The Ancient Greeks had some ideas that have not, to say the least, held up well over the centuries. One of their strangest was “eggastimuthos.” That’s the belief that the sounds from someone’s belly (as they digest a meal, for example) could both mean something and be coming from “somewhere else.” Specifically, they could be Continue reading

In ancient Greece, a “sophist” was a teacher for hire. The word’s literal meaning is “I am wise”, but its usage went beyond that. The reason the term is part of modern English goes back to Socrates and Plato, who didn’t think much of the sophists. The sophists were well educated, but instead of turning Continue reading

Word of the day: pawn As his hogs were off in the woods munching on pawn, Farmer Smith decided he was tired of just being used as a pawn by the moneylenders in town, so he made sure his prize pawn with its lovely feathers was safely penned up, then walked into town. He visited Continue reading

It’s time. No, it’s not time, it’s “time.” What I mean to say is that “time” is today’s word.  “Time” comes from Old English, derived from the Germanic root word “timon” (to stretch or extend). The original meaning of “time” in English was what we today mean by “a long time.” It was such a Continue reading

Words in English that began as someone’s name are “eponyms.” Probably the most-used eponym in English is “sandwich,” which is named after the Earl of Sandwich (1718 to 1792). The Earl’s given name was John Montagu, and supposedly he invented the “slice of meat between two pieces of bread.” It’s probably not true, but he Continue reading

In 1593 Gabriel Harvey wrote a piece called Pierce’s Supererogation, or a New Praise of the Old Ass. It was basically an extended insult of a fellow named Thomas Nashe, and in part he refers to him as “…a dodkin author, whose two swords are like the horns of a hodmandod…”. In this he was Continue reading

In the early days of automobile design, none of the standards we’re used to had emerged yet. Most very early cars didn’t have steering wheels; you steered them with a lever, which was called a “tiller.”  English has two “tiller” words. The first has to do with farming; a tiller in that sense is either Continue reading

To be “left in the lurch” means you’ve been abandoned, lost, deserted, without assistance. It’s a pretty common phrase — in 2017, a couple of days before the Trump inauguration, NBC News ran a story with the headline “Democrats: Left in the Lurch.” Where is this “lurch” you might be left in? Actually the lurch Continue reading

And a one, and a two… There’s a small mystery about numbers that you may have noticed. When we count things, we use “one,” “two,” “three,” and so on. But when we talk about the position of something in a sequence, we say “first,” “second,, and “third;” different words altogether. After that, though, it’s back Continue reading

Whether you’ve heard “Heard it Through the Grapevine” or not, you’ve probably heard of hearing through the grapevine, and you’ve probably heard things through the grapevine. But have you ever heard why you’d hear things through a grapevine in the first place?  “The grapevine”, as a metaphor for people passing information individually, one-by-one, dates back Continue reading