Sex, marriage, and the law. Always complicated. That’s why there are so many words to describe how two people (sometimes more) live and love together. Like polygamy. Do you remember the 2007 arrest of Warren Jeffs, a religious leader and polygamist on charges involving multiple marriages and underage girls? The case, and polygamy, are back in the news. The Utah Supreme Court reversed the charges against …
Ah, wedding season. The middle of the year is a popular time to tie the knot, but after it’s all over, the newly married couple needs a little time to relax. Enter the honeymoon. These days honeymoon can be a noun that describes the post-wedding vacation or an adjective used to describe the place where the newlyweds sleep during their vacation, as in the honeymoon …
As far as storms and hurricanes go, Bonnie wasn’t a huge threat. Wait — do you realize how strange it is to refer to a mass of air and water by name, let alone an apellation that reminds you of that neighbor who bakes really great chocolate chip cookies? Briefly, here’s how the names for storms are picked. The world is roughly divided into six major basins where storm …
If you find something that’s bigger than you thought was physically possible, how would you describe it? You start with what you already have, which is R136a1, the equivalent of a cosmic ZIP code. The R stands for Radcliffe Observatory, which located the star in the first place (long before anyone knew its immensity.) Massive isn’t the same thing as “big” in astronomy. Mass is …
Weed. Mary Jane. Chronic. There are dozens of slang synonyms for marijuana. But one of the strangest is the word pot. How did the word for a common kitchen instrument become slang for marijuana? The origin of pot has nothing to do with the culinary tool. The word came into use in America in the late 1930s. It is a shortening of the Spanish potiguaya …
It’s probably safe to assume that as long as humans have been speaking, we’ve been cussing and cursing. What can the connection between “curse,” “swear,” “cuss” and “profanity” tell us about all the words we aren’t supposed to say, yet say with great frequency? Cursing vs. cussing Placing a curse obviously isn’t the same as uttering curse words, but both concepts start with the Christian Church. …
As you munch on guacamole and chips, chew on the etymology of the humble avocado. Its many names are as wacky as the fruit is yummy. What is an alligator pear or a fertility fruit? A biologist calls it persea americana, but avocado derives from the Nahuatl word ahuacatl, which also refers to a certain part of the male anatomy that the fruit somewhat resembles. In …
When was the last time you ordered a credit report? The paper document is abstruse enough, but you have to maneuver through the morass of oddly-named companies that produce them — Equifax, Experian, TransUnion and more. The process is abstract, but the results are concrete. There’s some new, and bad, news about those infamous numbers. More than a
A novice tennis fan wouldn’t be blamed for being confused about who’s winning a match—an understanding of the language of tennis scores is needed to appreciate the game! Unlike soccer, basketball, and baseball, which simply count points for every goal, basket, and run, tennis has a scoring system (and lexicon) all its own. At the beginning of the game, when both sides have no score, …
Some call it soda. Others say soft drink, fizzy drink, soda pop, or just plain-old pop. There is no right word for the sweet carbonated beverage, although it would be wrong not to know the linguistic background behind the bubbles. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a thirst … for knowledge, that is. Why are soft drinks called soft? The “soft” in soft drinks is …
To rant is “to speak or declaim extravagantly or violently; talk in a wild or vehement way; rave.” The origin of the word has appropriately wild roots. The precise linguistic source is uncertain, but rant as a verb emerges around 1600, simultaneous with an outrageous religious sect in England called the Ranters. The Ranters were one of many antinomian Christian groups that appeared in England following …
Today the AKC (American Kennel Club), the main organization for dog breeders in the United States, recognized three new dog breeds: the Icelandic Sheepdog, the Leonberger, and the Cane Corso. This means that breeders of these three types of canine gain access to the
