Category: Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the Day: Hassle

  My cable bills are a bit high, but switching providers? That’s too much of a hassle. Quit hassling me to get on Snapchat! I’m barely keeping up with Instagram. Hassle, as it turns out, is a perfectly modern word for all the “fuss” of our modern lives.

  John Kelly

  March 20, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the Day: Heyday

  Back in my heyday, we’ve heard our fathers so often begin some boast of long-lost glory. The heyday of the train, the heyday of radio, the heyday of the flip-phone – each of these remembers some technological golden age of yore. Perhaps you’ve wondered: What is the hey– in heyday? As it turns out, we’re…

  John Kelly

  March 16, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the Day: Skosh

  “Some more coffee?” “Just a skosh more, please.” “These brownies are so delicious!” “I add a skosh of cayenne pepper to the batter.” Skosh is a fun and informal term for a small amount or a little, but its origins are mighty surprising. .

  John Kelly

  March 13, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the Day: Eavesdrop

  You’re on a train or at a cafe. A juicy bit of conversation catches your ear. You pretend to mind your book or your phone. Secretly,  though, you go on eavesdropping. Does our auditory snooping actually have anything to do with the eaves of our houses? In fact, it has everything to do with them,…

  John Kelly

  March 9, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the Day: Butter

  Butter is a bread-and-butter vocabulary word, but it may have spread all the way from ancient Scythia.

  John Kelly

  March 6, 2017

  Etymology of the Day