Month: April 2017

• Taking a hit of etymology for 4/20

  It’s April 20, or as many marijuana enthusiasts know it well, 4/20. Today, especially when the clocks strike 4:20pm, many people will light a joint or smoke a bowl in celebration of the herb. Contrary to all the myths about police codes, the number 420 is variously used to refer to marijuana thanks to a…

  John Kelly

  April 20, 2017

  Feature

• The “arm” bone’s connected to the…”armada” bone?

  Remember that “armada” of warships Trump said was being sent towards the Korean peninsula as a warning to North Korea? It turns out it was actually headed in the opposite direction. Oops. Outside of history class and the rhetoric of war, we don’t hear the word armada too often, but the word is related to…

  John Kelly

  April 19, 2017

  Feature

• The root of “jungle”: It’s a desert out there?

  Today in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, a closely watched “jungle primary” is taking place to fill the seat left by Republican Tom Price, who is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. In a jungle primary, a more colorful name for a blanket primary, all candidates seeking an office run against each other at…

  John Kelly

  April 18, 2017

  Feature

• Etymology of the Day: Omelette

  Now that Easter’s passed, what to do with all of those eggs? If they’re not chocolate or hard-boiled, whip up an omelette. You can throw in some mushrooms, peppers, cheese, and perhaps finish it off, etymologically speaking, with just a skosh of…knife?

  John Kelly

  April 17, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• The chaos of “gas”

  We’ve been sick with the word gas lately. First, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad horrifically attacked, not for the first time, his own people with chemical weapons, likely sarin gas. Then, he “fake-newsed” the horrific act by calling it a fabrication. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer—bizarrely, perversely—told reporters Hitler never gassed his people like…

  John Kelly

  April 14, 2017

  Feature