revealed in the Scriptures, and Manifest by True Experience. Published by Thomas Pickering. Cambridge, 1608.Rahlfs, Alfred, ed. Septuaginta. Revised by Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006.Robertson, A. J., ed. and trans. The Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1925.Tyndale, William. The Pentateuch. 1530. For a modern edition, see Tyndale's Old Testament, edited by David Daniell. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.Weber, Robert, and Roger Gryson, eds. Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam Versionem. 5th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007.Webster, Noah. An American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: S. Converse, 1828.The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New. London: Robert Barker, 1611.Modern ScholarshipApps, Lara, and Andrew Gow. Male Witches in Early Modern Europe. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003.Arthur, Ciaran. “Charms,” Liturgies, and Secret Rites in Early Medieval England. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2018.Bostridge, Ian. Witchcraft and Its Transformations, c.1650–c.1750. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.Briggs, Robin. Witches and Neighbours: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft. London: HarperCollins, 1996.Clark, Stuart. Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.Cohn, Norman. Europe's Inner Demons: An Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch-Hunt. New York: Basic Books, 1975.Davies, Owen. Cunning-Folk: Popular Magic in English History. London: Hambledon and London, 2003.Davies, Owen. Witchcraft, Magic and Culture, 1736–1951. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999.Doyle White, Ethan. Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2016.Gaskill, Malcolm. Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Gaskill, Malcolm. Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches. London: Fourth Estate, 2001.Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.Hutton, Ronald. The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017.Levack, Brian P. The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe. 4th ed. London: Routledge, 2016.Liberman, Anatoly. Word Origins ... and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.Liberman, Anatoly, with J. Lawrence Mitchell. An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008.Macfarlane, Alan. Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970. 2nd ed. with an introduction by James Sharpe, London: Routledge, 1999.Purkiss, Diane. The Witch in History: Early Modern and Twentieth-Century Representations. London: Routledge, 1996.Sharpe, J. A. Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in England, 1550–1750. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1996.Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971.Wilby, Emma. Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2005.Particularly Useful Digital and Archival ResourcesFolger Shakespeare Library. Digital editions and catalog records for John Lyly's Mother Bombie, George Gifford's A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcraftes, and William Perkins's A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft.The National Archives (UK). Early Modern Witch Trials teaching collection, including the transcript and archival image of the 1604 Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked Spirits.UK Parliament, Living Heritage. “Witchcraft,” overview of the English witchcraft statutes and their legal history.UK Legislation. Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951, official text.Dictionary of Old English / Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto.Oxford English Dictionary. Entries for witch, witchcraft, wizard, warlock, and related historical forms.Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball. 

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 1, 2026 is: slew • SLOO • noun Slew is an informal word for a large number of people or things. // The pile of junk mail included a slew of catalogs. See the entry > Examples: “The nonalcoholic drinks category has expanded so much in recent years that it's not uncommon to find a list of thoughtful, complex nonalcoholic beverages on a bar or restaurant's cocktail menu—yes, even outside of the major cities. And it's even easier to enjoy alcohol-free beverages at home thanks to a slew of brands making really good alcohol alternatives that you can order online and have delivered directly to your door.” — Carina Finn and Emily Farris, Bon Appétit, 31 Dec. 2025 Did you know? Slew appeared as an American colloquialism in the early 19th century. Its origins are unclear, but it may have come from the Irish word slua, a descendant of slúag, an Old Irish word meaning “army,” “host,” or “throng.” Indeed, the earliest known uses of slew appear in a martial context, from a historical novel by Daniel Pierce Thompson about Vermont and the Green Mountain Boys, a militia organized in Vermont during the American Revolution. In one scene, one of the Boys tells leader Ethan Allen that “there's more than a hundred slew of men coming!” Later, British General Burgoyne is said to have “drawn up a whole slew of cannon.” But despite this early military setting, slew is not limited to troops or artillery; a slew of data shows the word describing nearly anything existing in abundance.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 30, 2026 is: epistemic • ep-uh-STEE-mik • adjective Epistemic means "of or relating to knowledge or knowing." // He's a brilliant teacher who has the epistemic humility to know that there is always more to learn. See the entry > Examples: "Is a novel's primary purpose to entertain or to deepen our experience of being alive—to offer escape or epistemic enrichment?" — Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 8 July 2026 Did you know? If you're not in the know about the history of epistemic, allow us to enlighten you. The term's root is the Greek word epistḗmē, meaning "skill, expertise, knowledge,” and specifically “scientific knowledge” (as opposed to practical skill). Epistḗmē in turn comes from the verb epístamai, meaning "to have the skill, to know how, to have knowledge of, to understand." Epístamai itself combines the prefix epi-, meaning "upon" or "attached to," with the verb hístēmi, histánai, meaning "to cause to stand." (Tidbit: histánai is also an ancestor of the English words system, stand, and, of course, understand.) The study of the nature and grounds of knowledge is called epistemology, and one who engages in such study is known as an epistemologist.

