lettuce

lettuce

noun

I like a little lettuce and tomato on my sandwiches.

cabbage

cabbage

noun

heartfelt

heartfelt

adjective

a heartfelt thank-you

You have our heartfelt thanks.

abyss

abyss

noun

looking down at the dark ocean from the ship’s rail, the cruise passenger felt as though he was staring into an abyss

laborious

laborious

adjective

Such painstaking and laborious reworking and rewriting was Bohr‘s preferred working method, an approach he also took to his scientific tasks. - The Quantum Ten: A Story of Passion, Tragedy, Ambition and Science, by Sheilla Jones

The language has seen rapid uptake by technology companies eager to harden their code, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, but converting older software into Rust is a laborious and expensive process. — IEEE Spectrum, 28 Jan. 2026

redoubtable

redoubtable

adjective

There is a new biography of the redoubtable Winston Churchill.

tenet

tenet

noun

the central tenets of a religion

strip

strip

verb

I stripped the bed and washed the sheets.

They stripped the room when they left.

embark

embark

verb

embarked on a new career

Millions of Europeans embarked for America in the late 19th century.

aspire

aspire

verb

She aspired to a career in medicine.

scorn

scorn

noun

They treated his suggestion with scorn.

imbibe

imbibe

verb

She imbibed vast quantities of coffee.

ire

ire

noun

He directed his ire at the coworkers who reported the incident.

allergy

allergy

noun

His plant and pollen allergies were dreadful.

wretched

wretched

adjective

families living in wretched poverty

What a wretched performance that was.

dressed in wretched old clothes

cut out

cut out

adjective

not cut out for this job

showdown

showdown

noun

A showdown between the two seemed inevitable.

guesswork

guesswork

noun

Their actions are more likely to be guided by guesswork rather than systematic analysis.

comeuppance

comeuppance

noun

One of these days, he’ll get his comeuppance for treating people so arrogantly.

far-reaching

far-reaching

adjective

a far-reaching decision

far-fetched

far-fetched

adjective

gave some far-fetched excuse

name-calling

name-calling

noun

Other concerning behaviors may include constant messaging, controlling actions, name-calling, threats, or refusing to respect your boundaries. — Elissa Jorgensen, Dallas Morning News, 9 Jan. 2026

flair

flair

noun

a flair for the dramatic

wunderkind

wunderkind

noun

A former wunderkind of computer science, Lennox is now 50.

piecemeal

piecemeal

adverb

remodeled their house piecemeal because of budgetary constraints

adjective

Some people want the changes to be made all at once, but I think we should take a more piecemeal approach.

crybaby

crybaby

noun

“Don’t be such a crybaby,” she told her little sister.

Hugo ended his letter. “For God’s sake, Don’t be a crybaby!” - The Quantum Ten: A Story of Passion, Tragedy, Ambition and Science, by Sheilla Jones

breath

breath

noun

It’s so cold outside that I can see my breath.

breathe

breathe

verb

breathe air

breathe the scent of roses

In an interview in the 1970s, Bell summarized his view of the decades long debates:

Einstein was consistent, clear, down-to-earth and wrong.
Bohr was inconsistent, unclear, willfully obscure and right.

---

• Bohr–Einstein debates
• Closing the Door on Einstein and Bohr’s Quantum Debate
• Einstein Wrong in Bohr Debate, New Experiment Proves 98 Years Later

Optimal Bounds for Open Addressing Without Reordering

Martin Farach-Colton, Andrew Krapivin, William Kuszmaul

https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.02305

In this paper, we revisit one of the simplest problems in data structures: the task of inserting elements into an open-addressed hash table so that elements can later be retrieved with as few probes as possible. We show that, even without reordering elements over time, it is possible to construct a hash table that achieves far better expected search complexities (both amortized and worst-case) than were previously thought possible. Along the way, we disprove the central conjecture left by Yao in his seminal paper Uniform Hashing is Optimal. All of our results come with matching lower bounds.

