For many, Cyber Monday provides the perfect shopping solution: all the holiday deals with none of the holiday crowds. But, where did the name Cyber Monday come from? Cyber Monday is an annual event during the holiday shopping season that’s devoted to online shopping. Online retailers are known for offering deals and discounts on the day. The annual Cyber Monday takes place on the Monday after …
Halloween is actually just the beginning of a string of otherworldly holidays. The tricks, treats, and customs of Halloween, now mostly secular, are based in part on ancient Celtic and Christian festivals. But did you know that the Halloween customs extend past October 31? In fact, the day after Halloween is a celebrated day in many parts of the world. What is All Saints’ Day? November …
Fittingly, everything about Halloween is a bit bizarre. Kids put on costumes and demand candy from strangers. People decorate their houses with spiderwebs and gravestones. Even the word itself sounds weird. Where does Halloween come from? And how did the celebration of all things spooky come to have a history that’s intertwined with an ancient Celtic festival and a Christian holiday in honor of saints? …
Say cheese! There are a ton of different cheeses out there, and many of them have unique toponyms, or names that are derived from the name of a place. In fact, many cheeses are officially designated by international cheese organizations—yes, that’s a thing—as so-called “protected cheeses,” meaning only a specific place can legally make a certain kind of cheese. How many of these cheese names will …
’Tis the time of colorful foliage, crisp air, the first frost, and pumpkin spice. It’s many people’s favorite season—and it’s the only one with more than one commonly used name. But what to call it—autumn or fall? And what came first? Prepare for the dawn of sweater weather with some insights into the origins of fall and autumn—and another, even older name for the season. The …
When Americans think of Canadian English, certain stereotypical Canadianisms found in pop culture might come to mind, such as the ubiquitous “eh” or the distinctly Canadian way of saying “about.” But there is so much more than that! Just like their counterparts in the United States, the people of the Great White North have a bunch of cool slang words for a whole range of …
Language is constantly evolving, but is it always a good idea to say “out with the old and in with the new”? These old English words just might prove otherwise. The phrase “old English”can mean two different things. There’s the official term Old English, which refers specifically to the English spoken between 450 and 1150. But there’s also old English—as in words that are considered …
During the holidays, kids hope to receive that one toy they have been dreaming of all year. Popular toys come and go, but some of them are still fondly remembered by multiple generations. One reason is because of their catchy, memorable names. That being said, the origins of the names of many classics range from simple to odd to downright mysterious. We decided to dive …
Mr. and Mrs.: What do they stand for? The contractions Mr. and Mrs. are short for Mister and Missus/Missis. These contractions, like their longer forms, are used in etiquette to show respect to men and women. Mr. and Mrs. are pronounced the same as their longer forms: Mr. is pronounced as [ mis-ter ] and Mrs. is pronounced as [ mis-iz ] or [ miz-iz …
Is it better to have wisdom or knowledge? Can you have one without the other? And which comes first? If you’ve ever searched for acumen into these two brainy terms, we’re here to help break them down. Wisdom and knowledge have quite a bit in common. Both words are primarily used as nouns that are related to learning. They’re listed as synonyms for one another …
You might be able to recite the letters considered vowels in the English language: A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. But what makes a vowel a vowel? Vowels and consonants are two different categories of sounds that linguists (in the branch of linguistics called phonetics) use to explain how speech sounds work. In this article, we’ll explore the difference between consonants and vowels …
It’s in human nature to tell stories and in many ways, our stories—our mythologies—work their way into every aspect of our daily lives, from meme culture to the language we speak. You may be familiar with some of the words derived from the names of Greek and Roman gods and characters (herculean, echo, narcissist, to name a few). But some of the words with similar …
