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Mashed Radish

Mashed Radish

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

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  • The origin of “keynote” is an incredible lesson in American history

    It’s political convention season in the US, and that means the fanfare of hats, the ritual of state roll-call votes, balloon drops, and lots and lots of keynote speakers. But keynote addresses aren’t just part of the great tradition of US party conventions: the very usage of this word keynote is rooted in American history. From music… Read more.

    John Kelly
    July 22, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • Coping with “coups”

    Over this past weekend, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan quelled an attempted military coup. While failed, the coup still delivered a harsh “blow” to the country – and lived up to its own etymology. Coup A military coup is short for a coup d’état, which literally means a “stroke of state” in French. The “stroke”… Read more.

    John Kelly
    July 19, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • The winged victory of “Nice”

    “Words cannot express,” our leaders begin their remarks on the horrific attack in Nice, France. The carnage shocks us and saddens us into the disbelief of speechlessness. But just as words fail us, we also turn to them to make sense, some sort of sense, of tragedy. So it is with the word Nice, whose… Read more.

    John Kelly
    July 15, 2016
    Uncategorized

  • If you’re a language lover, you should be obsessed with “Pokémon”

    Days after its release, Nintendo’s Pokémon Go, a free mobile augmented reality app, has become nothing short of a worldwide phenomenon. The game maps its cute, battling Pokémon characters onto the real world, which is already causing a host of real-world disruptions. But gamers, technophiles, and Pokémon fanatics aren’t the only ones who should be… Read more.

    John Kelly
    July 12, 2016
    Feature

  • Of gods and dung: the origins of “ammonia”

    Scientists know ammonia as: Ancient Egyptians also knew ammonia with their own, equally complex symbols: Well, in a manner of speaking. Or writing. The story of the word ammonia is one of modern science and ancient history – and of camel dung and supreme deities. Ammonia Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman coined ammonia in 1782 when he identified the substance as… Read more.

    John Kelly
    July 8, 2016
    Uncategorized

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Mashed Radish

Mashed Radish

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