---

Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture

Tiny Pointers

Michael A. Bender, Alex Conway, Martín Farach-Colton, William Kuszmaul, Guido Tagliavini

https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.12800

This paper introduces a new data-structural object that we call the tiny pointer. In many applications, traditional \( log n \) -bit pointers can be replaced with \( O(log n) \) -bit tiny pointers at the cost of only a constant-factor time overhead. We develop a comprehensive theory of tiny pointers, and give optimal constructions for both fixed-size tiny pointers (i.e., settings in which all of the tiny pointers must be the same size) and variable-size tiny pointers (i.e., settings in which the average tiny-pointer size must be small, but some tiny pointers can be larger). If a tiny pointer references an element in an array filled to load factor , then the optimal tiny-pointer size is bits in the fixed-size case, and expected bits in the variable-size case. Our tiny-pointer constructions also require us to revisit several classic problems having to do with balls and bins; these results may be of independent interest.
Using tiny pointers, we revisit five classic data-structure problems: the data-retrieval problem, succinct dynamic binary search trees, space-efficient stable dictionaries, space-efficient dictionaries with variable-size keys, and the internal-memory stash problem. These are all well-studied problems, and in each case tiny pointers allow for us to take a natural space-inefficient solution that uses pointers and make it space-efficient for free.

Du-Hwang Characteristic Area: Catch-22

A.O.Ivanov, A.A.Tuzhilin

https://arxiv.org/abs/1402.6079

The paper is devoted to description of two interconnected mistakes generated by the gap in the Du and Hwang approach to Gilbert-Pollack Steiner ratio conjecture.

put down

put him down with a sharp retort

put down the gossip

he has the annoying habit of putting down others under the guise of offering constructive criticism

one in a million

Thanks for all the help you’ve given me. You’re one in a million.

a chance in a million

Though Mrs. Busssman fully acquainted with this story, she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right. A few days later, she sent a boy to the workman to ask him if his name was Hans Bussman. Needless to say, the man’s name was Hans Bussman and he really was Franz’s long-lost brother. - Lesson 36 A chance in a million, New Concept English Book 3: Developing Skills

as every schoolboy/schoolchild knows

As every schoolboy knows, the earth revolves around the sun.

hammer out

In the year from 1925 to 1927, they were hammering out a mathematically logical physics to describe how the quantum world operated (quantum mechanics) and struggling to come up with a sensible explantion for why the quantum world behaved as it did (quantum theory). They succeeded at one but fumbled the other. - The Quantum Ten, by Sheilla Jones

alma mater

Ehrenfest recalled his first meeting with Schrödinger, back in 1912 at the Boltzmann library in the University of Vienna, his old alma mater. - The Quantum Ten, by Sheilla Jones

at sea

I said we had to do two things. First is to be a bastion. The second is to be a beacon – an example to a world at sea. - Building Canada together: Prime Minister Carney delivers remarks at the Citadelle of Québec

snowed in

The road was snowed in.

How to survive if you’re snowed in during a winter storm

Don’t wait until you’re snowed in to order a shovel — get one now. — Amanda Tarlton, USA TODAY, 23 Dec. 2020

whatever

whatever

pronoun

take whatever you want

whatever he says, they won’t believe him

adjective

There’s no evidence whatever to support your theory.

adverb

go see a movie, watch TV,—whatever

whatsoever

whatsoever

pronoun or adjective

• whatever

matter-of-fact

matter-of-fact

adjective

All his life Paul Dirac had a simple and matter-of-fact way of talking.

half-truth

half-truth

noun

Unfortunately this is only a half-truth.

longan

longan

noun

gulp

gulp

verb

She told him not to gulp his food.

introverted

introverted

adjective

a quiet, introverted child who likes to sit at home and read books

Even Ehrenfest, with his keen interest in people, had been unable to get the introverted Dirac to open up. - The Quantum Ten: A Story of Passion, Tragedy, Ambition and Science, by Sheilla Jones

tacit

tacit

adjective

tacit consent

Magic requires tacit cooperation of the audience with the magician—an abandonment of skepticism … the willing suspension of disbelief. — Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, 1996

crunch

crunch

noun

Crunch, crunch, crunch, his feet sank into the snow.

interdisciplinary

interdisciplinary

adjective

Modern mathematics is a very social, networked experience. The trend is very much towards interdisciplinary, highly collaborative research. - Terence Tao

retell

retell

verb

The movie retells the story of Romeo and Juliet.

paddle

paddle

noun

table tennis paddle

pothole

pothole

noun

by and large

by and large

adverb

But by and large, the American people are good people. — ABC News, 28 Dec. 2025

canola

canola

noun

canola oil

Use canola oil or another neutral cooking oil in place of olive oil. — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 13 Dec. 2025

quintessential

quintessential

adjective

Beethoven is considered the quintessential bridge between the Classical and Romantic eras.

