It’s a somewhat puzzling state of affairs. There are quite a few characters and symbols we routinely use in addition to the regular alphabet; things like “@,” “#,” and even the common “*.” These commonly used symbols don’t have consistent names. But there are also many other characters and symbols that are only in use Continue reading

You might do something wrong but then get away scot free, able to hopscotch your way home to Scotland enjoy some butterscotch. Scotland, of course, is the nation north of England. But the other scot references there have nothing to do with the place or the people.  “Scot free” comes from an old Scandanavian word, Continue reading

Most people know that an “acronym” is a word created from the first letters of a group of different words, like “NASA” (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The “-nym” part of “acronym” is from the Greek word “onoma”, which means name. The “acro-“ part is also from Greek: “akros” means the top of something.  You Continue reading

Comics and comic art have format and style, both unique. So why, you might wonder, doesn’t it have a vocabulary as well? Wonder no more; the genre does have a vocabulary. The late Mort Walker, who for decades drew the newspaper comic strips Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois, came up with the vocabulary in Continue reading

You don’t hear the word “chauvinism” as much as you did a while back, when “male chauvinist” was a common epithet. As you probably know, “male chauvinism” is the belief that males are inherently superior to females. It was primarily applied to men — that is, human males, although I suppose a true believer might Continue reading

In his 1907 book Days off and other Digressions, Henry Van Dyke included this line: “…and the tale of the season’s angling told from the beginning with many embellishments and divagations.” “Divagation” comes from the latin word “divagari”, which means “to wander.” It’s an obscure word, but not quite as rare as you might think. Continue reading

To find a word with an unusual application, you don’t have to look any further than the kitchen. I”m not talking about “stove,” which is a word that originally meant a hot room like a steambath or sauna. That’s pretty close, though; a kitchen stove is also called (in the US) a “range.”  “Range” dates Continue reading

When the weather is unusually cold, there’s flooding, or possibly an invasion of annoyed ferrets looms, humicubation is not advisable, particularly for extended periods. “Humicubation,” as you probably haven’t guessed, means “lying on the ground.”  The word first appeared in the 1650s in a religious tract written by the Bishop of Derry in Ireland. He Continue reading

Somebody who hates spending any money and tries to hold onto it forever might be called a “miser,” a “cheapskate,” or a “piker.” That last one, “piker,” has an interesting history, and more than one origin story.  “Piker” was first used in the 1500s, and didn’t have anything to do with money at all — Continue reading

English has quite a few words for different types of fabric, and many of them have pretty interesting and mysterious origins. Take “corduroy,” for example. It’s a kind of thick cloth with ridges. It’s generally used in colder weather, because it does a pretty good job of insulating. Depending on the sources you use, you Continue reading