Tag: etymology
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davy crockett in a hot-air balloon
This past week, a few words “blew up” in New England: blizzard, concerning the storm that pounded some parts of the region while only glancing at others, and deflate, due to the allegedly deflated footballs used by the Patriots in their win over the Colts en route to the Super Bowl. Let’s see what their etymologies have to say. Blizzard Weather…
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loophole
As part of his State of the Union Address last Tuesday, President Obama pitched middle-class tax breaks offset, in part, by closing certain tax loopholes that can benefit America’s wealthiest. I’m not fit to weigh in on tax policy (though you may want to learn the curious origin of the word tax), but I do want to…
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crude
The stock market may not like recent declines in crude oil prices, but the grocery market just might. For the everyday consumer, these declines are spelling savings at the pump, which, for many people, like me, means a little extra cash for checkout lane. We just need to be sure that the food we buy is properly…
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cartoon
Last week’s deadly attacks in Paris gruesomely reminded us of the true power of cartoons. Charlie Hedbo‘s cartoonists were tragic targets of terrorism, yet their work will endure as irrepressible, if complicated, expressions of freedom. Raised in rallies and inked on media covers, the pencil has come to symbolize that freedom but when we look to the…
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diet
Atkins, Paleo, Flexitarian? If you want to find a diet that works, try etymology. Diet The word diet* is no trend. The Oxford English Dictionary attests the word as early as 1230 in a monastic manual. Even then, the term referred to food, particularly those victuals “in daily use” and “in relation to their quality and effects” (OED). But in 1460,…
Mashed Radish 