Mashed Radish

Mashed Radish

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

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  • From shoreline to sainthood: the origin of “canonize”

    This Sunday, Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa as a saint, joining her with 10,000 other such holy figures in the Catholic Church. That’s a lot of saints, but canonize is still a relatively rare word. So, why is this process called canonization? Canonize To canonize is to place a deceased person in the Church’s canon of… Read more.

    John Kelly
    September 6, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • More from Mashed Radish

    Mashed Radish is off this week, enjoying some craic with family in town. I have been terribly remiss, though, in linking you to my other writing online. Since the spring, I’ve been writing weekly on Slate about various language topics. Some recent pieces have included: How 80s Is the Slang in Stranger Things? and Branger.… Read more.

    John Kelly
    August 30, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • The controversial origin of “gawker”

    Gawker, the news and media gossip site, has shut down after 13 years. Gawker has had an influential, if controversial, voice in the online journalism and blogging landscape. And Gawker has had a distinctive name, suggesting a can’t-look-away amazement it experienced (or wanted its readers to) over the many stories it covered. Gawker A gawker is “one who gawks,”… Read more.

    John Kelly
    August 26, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • Looms, lilies, and lifespans: The metaphorical stamina of “stamina”

    In recent campaigning, Donald Trump has been claiming Hillary Clinton “lacks the physical and mental stamina” to do the work of the presidency. His attacks in no way stand up to the facts, but one thing that does “stand up” is stamina, at least etymologically speaking. A well-planted metaphor The Oxford English Dictionary first attests… Read more.

    John Kelly
    August 23, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • Hauling out the origin of “overhaul”

    “Trump overhauls campaign again,” ran many headlines after news this week that Donald Trump took on Breitbart News’ Stephen Bannon as his campaign’s chief executive. Let’s haul out the etymology of this overhaul, abuzz as it is in the political ether. Overhaul As we see in many metaphorical extensions of words, overhaul originated as a… Read more.

    John Kelly
    August 19, 2016
    Uncategorized

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