Tag: metaphor
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The etymological network of “net”
Say the phrase the net today, and surely the first thing that springs to mind is the internet. It even sounds outdated, conjuring up fossil browsers like Netscape, as we mostly just refer to the technology as the internet or being online. Net does survive in the expression net neutrality, the principle that internet service…
John Kelly -
From wedges to windfalls: the origin of “coin”
In one of my recent Weekly Word Watches for the Oxford Dictionaries blog, I highlighted bitcoin, the cryptocurrency whose valuation continues to skyrocket. As I explain in the article, the bit in bitcoin – a coinage attributed to its mysterious creator(s) Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 – was shortened from binary digit in 1948. Binary digits…
John Kelly -
Why are moments called watershed?
On Thursday, New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand commented on the ongoing allegations of sexual harassment against prominent men in politics and entertainment, notably including Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor just this week: I think we are in a watershed moment where it’s going to be an important change for our women, for our daughters,…
John Kelly -
“Slur”: an etymology dragged in mud
At a White House event yesterday honoring Navajo code talkers, President Trump called Senator Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas,” as he has on many past occasions. Native American leaders, among so many others, are rightly decrying the disparaging remarks as a racial slur, as it drags native peoples into the mud—and literally so, if we look to…
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Persian pleasure gardens, the Christian afterlife, and tropical tax havens: the origins of “paradise”
The 13.4 million-file leak called the Paradise Papers are exposing the offshore, tax-avoiding dealings by some of the world’s richest companies and people, from Facebook to the Queen of England. Boosted by alliteration and allusion to last year’s Panama Papers, the BBC explains the paradise name: The Paradise Papers name was chosen because of the…
John Kelly
Mashed Radish 