fig marigold

What language do these words come from: ouch-cay, appy-hay, and ender-tay? If you guessed Pig Latin, you’re correct. Pig Latin is not actually a language but a language game that children (and some adults) use to speak “in code.” Pig Latin words are formed by altering words in English. Here’s how it works: First, pick any English word. We’ll use “dictionary.” Next, move the first consonant or …

A motley combination of Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Germanic dialects, the English language (more or less as we know it) coalesced between the 9th and 13th centuries. Since then, it has continued to import and borrow words and expressions from around the world, and the meanings have mutated. (Awesome and awful once meant nearly the same thing.) Some specimens in the English vocabulary have followed unusually …