Pylimitics

In 1919 the US adopted the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol. It was generally known as “Prohibition.” In 1933, after reviewing the mostly disastrous results (enormous growth in organized crime, for one), the whole thing was repealed. But it left some traces behind in language. The most widely… Continue reading

Words take on new meanings all the time. One of them is terrific. No, I mean one of them is “terrific.” It comes from the Latin word “terrificus,” which means frightening. But of course nowadays if you say something is terrific, you mean it’s marvelous and not frightening at all. Something like, I don’t know,… Continue reading

Mind your P’s and Q’s is an old saying meaning “be on your best behavior” or “mind your manners.” It’s still used today, here and there. It’s the sort of thing a grandma might say to her grandchild. But calling it an “old saying” is an understatement, it turns out that it’s much older than… Continue reading

A portmanteau word is coined by combining two or more words into one. “Brunch,” for example, is made up from “breakfast” and “lunch.” Portmanteau words seem to be getting more common; “cyborg,” “edutainment,” and, for that matter, “internet” are all well known and recent. But the practice of combining existing words into new ones has… Continue reading