Wood On Words
Can’t get enough words about words with Sunday’s newspaper column? Then this blog’s for you, my word-craving friend. I work the late shift, so don’t look for responses until the next day.

One candidate’s Wright of spring

May 8th, 2008 at 02:45pm Barry Wood

Many people not named Obama have been having fun with the Rev. Wright episode, including wordplay with the name “Wright” (see shameless example above).

What I haven’t seen, and I don’t see everything, is any comment on his first name, Jeremiah, which also was the name of a Hebrew prophet.

From Jeremiah’s lamentations in the Bible, his name can be applied to any “person pessimistic about the future,” and the noun “jeremiad” is “a long lamentation or complaint.”

But, hey, what’s in a name?

Entry Filed under: word origins

1 Comment Add your own

  • 1. Pat Cunningham  |  May 9th, 2008 at 8:23 am

    Hey, word dude, have you ever addressed the common misuse of the word “media” as a singular? That’s a pet peeve of mine, and I’d appreciate it if you’d give folks the straight skinny on this matter. Not that I’m a Latin scholar, per se. (Get it? Latin? Per se? That line cracked ‘em up in the Roman Senate back in the day.)

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