Words Worth Noting - October 22, 2026

“The word Filistini – Palestinian – had first been used in 1898 by the short story writer, Khalil Beidas, in an introduction to a Russian guidebook of the Holy Land; in 1908, a former Ottoman official Najib Azouri suggested the expansion of Jerusalem Sanjak to include the southern parts of the Beirut Vilayat: ‘the progress of the land of Filastin depends on this.’”

Simon Sebag Montefiore Jerusalem: The Biography A History of the Middle East

Words Worth Noting - October 21, 2026

“Whether or not these people deeply understood or had even considered the philosophical arguments for and against euthanasia was entirely unclear. They were mere cheerleaders for the latest innovation in Being a Very Good and Progressive Person. Ideologues.”

Amy Hamm in National Post Feb. 3, 2026 [the usual use of “ideologue” to mean a person who doesn’t immediately adopt my opinion after I state it, in an otherwise sound column about the MAID slippery slope].