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If it weren’t for trade, there’d be no “tariff”
The word “tariff” goes all the way back to Arabic. Read more.
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The etymological “plea” of “please”
One of the most moving responses to Parkland, Florida, site of just latest mass school shooting in the US, has been a single word: please. David Hogg, 17-year-old survivor of the massacre at his high school, has emerged as a forceful voice of a burgeoning youth movement for gun reform. Speaking to CNN, Hogg exhorted: Read more.
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The official etymologies of the PyeongChang 2018™ Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games
It’s Mardi Gras, or the “dense, shiny meat removal,” as I’ve etymologized in the past. I trust many observers people won’t be giving up TV for Lent, what with the Winter Olympics going on. Speaking of the Olympics, ski down some archives with my old posts from the 2014 competition in Sochi, Russia. I explored Read more.
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Etymology, with an “eagle” eye
Maybe in some parallel universe it wasn’t the Philadelphia Eagles who won Super Bowl LII. No, not the New England Patriots but the Philadelphia Ernes. For erne was the usual word for “eagle” in Old English, and in my hypothetical Twilight Zone, French and Latin didn’t sack Anglo-Saxon like so many blitzing linebackers. Read more.
Mashed Radish 