Tag: politics

• “Armageddon,” “catastrophe,” and other “apocalyptic” word origins

  The end of the world loves ancient Greek and the Bible. Threats between North Korea and President Trump this week made many of us fear were approaching the brink of a nuclear catastrophe—among other, stronger and more colorful terms like armageddon. Well, not even the prospect of the end of the world can shake the…

  John Kelly

  August 11, 2017

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• From textiles to testimonies: the origin of “panel”

  A panel of jurors was originally a piece of paper on which the names of jurors were listed.  Last night, we learned Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury—which allows prosecutors to subpoena documents and ensures witnesses testify under oath—in his investigation into potential ties between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. In…

  John Kelly

  August 4, 2017

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• How we got “sacked”

  Yes, getting sacked does originally involve bags.  Just ten days into his new role as White House Communications Director, Anthony “the Mooch” Scaramucci was sacked, as a number of British headlines having been putting his firing while General John Kelly takes over as Trump’s Chief of Staff. Where does this expression, getting sacked, come from?

  John Kelly

  August 1, 2017

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• It’s time for another Friday etymological news roundup

  We had a lot of interesting words in the news this week (some more polite than others). Here’s a news review with—what else?—an etymological twist. 

  John Kelly

  July 28, 2017

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• The sneaky, slinking roots of “mooch”

  Mooch may ultimately derive from an old Indo-European root meaning “darkness” or “silence.”  The new White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci, drew many people to dictionaries last week for his distinctive surname. Scaramucci is indeed related to scaramouch, “cowardly braggart,” originating as a stock character in Italian comedy and familiar to most of us from…

  John Kelly

  July 25, 2017

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