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
You probably know how it works: kids take the ACT or the SAT, learn their scores, then send the results to schools that will decide the fate of America’s youth. But, what do these test names actually mean? What is ACT short for? As for that trick question, since 1996, the ACT has been short for nothing. The test was developed in the 1950s as …
