Etymology & Linguistics
The history and derivation of words that tickle our fancy. Dictionary shorthand of the etymology entries in dictionaries explained in plain English, so you can understand what it all means!
Synchronicity & Wyrd
Strange relations between words and concepts, linguistic synchronicity, and odd observations that seem to be of a magickal, mystical nature.
Speculation & Tall Tales
Wild speculation and tall tales told about what these strange relations and synchronicity could mean in the grand scheme of things.
HELLO, AND WELCOME!
My name is Mike! I hold a Bachelors and Masters degrees, both in Linguistics, from USCS (’98 and’00). I didn’t go into academia. I became a martial arts teacher instead, because it was fun and better for my health. However, I never stopped observing, analyzing, and speculating on language for the past 2 decades that I’ve been studying and teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and MMA in Santa Cruz, CA.
I’m also a musician and have wild and varied interests in history, conspiracy theory, mythology, magick, mysticism, esoteric science, synchronicity, heavy metal, role-playing games, and fantasy literature. Over the years I’ve rattled my students and close friends’ ears off about all my Wyrd thoughts. On any given day of class, we learn arm bars while discussing quantum physics, who killed Kennedy, or the etymology of the words that happen to come up in our conversations. Some of the students and staff at FreeFall MMA have started to characterize our school as the ‘Nerd Dojo.’ Many of my friends and students have told me I should write a book or three about my crazy musings.
A book is a lot of work. I decided to start with blog, so I can reacquaint myself with the art of writing. And now you have stumbled upon that blog!
Won’t you come in?
Do I really need to tell you to subscribe to my blog, sign up for email updates, or like it, and share it, and all that? I mean, I feel like that’s just what people do if they like what they’ve found…. To read or not to read? That is the question.