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We talk about money, magic, manifestation, messages and more with Jamie Alyson Feldman and Rachel Webster (⁠Debt Heads⁠)! And Jessica brings us a listener story about dreams. Please send us your own true paranormal experiences in either a voice memo or e-mail to funnyfeelingpod@gmail.com. SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. ⁠⁠⁠spectrevisionradio.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 29, 2026 is: argot • AHR-goh • noun Argot refers to the language or set of words used by a particular group of people. // The novels were such a success that fans began communicating in the secret argot spoken by the series' characters. See the entry > Examples: “[Lenny] Bruce, born Leonard Alfred Schneider on Long Island, quit school at 16 and got his start telling jokes at a Brooklyn nightclub for $12 a week. … He developed his act in ... jazz joints around Southern California in the mid-1950s. He riffed in a Beatnik argot, and his act took on the flavor of improvisational jazz.” — Christopher Goffard, The Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2026 Did you know? English borrowed argot from French in the early 1800s, although the language already had several words basically covering its meaning. Jargon, the Anglo-French ancestor of which meant “twittering of birds,” had been used for specialized (and often obscure or pretentious) vocabulary since the 1600s. There was also lingo, from the Latin word lingua, meaning “language”; that term had been in use for more than a century. English novelist and lawyer Henry Fielding used it of “court gibberish”—what we tend to call legalese. And speaking of legalese, the suffix -ese is a newer means of indicating specialized argot. One of its very first applications at the turn of the 20th century was for “American ‘golfese.'”

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Webster is getting an Olive Garden and a guy did something awful on a from ROC Airport. Subscribe at www.patreon.com/innerlooppodcast

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 28, 2026 is: fungible • FUN-juh-bul • adjective Fungible describes things, such as currency, goods, and commodities, that can be exchanged for something else of the same kind or value. In broader usage, fungible can also mean “interchangeable,” as well as “readily changeable to adapt to new situations.” // A dollar bill is considered fungible because it can easily and acceptably be traded for ten dimes, four quarters, twenty nickels, or one hundred pennies, as well as any other dollar bill. // Since fruits and vegetables are regarded as fungible in this diet, you are allowed a total of five servings of either or both. // Some baseball team managers set their batting orders in stone, while others prefer to keep their lineups fungible, to respond to the strengths or weaknesses of different opposing pitchers. See the entry > Examples: “... bitcoin is regulated differently from securities such as stocks and bonds. It's treated as a tradable, fungible asset whose value is determined by global supply and demand.” — Becca Bratcher, Forbes, 12 Aug. 2025 Did you know? Before expectations about the origins of fungible mushroom into mycological fantasy: no, fungible has no relation to the noun fungus and its plural fungi. The fungi in fungible is there because of the Latin verb fungi, meaning “to perform,” ancestor of both fungible and function. Fungible is considerably less familiar than its cousin to most English users, but it pops up like toadstools (sorry) in legal, technological, and economic contexts. Something described as fungible can be exchanged for something else of the same kind. For example, when we say “oil is a fungible commodity,” we mean that when a purchaser is expecting a delivery of oil, any oil of the stipulated quantity and quality will usually do. Another example of something fungible is cash. It doesn't matter what twenty dollar bill you get—it's still worth the same amount as any other twenty dollar bill. In contrast, something like a work of art (or an NFT, aka a “non-fungible token”) isn't fungible; a purchaser would expect a specific, identifiable item to be delivered. In broader use, fungible can mean “interchangeable,” or sometimes “readily changeable to adapt to new situations.”

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