Mashed Radish

Mashed Radish

Etymology at the intersection of news, life, and everyday language.

  • About
  • Browse
  • Contact


  • gold, silver, & bronze

    Fast Mash Gold is from the Proto-Indo-European *ghel-, meaning, variously, “yellow,” “bright,” “shining,” “green,” “blue,” and “gray”; derivatives include chlorine, clean, and the family of gl- words like glass and glance From the Old English siolfor, silver’s ultimate origin is unknown, perhaps from the Akkadian sarapu (to smelt) Bronze may be from the Persian birinj (copper) and may be connected to the Read more.

    John Kelly
    February 18, 2014
    Uncategorized

  • winter olympic sports (part ii)

    Last week, we looked at the bones of skate, the splinters of ski, and the unknowns of luge. This week, the Games continue with sleigh, curling, and hockey.  Sleigh There is no reason for sleigh‘s spelling, I supposed, other than imitation of words like neighbor and weigh, whose –gh once were pronounced, unlike sleigh‘s. Sleigh is a North American English adaptation of the Dutch slee, from slede. Sled and sledge are related, connected to slide and slither, from the Read more.

    John Kelly
    February 11, 2014
    Uncategorized

  • winter olympic sports (part i)

    This weekend marks the opening of the XXII Winter Olympic (and, lest we forget, Paralympic) Games in Sochi, Russia. Athletes will produce a blizzard of speed, spins, and sticks as they compete in 15 major events far removed from many of our everyday experiences–except for that “polar coaster” most of the country seems to be Read more.

    John Kelly
    February 7, 2014
    Uncategorized

  • 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 Read more.

    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 Read more.

    John Kelly
    January 30, 2014
    Uncategorized

←Previous Page
1 … 104 105 106 107 108 … 114
Next Page→
Mashed Radish

Mashed Radish

About

Browse

Contact

© John Kelly 2024

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Mashed Radish
    • Join 11,090 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Mashed Radish
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar