Author: John Kelly

• The prize-winning etymologies of “gold,” “silver,” and “bronze”

  These word origins, like humans, are fascinated by “bright,” “shiny” objects

  John Kelly

  February 18, 2014

  Feature

• Winter Olympics sport word origins, Part II: sleigh, bobsled, curling, hockey

  Sliding vehicles, little tails, curving paths, and probable hooks

  John Kelly

  February 11, 2014

  Feature

• Winter Olympics sport word origins, Part I: skate, ski, slalom, mogul, luge

  The etymological bones of “skate” may also be literal ones.

  John Kelly

  February 7, 2014

  Feature

• super bowl

  Whoever wins, I think the real champion of the Super Bowl is “Super Bowl.” Generation after generation, the roots of super and bowl have been moving their linguistic chains down the field. But before we look at their etymological playbook, why did the Super Bowl even take that name? “Bowl” Games In the late 1950s, there was a…

  John Kelly

  February 2, 2014

  Uncategorized

• bully

  Bully Language is always political, but my interests here are linguistic, not partisan. (And my interests here are little late for our today’s news cycles.) Twenty years ago, if a governor and party figurehead uttered in a press conference, “I’m not a bully,” those words may have spoken in jest. Now, in 2014, they are…

  John Kelly

  January 30, 2014

  Uncategorized