Category: Feature

• Spelacchio, Yankee Swap, and Boxing Day: Some holiday etymologies

  Over on the Oxford Dictionaries blog, I’ve written some pieces that will get you in the holiday spirit. For my latest Weekly Word Watch, I featured the Italian word spelacchio: The official Christmas tree of the city of Rome, imported from the Italian Alps at a cost of over £42,000, has been shedding its needles,…

  John Kelly

  December 22, 2017

  Feature

• The etymological network of “net”

  Say the phrase the net today, and surely the first thing that springs to mind is the internet. It even sounds outdated, conjuring up fossil browsers like Netscape, as we mostly just refer to the technology as the internet or being online. Net does survive in the expression net neutrality, the principle that internet service…

  John Kelly

  December 18, 2017

  Feature

• From wedges to windfalls: the origin of “coin”

  In one of my recent Weekly Word Watches for the Oxford Dictionaries blog, I highlighted bitcoin, the cryptocurrency whose valuation continues to skyrocket. As I explain in the article, the bit in bitcoin – a coinage attributed to its mysterious creator(s) Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 – was shortened from binary digit in 1948. Binary digits…

  John Kelly

  December 8, 2017

  Feature

• “Calling to mind” the roots of the word “monument”

  As Confederate monuments are coming down across American cities, President Trump is taking action to cut back national monuments in the American wilderness. This week, he announced efforts to slash the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. The move is meeting with demonstrations and admonitions from environmentalists and Native Americans, among others,…

  John Kelly

  December 5, 2017

  Feature

• Why are moments called watershed?

  On Thursday, New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand commented on the ongoing allegations of sexual harassment against prominent men in politics and entertainment, notably including Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor just this week: I think we are in a watershed moment where it’s going to be an important change for our women, for our daughters,…

  John Kelly

  December 1, 2017

  Feature