Tag: language
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Keeping the US Government open, etymology edition
After some last-minute budget negotiations on Thursday, it looks like the US Congress will avert a shutdown and fund the government—at least until they come up to the next brink. Let’s negotiate the origins of these words in a Friday etymological news roundup:
John Kelly -
Etymology of the Day: Thousand
In the previous post, we learned hundred literally means “count of 100.” How about the next multiple of ten up the scale, thousand?
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Etymology of the day: the hazy origins of “hazy”
Are you feeling a little hazy after 4/20? Maybe from some purple haze? No, no, I’m sure you were just listening to the Jimi Hendrix song. Well, you’re not alone, as the etymology of hazy is itself quite hazy.
John Kelly -
The root of “jungle”: It’s a desert out there?
Today in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, a closely watched “jungle primary” is taking place to fill the seat left by Republican Tom Price, who is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. In a jungle primary, a more colorful name for a blanket primary, all candidates seeking an office run against each other at…
John Kelly -
The chaos of “gas”
We’ve been sick with the word gas lately. First, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad horrifically attacked, not for the first time, his own people with chemical weapons, likely sarin gas. Then, he “fake-newsed” the horrific act by calling it a fabrication. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer—bizarrely, perversely—told reporters Hitler never gassed his people like…
John Kelly
Mashed Radish 