science

Michael Quinion

Michael Quinion is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Michael Quinion rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Brian Quinion (born c. 1942) is a British etymologist and writer. He ran World Wide Words, a website devoted to linguistics.

Key takeaways

Michael Quinion belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Michael Quinion to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michael Quinion from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michael Brian Quinion (born c. 1942) is a British etymologist and writer. He ran World Wide Words, a website devoted to linguistics. He graduated from Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied physical sciences and after which he joined BBC radio as a studio manager.

Writer Quinion has contributed extensively to the Oxford English Dictionary as well as the Oxford Dictionary of New Words (Second Edition, 1996). He has since written Ologies and Isms (a 2002 dictionary of affixes) and Port Out, Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths (2004), published in the US as Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins His most recent book is Gallimaufry: A Hodgepodge of Our Vanishing Vocabulary (2006). He wrote two books about orcharding and cidermaking, one titled Cidermaking (published by Shire Publications), the other, A Drink for Its Time, published by the Cider Museum in Hereford, where he served as curator.

World Wide Words Quinion is the author and webmaster of World Wide Words, a site that documents the meaning and derivation of English language words and phrases. It covers a wide range of issues, including etymology, grammar, neologisms, writing style and book reviews. This site explores International English from a British viewpoint. The website features a large database of word-related topics, weird words, articles on word and phrase origins, and answers to questions from site visitors. It also offers a free weekly newsletter, which contains the latest additions to the database one week before they are posted on the website. The time delay allows for newsletter subscribers to respond with additional insights and comments, some of which may be included on the posted articles. On 18 October 2014, Quinion announced that in future his newsletters would be published less frequently because writing a scheduled weekly newsletter had become increasingly arduous. In early 2017, Quinion sent out a message to newsletter subscribers stating that for unspecified personal reasons he was suspending publication of World Wide Words. Then on 4 March 2017, Quinion released to subscribers confirmation that the newsletter would be immediately permanently ended due to his personal circumstances as well as his own changing personal interests. A recurring theme in Quinion's articles is the criticism of false etymology. Such popular etymologies often have the effect of obscuring the true origins of a word or expression by providing a misleading and often unsubstantiated story explaining its origin. Quinion's Port Out, Starboard Home (Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds in the US) deals with many such etymologies.

Bibliography A Drink for Its Time: Farm Cider Making in the Western Counties 1979 Cidermaking 1982, 2009 Ologies and Isms: A Dictionary of Word Beginnings and Endings 2002 Port Out, Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths 2004 Gallimaufry: A Hodgepodge of Our Vanishing Vocabulary 2006 Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins 2006 Why is Q Always Followed by U?: Word-Perfect Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Language 2009

Notes

References

External links World Wide Words Michael Quinion personal page

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Quinion

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Quinion claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Michael Quinion before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Michael Quinion ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Michael Quinion

In research: Michael Quinion appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Michael Quinion in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Michael Quinion is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940s births, 20th-century British linguists, 20th-century British non-fiction writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Quinion outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Michael Quinion in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michael Quinion means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Michael Quinion out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Quinion in simple terms?

Michael Brian Quinion (born c. 1942) is a British etymologist and writer. He ran World Wide Words, a website devoted to linguistics.

Why does Michael Quinion matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Michael Quinion?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Michael Quinion.