Heisenberg was the quintessential handsome German lad, fair-haired and blue-eyed. - The Quantum Ten, by Sheilla Jones

slop

slop

noun

The rise of AI has raised concerns about low-quality content, aka “AI slop.”

watching the usual slop on TV

cleaned the slops out of the cow barn

verb

She slopped coffee on her sweater.

technocrat

technocrat

noun

Carney is ideologically characterized as a centrist, technocrat, and a Blue Grit Liberal.

beacon

beacon

noun

These countries are beacons of democracy.

frosty

frosty

adjective

Frosty the Snowman

cordial

cordial

adjective

a cordial welcome

flounder

flounder

noun

saury

saury

noun

puffer fish

puffer fish

noun

tuna

tuna

noun

lemur

lemur

noun

meerkat

meerkat

noun

bald

bald

adjective

He covered his bald head with a baseball cap.

He had gone completely bald by the age of 30.

Bald eagle nests are often very large in order to compensate for size of the birds. The largest recorded nest was found in Florida in 1963, and was measured at 2.9 m (9.5 ft) wide and 6.1 m (20 ft) deep.

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

---

Solitude

by Lynette Roberts

She left the hut and bright log fire at noon
And walked outside on crisp white winter snow
To find the iced slopes shadowed like the moon,
The wild wood desolate and bare below;
The red trees wet, adrift with icy flow,
The evergreens with glassy needled leaves;
A bloodstone veined red and white this view weaves.

But lifted off the path like crystal spheres
There lay cut prints of glinting stylised forms
Of birds not seen, large sparkling twig-like spears,
And squirrel pricks where fox’s paw transforms
White single roses out of petal storms;
While keltic scrolls transcribe where birds had been:
Then stamped in ice another track was seen.

A slight right turn of foot. She sensed him there,
Tree like with raincoat shouldered, fine large looks,
A four-armed god. From this sweet honeyed snare
She turned, upspraying, Marsh Tits, Finch and Rooks,
Through brushwood hills, seeing by frosted brooks
His footprints: these she retraced like a bride
With loaves and wood returned to his keen side.

---

• Winter Walk
• Poem of the week: Winter Walk by Lynette Roberts

Oxford Dictionaries

The Oxford Word of the Year 2025 is rage bait

Collins

The Collins Word of the Year 2025 is vibe coding

The Cambridge Dictionary

The Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year 2025 is parasocial

If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

No sweet without sweat.

No pains, no gains.

He that is once born, once must die.

No man knows when he shall die, although he knows he must die.

A dead bee makes no honey.

A dead mouse feels no cold.

Dead dogs bark not.

Praise a fair day at night.

Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.

We must live by the living, not by the dead.

The devil is not black as he is painted.

Sooner begun, sooner done.

No time like the present.

One good turn deserves another.

Good hand, good hire.

Like fault, like punishment.

Such answer as man gives, such will he get.

Every man after his fashion.

Every one to his taste.

So many men, so many options.

All roads lead to Rome.

Diligence makes an expert workman.

Business is the salt of life.

No bees, no honey; no work, no money.

First come, first served.

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

Bread is the staff of life.

The belly carries the legs.

Eat to live and not live to eat.

After dinner sit awhile, after supper walk a mile.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

There is no royal road to learning.

Never too late to learn.

Everything must have a beginning.

Everything has an end.

Garbage in, garbage out.

Practise what you preach.

Example is better than precept.

Practice makes perfect.

Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.

Let bygones be bygones.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

God helps them that help themselves.

A good heart conquers ill fortune.

All happiness is in the mind.

Laughter is the best medicine.

A merry heart goes all the way.

Great hopes make great men.

Hope for the best.

Tomorrow is another day.

Every man has his faults.

To err is human.

Forgive and forget.

Every path has a puddle.

Life is short and time is swift.

Life begins at forty.

It is easy to be wise after the event.

Better be safe than sorry.

Everyman for himself, and God for us all.

Skill is no burden.

A little body often harbours a great soul.

Many small maka a great.

Time and tide wait for no man.

Now is now, and then was then.

Travel broadens the mind.

The language of truth is simple.

It is too late to call back yesterday.

Time flies.

Time will tell.

Times change and we with them.

be supposed to

You are supposed to listen to your parents.

slip/escape someone’s mind

His name slips/escapes my mind at the moment.

pay off

I finally paid off the loan.

beat the rush

I suggested that we get there by 11:30 to beat the lunchtime rush.

miss the boat

missed the boat on buying stock in the company early on

kettle of fish

I’m used to paddling, but those rapids are a whole other kettle of fish.