In the Loop: June 2024

Travel Light

Putting together this month's newsletter, we unearthed a lot of obscure and strange new (to us) travel-related words: fernweh (a feeling stronger than wanderlust), coddiwomple (travel in a purposeful manner toward a vague destination), eudaimonia (the happy feeling when you travel), and more. Now you know them, too.

Where will you travel? What destination calls to you? Do you plan every step of the way or do you let the journey unfold along the way?

First, read this month's newsletter, which includes all your favorite features—Q&A, What's the Diff?, Stuff We Like, What a Weird Word, and a guest blog by anthropologist Kim Clark. Second, get going (and take the scenic route).

Editing Q & A: The Lowdown; or, When to Lowercase Words Derived from Proper Names

Personal, national, or geographical names—and words derived from such names—are lowercased when used with a nonliteral meaning.

arabic numerals
brussels sprouts
champagne
dutch oven
frankfurter
french fries
india ink
manila envelope
roman numerals
scotch
swiss cheese (not made in Switzerland)
venetian blinds

Playlist: Where To? (click the image)

What's the Diff?

There are a lot of sneaky words out there—words with similar spellings, similar sounds, or just similar vibes. Here’s the lowdown on some of those commonly swapped-by-accident words.

Desert (n.): a dry, arid land with sparse vegetation and little rainfall

Dessert (n.): a sweet food eaten at the end of a meal

But…
Just deserts (n.): deserved reward or punishment. *That’s right! It sounds like desserts but it’s spelled like deserts.* And now you know.

Cool Guide: World Word Definitions

Stuff We Like

What does your NYC tourist recommendation says about you? A lot. Haha.

If you don’t want to travel, consider exploring your city as a tourist.

Where would you go if you planned a trip inspired by a novel? (I would go to Scotland and I think you know why.)

The Onion provides some thoughtful tips on travelling with a pet.

What are the absolute best airport amenities?

Long-term world travel? Yes, please. Read Vagabonding.

Architect Kei Endo creates lovely watercolor paintings of hotel rooms that she’s stayed in.

What’s driving demand for European flights? If you guessed it’s the Eras Tour, you’re right!

I want to go to there.

Literary tourism; or, why you should go visit Anne of Green Gable’s house. (Or maybe visit Paris because you read the Little Prince.)

Watch thus 1947 home movie of a cross-country family road trip!

We can all agree that abandoned amusement parks are creepy. But these are the creepiest.

Sure, adventure is great but so is going back to the hotel already. Geez.