Category: Feature

• Not above the law: The origin of “loyalty”

  Being loyal isn’t always legal—except when it comes to etymology.  In written testimony to the Senate, fired FBI director James Comey described an encounter with President Trump in January that Trump needed and expected “loyalty” from Comey. This word loyalty, though, isn’t just at the center of an incredible legal and political drama: It’s at…

  John Kelly

  June 9, 2017

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• How the word “climate” has changed

  Rooted in a Greek verb meaning “to slope,” climate originally referred to seven latitudinal zones spanning the Earth.   On Thursday, President Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, a 2015 landmark effort to combat climate change joined by nearly 200 countries—minus Syria, Nicaragua, and, now, the US. Where does the word climate come from it, and how…

  John Kelly

  June 2, 2017

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• Channeling the roots of “channel”

  The word channel may have a secret back channel to a Semitic or Arabic root.  When it comes to Russia, Trump just can’t change the channel. The Washington Post reported last Friday that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, talked about setting up a secret back channel of communications with Russia this past December. As…

  John Kelly

  May 30, 2017

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• Ensnared by “scandal”

  Scandal ultimately comes from the Greek for a “spring trap.”  With smoke continuing to billow from the White House over the Trump-Russia investigation, there’s something else in the air: the word scandal. What’s the etymological fire behind this word?

  John Kelly

  May 26, 2017

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• Why does news “break”?

  The past few weeks have bombarded us with breaking news out of Washington, dishing up scoop after scoop on President Trump’s ongoing scandals. But for as much it can feel like the White House is breaking, why do we call it breaking news?

  John Kelly

  May 23, 2017

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