MOSCOW — With Russia in a state of political ferment for the first time in more than a decade, a new poll has found sharply expressed and seemingly contradictory opinions holding sway. Russians strongly support specific characteristics of democracy, such as fair courts, a free press and honest elections — but don’t mention the word “democracy,” or support drops way off. Read full article > >

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In poll, Russians see wide gap between democratic ideals and reality

Policy makers should drop the word “drought” as a blanket term and move to a sliding scale to describe dry conditions, the Environment Agency says.

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Redefine drought, agency urges

A government video has asked people to “re-mode” during the London Olympics. But what does this word actually mean?

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What does ‘re-moding’ actually mean?

Greece may have given us the word democracy and many of the principles of civil society. But now it is “the sick man of Europe,” and the people of other European democracies are asking whether it's worth saving with billions more dollars of their money. Put crudely, their argument is this: So what if Greece slides ignominiously out of the eurozone?

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Analysis: Why Greece is worth saving

US senators want to excise the word “lunatic” from federal law, calling it outdated and offensive. What are the word’s origins and why is it so offensive?

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How offensive is the word ‘lunatic’?

The big accounting firm Deloitte & Touche has taken the word of companies that it audited instead of properly performing its watchdog function, according to a report released Monday. “The firm’s apparent failure to appropriately challenge management’s representations occurred in numerous areas,” the report by an industry oversight board said. Read full article > >

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Oversight board faults Deloitte audits

Maybe the newly resurrected Repertory Opera Theater of Washington (it tanked in mid-season a year ago) can make a go of it. Its artistic staff is committed to bringing affordable opera to local audiences and, with little pretension, it’s bringing in some fine young singers. What it seems to lack is an audience. There were 40 or so people on hand Friday for the first of its four staged performances of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at Alexandria’s Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill. The show deserved better, and ROTW needs to get the word out. Read full article > >

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Uneven but enjoyable ‘Don Giovanni’ at Repertory Opera Theater

Will the Paralympics put paid to the word ‘disabled’?

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No D-word

From shot 29-year-old Mark Duggan referring to the police as “feds” to the nuanced use of the word “community”, the language of the riots can tell us something.

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The words behind the riots

Every believer to pull an elastic, canary-yellow rubber band imprinted with the word “LIVESTRONG” on their hand and around their wrist — everyone who ever pledged a dollar toward cancer research so they could symbolically overcome as their inspiration overcame — is confronting some hard questions today. Lance Armstrong’s decade-long insistence he is a clean champion feels so forced and hollow now; heck, after watching Sunday’s “60 Minutes” piece , even the most devoted bracelet people must be saying, “Uncle, I give.” Read full article > >

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For Lance Armstrong, it’s time to find out what living strong really means

The warnings seem almost ubiquitous today in this world of Doppler Radar and instant communication, but the word “tornado” actually used to be banned in weather forecasts.

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‘Tornado’ was once banned in forecasts

A growing number of recession-racked municipalities are seeking more money — just don’t use the word taxes — from nonprofit institutions that by law do not pay property taxes.

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Squeezed Cities Ask Nonprofits for More Money

He writes “OK” several dozen times each day, and Jinichi Sasaki figures he’ll scribble the word for years before anything about his town feels right again. In this tsunami-obliterated fishing port, rebuilding begins with one word, which Sasaki, a municipal employee, writes — in English — on every invoice and delivery form. He uses it in lieu of a signature, in part because he likes its simple utility — an antidote for a place that was destroyed. A truckload of rubber boots: OK. A fresh crate of rubbish bags: OK. Forty thousand 500-milliliter bottles of water: OK. Read full article > >

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After Japan’s tsunami, a town climbs back

Why is the word ‘slut’ so offensive?

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Shocking word

On a recent open mic night at BloomBars, comedian Tommy Taylor Jr. joked about the District turning into Butter Pecan City and his excessively cheerful neighbor’s overuse of the word “toodle-oo.” That was before singer-songwriter Courtney Dowe sang about vampire love and a spiky-haired poet yelled into the mic. Others took turns reading poetry, rapping, testing out new comic material and singing a cappella.

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D.C.’s BloomBars: An offbeat space where art and community combine