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Mashed Radish

Mashed Radish

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

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  • New Year’s “resolutions”: an etymology not meant to last

    “New year, new me,” as so many of us are starting out 2017, resolved to lose weight, save money, or variously better ourselves and lives. Historians trace the practice of making self-improving resolutions in observance of the new year all the way back to ancient Babylon. But why do we call them resolutions? Resolution The… Read more.

    John Kelly
    January 3, 2017
    Uncategorized

  • The “best” and “worst” of 2016

    As the new year fast approaches, we like to look back on the best – and worst – of the previous year. Twenty-sixteen did great work of the latter category, which is why I chose 2016 as the ‘word’ of the year on Slate. But why is best called “best” and what makes worst “worst”?… Read more.

    John Kelly
    December 30, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • The 2016 “Etymology of the Year”

    The mouth of Donald Trump excited a tremendous – er, huge – amount of etymological activity on Mashed Radish in 2016. But there’s one that easily trumped them all: the word trump itself, the winner of my first annual “Etymology of the Year.” Trump In early modern English, trump meant “to cheat” or “deceive.” This… Read more.

    John Kelly
    December 27, 2016
    Etymology of the Year

  • Santa’s reindeer: an etymological herd

    Around many holiday hearths tonight, families will recite “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” a poem, properly called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” first published anonymously in 1823 and later claimed by American professor and writer Clement Clarke Moore. Moore’s verse is considered the source of our names for Santa’s reindeer, excluding their later leader, Rudolph:… Read more.

    John Kelly
    December 24, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • The true meaning of “Kris Kringle”

    The Santa Claus figure, who brings children gifts each Christmas in many Western cultures, goes by many names: Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Grandfather Frost, to name a few. But one name, Kris Kringle, doesn’t originally refer to any Santa at all.  Kris Kringle The Oxford English Dictionary first attests Kris Kringle in James… Read more.

    John Kelly
    December 20, 2016
    Uncategorized

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