Jesse asks: Why are the notes taken at a meeting called the “minutes”? Was this because the note taker records the notes along with the time? Not quite. In fact, the “minutes” here have nothing to do with time, but rather “small”, as in “minute” (my-newt). “Minutes” in this sense first popped up in the early 18th century, possibly directly […]
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There are some words that change their meaning based on whether the first letter is capitalized or not. These words are collectively known as “capitonyms”. These capitonyms are particularly troublesome when they appear at the beginning of a sentence, as there is no way, based on the single word alone, to tell which meaning is being referred to. Examples of […]
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The term “baker” dates back to around the year 1000. Another term that meant the same thing from that time was “bakester”. This latter word referred to female bakers; this is similar to how a “webster” was a female weaver, with the “-ster” ending implying a woman. “Bakester” is also where the surname “Baxter” comes from. Source
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources Text Version The type of spelling error based on a mishearing of a word or misunderstanding of its context, such as with “just deserts”, which is often misspelled as “just desserts”, is called an eggcorn.
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