Month: February 2015
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akimbo
When I posted my latest piece on jar, writer Jag Bhalla, who goes by @hangingnoodles on Twitter, noted: #etymology of "jar"…Arabic to poetry jam http://t.co/3dumA8ezX7 @mashedradish @andrescalo It's Pandora's jar not boxhttp://t.co/EG9pcTzPcH — Jag Bhalla…Idea Trader/Thought Plumber (@hangingnoodles) February 27, 2015 Indeed, Pandora’s “box” was, as the Ancient Greek records, actually a pithos, a kind of jar.…
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jar
Last post, I pointed you to my Strong Language piece on swear jars. Now, what might be pickling in this short, simple word jar? Quite the etymological surprise, if you ask me. Jar According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), jar joins English in the 16th century. The OED records jar in 1598 in a reference to the Italian giara, glossed as iarre…
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swear jars & springtime
Perhaps you are observing Lent. Perhaps your observance involves a sacrifice. Perhaps that sacrifice is giving up swearing. Maybe you are enforcing that sacrifice with a swear jar. And maybe you contributed quite the funds to your swear jar after viewing last Sunday’s Academy Awards. If so, you definitely don’t want to miss my latest post on Strong Language,…
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beagle
A beagle named Miss P took home this year’s Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Show. Beagles, of course, are known for their noses–and their barks, which may well have given them their very name. Beagle The Oxford English Dictionary first attests beagle around 1475 as begle. While they can’t quite track down its ultimate origin, etymologists do have…
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Dense, shiny meat removal: It’s “Mardi Gras”
Before observing the fasts and penances of Lent, today many Catholics (and other revelers) will celebrate with the feasts and parties of Mardi Gras. As you probably well know, Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday,” but why do the French call Mardi Gras Mardi Gras? Mardi The French name for “Tuesday” and with an…
Mashed Radish 