A typical behavior or habit that’s been in place for quite a while, is — or at least can be — called a “custom.” It can apply to one person: “He never gave up his custom of going to business in a silk hat and a Prince Albert coat” (1938) or practically the whole human… Continue reading

If you see someone who’s been through such a physically exhausting or draining experience that they look gaunt, tired, spent, anxious, and fatigued, that person looks “haggard.” At least that’s how they’d be described nowadays.  “Haggard” has been around for quite a few centuries, and it’s one of those words that’s shifted in meaning pretty… Continue reading

Everybody knows about democracy. It’s originally a Greek word, formed by “demos” (common people) and “-cracy” (power). You’ll find the suffix “-cracy” in a number of places, from “aristocracy” to “autocracy,” and quite a few more. “Ariso” means “the best” in Greek, and although we now use “aristocracy” in a way that doesn’t imply actual… Continue reading

If somebody is described as “pert,” that’s (sometimes) a good thing. To be “pert” is to be lively or outspoken. On the other hand, to be “pert” can also be a bad thing. To be “pert” is to be impudent or sassy. In both cases it sort of dates the person using the word, too… Continue reading

An unusually large sarcophagus was fairly recently discovered in Egypt, and it contains not one but three mummies. Nobody has yet figured out the story behind this find, but there’s a really good story behind the word “sarcophagus.” In fact it’s pretty close to a horror story.  The word comes from Greek, and it’s made… Continue reading

In the early 1700s, you could do something — just about anything, apparently — “to the nines.” It would have sounded something like this citation from 1719: “How to the nines they did content me.” “To the nines” meant really good, to the highest point, nearing perfection. Unfortunately people’s ability to do most things that… Continue reading

These days, “paraphernalia” is just another word for “stuff”. Look around you; almost no matter where you are you’ll see some paraphernalia. It wasn’t always this way, you know. Not that humans haven’t tended to surround themselves with the flotsam and jetsam of the acquisitive behaviors they inherited from an ancient line of great apes… Continue reading

Curses, foiled again! Aluminum is a metal we encounter many times per day, which might raise an interesting question: why is it called “aluminium” in England and “aluminum” in the US? It’s not just a matter of an idiosyncratic pronunciation of “aluminum.” In England and the US the spelling shifts to match the pronunciation. It… Continue reading

Most people are generally aware of volts, a measure of electricity named after Alessandro Volta. Another electrical measure is the ohm. That was named after Georg Ohm. And amps, or amperes, are named after André-Marie Ampere. Perhaps you see a pattern here. Measures and standards established in the past two or three centuries are often… Continue reading

There’s something about the color blue that’s a little different from other colors. I’m not sure what it is, but for some reason you can find more weird references to “blue” than any other color. Here are just a few of them. “Blue murder” is an expression from the 1800s that means a cry of… Continue reading