Tag: animals

• Etymology of the day: wilderness

  

  #EtymologyOfTheDay: WILDERNESS goes back to the Old English for WILD DEER, originally any sort of WILD ANIMAL or BEAST. pic.twitter.com/ksMLGGJWP7 — John Kelly 🕳️🐇 (@mashedradish) July 20, 2017 m ∫ r ∫

  John Kelly

  July 20, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the day: hot dog

  #EtymologyOfTheDay: The DOG in HOT DOG began as a wry reference to 19c beliefs that sausages contained, yes, dog meat. #NationalHotDogDay pic.twitter.com/6T8sd6DnBD — John Kelly 🕳️🐇 (@mashedradish) July 19, 2017 A quick note Earlier this year, I was posting short “etymologies of the day” on the blog, a practice that I’ve continued on Twitter. I…

  John Kelly

  July 19, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the Day: Puppy

  It’s been another busy week for politics in the US, and so today, National Puppy Day, couldn’t come at a better time. So, too, the origin of the word puppy. It’s pretty adorable.   

  John Kelly

  March 23, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the Day: Butter

  Butter is a bread-and-butter vocabulary word, but it may have spread all the way from ancient Scythia.

  John Kelly

  March 6, 2017

  Etymology of the Day

• Etymology of the Day: Pester

  Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? When we pester someone, we annoy them with repeated questions or requests. And anyone who’s driven children on a long road trip might reasonably assume pester is related to pest. But au contraire. Etymology can be such a pest. 

  John Kelly

  March 2, 2017

  Etymology of the Day