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TIME, emoji, and the unusual “with-” in “withdraw”
This past week, TIME magazine’s talented Katy Steinmetz interviewed me for a fantastic piece on the challenges of using words that have offensive histories, such as bulldozer. (Steinmetz also interviewed me back in 2016, you may recall, about the fascinating Japanese linguistics behind words like Pokémon and karaoke.) Catch up on my writing for the Read more.
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What is the “tres” in “trespass”?
The recent arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting for a business associate has sparked outrage, protests, a national conversation on racism, and efforts from Starbucks to address implicit bias among its employees. It has also sparked, from me, an etymological consideration of two words that have frequently come up in Read more.
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Because there’s always a reason to talk about pets…and etymology
I could have written about Zuckerberg today, with the Facebook CEO in the congressional hot seat. His surname literally means “sugar mountain” in German—and I don’t think that’ll be the next Farmville or Candy Crush any time soon. I thought to write about raid, which the FBI did to Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen on Monday. Raid Read more.
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I still have a “dream” (repost)
Fifty years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. In honor of the great leader we lost far too soon, I wanted to repost a piece* on the origin of a word whose legacy is indelibly his: dream. Read more.
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Mesomerica, squirrels, and puffy leather bags: an etymological Easter basket
Did you get any chocolate bunnies or eggs in your Easter basket—or just a bunch of black jellybeans as some sort of April Fools’ prank? Well, I’ve got you covered with plenty of timely etymological goodies for this double holiday. Read more.
Mashed Radish 