Today I found out that “Avocado” derives from a word meaning “testicle”. The word Avocado comes from a Nahuatl Indian (Aztec) word “ahuácatl” meaning testicle. It is thought that the reference is either due to the avocado’s shape or the fact that it was considered to possess aphrodisiac qualities by the Aztecs. In Spanish, “ahuácatl” became “aguacate” and eventually “avogato” […]
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E. Bondine asks: Where did the slang “chump change” originate? The phrase “chump change” first popped up in the mid-20th century, initially used primarily by African Americans to mean similar to what it does today, “a small or trivial amount of money”. As to how those two words ended up being joined to form the phrase “chump change”, we have […]
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Today I found out a ‘jiffy’ is used as an actual unit of time. The word ‘jiffy’ has been around since at least the late 18th century. What it derived from is unknown, but it first popped up as a “thieves slang for ‘lightning’”. Fast forward about a century and a half later and famed Physical Chemist Gilbert Newton Lewis, […]
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Today I found out why Dick is short for Richard. The name Richard is thought by most etymologists to derive from the Proto-Germanic ‘Rikharthu’, meaning more or less “hard ruler” (‘Rik-‘ meaning ‘ruler’ and ‘-harthu’ meaning ‘hard’). This was adopted into Old High German as ‘Ricohard’, and from there to Old French, then Old English as ‘Richeard’, and today as […]
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Today I found out the word “droid” is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. Shortly before Verizon launched their “DROID” line of mobile devices, Lucasfilm Ltd. swept in and filed a trademark on October 9, 2009 for the term “Droid”. Specifically claiming the term for: Wireless communications devices, including, mobile phones, cell phones, hand held devices and personal digital assistants, […]
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Today I found out what “E pluribus unum” means. E pluribus unum translates from Latin to English as follows: “e” meaning “from” or “out of”; “pluribus” being the ablative plural of the Latin for “more”; and “unum” meaning “one”. Thus, “E pluribus unum” simply means “from many, one” or “out of many, one”. This Latin phrase was once the United […]
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Today I found out split infinitives are not incorrect grammatically. As mentioned in the recent Star Trek “to boldy go” article (check that out here), the majority of modern English grammar guides list split infinitives as being perfectly acceptable. This has also been the case, not just in modern usage, but throughout most of the history of the English language […]
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Today I found out the origin of the term layman. The term layman has today come to mean “a person who does not belong to a particular profession or who is not expert in some field.” It also has a somewhat less commonly known meaning of “a person who is not a member of the clergy”, which is its original […]
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Myth: the word “news” derives from the four cardinal directions. While this potential origin of the word news seems plausible enough, it isn’t true. The truth is, the word news can be traced back to late Middle English around the 14th century as a plural for the adjective “new” or “new thing”. This is a somewhat rare instance of an […]
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Today I found out the origin of the term “Goodbye”. “Goodbye” comes from the term “Godbwye” a contraction of the phrase “God be with ye”. Depending on the source, the contraction seems to have first popped up somewhere between 1565 and 1575. The first documented use of the “Godbwye” appeared in a letter English writer and scholar Gabriel Harvey wrote […]
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Today I found out the difference between The United Kingdom, England, and Great Britain. The actual name of the sovereign state we are talking about is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). The United Kingdom is made up of the countries England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The confusion of the terms seems to revolve around […]
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Today I found out the difference between a coffin and a casket. The words coffin and casket are often used interchangeably to describe a box used to bury a dead body in. Although the general purpose of each is the same, there are small differences between the two. The term coffin has been used to describe a container that holds […]
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Today I found out the origin of the Chinese Fire Drill. In World War I, British soldiers came up with the phrase “Chinese Landing” to describe a clumsy or bad landing. It should be noted that this wasn’t originally meant to imply Chinese citizens couldn’t land a plane well or anything of the sort; rather, it came from the fact […]
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Today I found out sushi is not raw fish, that’s sashimi. Sashimi is just sliced raw fish, sometimes dipped in sauces and sometimes served with sushi. Sushi is any food dish consisting of vinegared rice, usually served with some other toppings, but not always. It happens to often be served with various types of sea food, either cooked or raw, […]
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Today I found out what R.S.V.P. stands for, namely Répondez S’il Vous Plaît, which translates roughly as “please reply” or “reply if it pleases you”. So how did R.S.V.P. make its way into being used for wedding invitations and the like? This dates all the way back to around the 11th century when French became the fashion among the elite […]
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Today I found out the Bluetooth standard is named after a 10th century Scandinavian king. The man was Harald I of Denmark. “Bluetooth” is the English translation of “Blåtand”, which was an epithet of Harald I (Harald Blåtand Gormsson). Legend has it, he received this name due to being extremely fond of blueberries and consuming them so regularly and in […]
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Today I found out saying “ahoy-hoy” was at one time the preferred way to answer the phone. The very brief popularity of this telephone greeting stemmed from the fact the “ahoy-hoy” was Alexander Graham Bell’s preferred way to answer the phone. Ahoy-hoy derives from the term “ahoy”, which is generally associated with being a nautical term used for hailing ships. […]
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Today I found out where the term “Going Postal” came from. It seems to be common knowledge that if you have a co-worker who appears they might take out a 9mm handgun and play target practice with all the panicking office help, you would say, “he’s about to go postal!” It also seems like common sense then, that this could […]
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