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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Phrased & Confused has a UK edition, with a few vocabulary shifts. Tidbits became titbits. Persnickety became pernickety. And the median became the central reservation. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnstein also runs Spelling Bae, an adult but beginner-friendly spelling bee. For years it was a monthly bar event, first in Toronto, then a bit in London. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Guilt tends to be about what we did or didn't do. Shame tends to be about who we are or aren't. You might feel ashamed of your flabby muscles and guilty for not going to the gym. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A heavier, more abstract example: shame vs. guilt. The words can overlap, and words have multiple senses, so Burnstein looks only at the senses that could be confused or conflated. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Still, if you want to be extra crisp in your writing, you can use these "vestigial distinctions." We may still hear them, even if not consciously. "Crisp writing is a kind of whole body experience." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Case in point: convince vs. persuade. Time was, you'd persuade someone to do something but convince them to believe it. Persuade them to vote. Convince them of the importance of voting. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnstein says any book on language is a snapshot. You can't predict how things will shift, "nor do you want to be too kind of persnickety" about battles already lost. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnstein's other love is humor writing. The common denominator is a love of language and wordplay. Humor writers are always thinking about setups and punchlines, reading language in a very close-reader way. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

He peeled back everything he could doubt, like sense perceptions, memories, beliefs, and even his own body. Eventually he reached the one thing he couldn't doubt, the very fact that he was doubting. Hence, "I think, therefore I am." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Our fallibility gave Descartes pause. Anything he looked at could be an illusion, and he could be dreaming right now. So, if it can be doubted, doubt it. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Most of us have heard it and could probably guess at much of its meaning. René Descartes, the 17th-century philosopher, reflected on how often he'd been mistaken. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We asked about "I think, therefore I am," which opens the book. Burnstein says its interest lies partly in what it means, "but I think more importantly why it matters." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It became "a victim of its own success." The line escaped its origins, and many people don't know where it comes from. That's why it's a registered trademark of Texas transportation officials, who want it understood as an anti-littering message. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Roadside littering was rampant, so an ad agency was brought in and came up with the line. There was some hesitation at first, perhaps because it seemed a little too edgy. It was an overwhelming success. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"Don't mess with Texas." It's commonly thought to be a bit of Texan swagger, but it began as an anti-littering campaign, with a play on the word "mess." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

In context, it's closer to: stop worrying about tomorrow and enjoy today, "because that alone is ripe for the picking." Hence "pluck the day" or "harvest the day." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

What Horace had in mind was far less heroic, with less bravado than "seize the day" suggests. We tend to read it as reject mediocrity, grab the bull by the horns. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“Carpe diem,” commonly translated as “seize the day.” According to Latin experts, “pluck the day” is more accurate. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

But in Fitzgerald's day, plays typically had three acts, not two. He meant there are no middle acts. In the Roaring '20s, American life seemed so bounteous you could skip the hard part and "tap dance straight to success." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "There are no second acts in American lives." Celebrity journalists often open with it to disprove it, pointing to some politician or actor who had a whole second wave. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Later she wrote a book titled Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. In the introduction, she reflects on how the line took on a new meaning, and ultimately celebrates it. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Ulrich meant that well-behaved women seldom make history, but they should. Historians need to pay attention to the lives of ordinary women, not only "the Napoleons and great men of history." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It comes from an unlikely place: a "dry as dust academic article" about the lives of Puritans in early America, by the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

One commonly misunderstood line: "Well-behaved women seldom make history." It was an emblem of the women's liberation movement through the '70s, '80s, and '90s. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Are there non-verse examples that have gone astray? Burnstein says the philosophical, scholarly, and historical quotes lead to more unambiguous conclusions. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

On "wherefore art thou Romeo”: Via Tom Burnham's 1970s book The Dictionary of Misinformation: there's no comma in the line. If wherefore meant where, it'd be "Where are you, Romeo?" Instead: "Why are you Romeo?" The missing comma is "the icing on the cake." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Is it okay that we rewrite a line's meaning a little to fit our own circumstances? Burnstein says once a quote "becomes kind of common currency," it's inevitable it gets applied in new ways. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Poetic entries are especially tricky, Burnstein says, because "you want to be particularly delicate." A Paris Review essay, remembered as something like "the most misread poem in America," kicked off the research on this one. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnstein calls it "a kind of devious qualifier." The poem is really about how we make meaning after the fact out of seemingly random choices, and shape our lives into a story from them. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The key is the line right before the famous one: "I shall be telling this with a sigh," ages and ages hence, which might mean telling, not having actually done it. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

