Month: March 2018
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Taking an etymological “census”
The Trump administration has added a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 US census. Opponents have quickly criticized and sued over the move, arguing it will deter immigrants from responding, not only resulting in an accurate count of the population but also violating the very US constitution. Let’s survey the origin of census.
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Trimming back the etymological “mustache”
All eyes on John Bolton…’s mustache. The former US ambassador to the UN is now Donald Trump’s third National Security Advisor. Political observers are quick to comment on Bolton’s hawkish foreign policy—and quip on his bristly whiskers.
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Catch up with Mashed Radish
This past week has been a kind of High Holidays of etymological trivia. March 14th marked Pi Day: The Greek letter pi (Π, π) comes down from the Semitic Pe (𐤐), believed to originate as a pictogram of a little mouth.🥧🥧 #PiDay #Etymology — John Kelly 🕳️🐇 (@mashedradish) March 14, 2017 Pi Day inevitably makes…
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What’s up with that “-er” in “ouster”?
The big news of the day is that Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson—and all the headlines are describing his ouster or running some language of him being ousted. Where do this journalistic go-to term for “dismissal” come from?
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We can “retaliate,” but can we “taliate”?
Yesterday, Trump signed off on his new steel and aluminum tariffs, carving out exemptions for Canada and Mexico. But other trading partners, especially in Europe, are still threatening retaliation, a trade-warring word—and focus of today’s etymology. The legal talons of talio English first exacts retaliation in the 16th century, when it variously referred to a…
Mashed Radish 