Category: Feature

• The cutthroat origin of “massacre”

  Another day, another mass shooting in the US. The latest massacre—by the latest man wielding an assault weapon—claimed the lives of 26 worshippers at a church in a small town in Texas. Today, as we try to make sense of another needless tragedy, let’s make sense of the etymology of this grisly word, massacre.

  John Kelly

  November 7, 2017

  Feature

• Taking “taxes” to the etymological task (repost)

  With House Republicans unveiling sweeping tax cuts in a bill this week, I figured it was a good time to repost this piece on the etymology of tax from 2014. Over three years later, I still find it incredible that tax comes from the same Latin root that gives us task, taste, and taxi.

  John Kelly

  November 3, 2017

  Feature, Repost

• “King-size”: A bite-size history of an America-size word

  On Halloween, there’s no disputing that the king-size candy bar is the crown jewel of trick-or-treating loot. But those extra ounces of chocolatey goodness don’t just measure our taste in sweets: The history of the adjective king-size also reveals America’s changing appetites and attitudes. The original king-size labeled a different vice: cigarettes. In 1939, the…

  John Kelly

  October 31, 2017

  Feature

• The word “harassment” likely begins as a hunting cry

  With allegations against Harvey Weinstein mounting, many more women are coming forward to accuse others—from prominent figures like director James Toback to everyday men divulged in the powerful #MeToo stories—of sexual assault and harassment. These men, as we might say, are pigs. But if we look to origin of the word harass, we might say…

  John Kelly

  October 24, 2017

  Feature

• Dirty, rotten “sepia”

  A mix of Hurricane Ophelia and Saharan dust storms turned the sun an ominous red over much of the UK earlier this week. It also caused the sky to look an eerie yellow or, as many commented, sepia. And this fancy color word, as it turns out, has a very cuttle-y, and very un-cuddly, origin. 

  John Kelly

  October 20, 2017

  Feature