But read the earlier verses closely. The rambler at the fork says the two roads equally lay in leaves and had been worn "really about the same." They were more or less interchangeable. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We asked about one that comes up a lot: "a rose is a rose is a rose." Since it comes from a poem, "we have to be careful not to squeeze it too tight. It means lots of things." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

At "the deeper end of the philosophical pond": "I think therefore I am" and "the medium is the message." The goal is to unpack them "as briefly as possible without losing nuance." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnstein aims for "a little something for everyone, or at least for lovers of literature and philosophy and history." Some entries are light, like "Don't Mess with Texas." "Wherefore art thou" is in there too, as one of the shorter ones. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Phrased & Confused looks at famous quotations that are commonly misunderstood or enigmatic. "It is in that latter category that some of the philosophy kind of makes its way back in." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The first book, Dictionary of Fine Distinctions: Nuances, Niceties, and Subtle Shades of Meaning, looks at similar objects, ideas, and words and briefly disambiguates them, with illustrations. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"I got to kind of use the humor writing as a kind of Trojan horse to sneak in my true passion, which is philosophy of language, for lack of a better term." -Burnstein #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

After entering the work world, Burnstein started "noodling around with humor writing," submitting lots to The New Yorker and McSweeney's. After many rejections came a breakthrough and more regular contributions. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnstein studied philosophy in university and "even began and subsequently abandoned a PhD in philosophy…As much as I loved teaching, I think I wanted to write for a broader audience." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnstein on love of language: "That would certainly be the through line. If there is indeed a through line." The path here was "circuitous, to say the least." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We'd like to welcome Eli Burnstein to Episode 96 of That Word Chat! We're back from summer hiatus on Sept. 29, the release date for Eli's book Phrased & Confused: The Curious Meanings of Timeless Quotations. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

That Word Chat is back Sept. 29 with Eli Burnstein, on release day for “Phrased & Confused: The Curious Meanings of Timeless Quotations.” Grab your virtual seat: ThatWordChat.com 4:30 p.m. EDT (20:30 UTC). #ThatWordChat #AmReading #AmEditing #BookRelease

Promotional graphic for That Word Chat with Editor Mark Allen. Text reads: "Guest: Eli Burnstein. Sept. 29, 4:30 pm (ET). Author, Phrased & Confused: The Curious Meanings of Timeless Quotations. bit.ly/ThatWordChat." On the right is a photo of Eli Burnstein, a smiling man with a beard and glasses, wearing an olive jacket over a dark shirt against a brown background.

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Madeline Kripke kept 20,000 volumes in a Manhattan apartment: dictionaries, shoe store giveaways, and a king's copy of a 17th-century word book. #ThatWordChat guest Michael Adams talks about her collection and what is still being found inside. Watch: bit.ly/ThatWordVideo #Dictionaries #WordNerds

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

What's next for Adams? A limited-series podcast about Madeline Kripke: Dictionary people talking about what it was like to be in her apartment. "A wild ride, to say the least." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

He never made the trip. He hasn't found it in the collection yet, but every time he goes into an inventory box — he's still looking! #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Kripke kept emailing him: "When are you coming to New York? I have something I think you'd really want to see. I don't think I'm willing to sell it but you'd really want to see it." #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

The King and Queen weren't accepting gifts on the trip. So the press reframed it as "the sort of book any gentleman would want in his library." They accepted and received a specially bound and plated copy of all four volumes. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

In 1939, the marketing director at the University of Chicago Press had an idea: give King George VI and Queen Elizabeth a copy when they visited the United States. #ThatWordChat

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That Word Chat @thatwordchat.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Adams: "She absolutely was a scholar. She was part of the community of lexicography." She was a founding member of the Dictionary Society of North America in the mid-1970s. She attended every meeting until 2019, when she was too infirm to make the trip to Bloomington. #ThatWordChat

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