Tag: technology

• Workplace Word Origins: resilience, company, focus, thrilled, code

  

  What do professional announcements have to do with boogers?

  John Kelly

  July 11, 2025

  Workplace Word Origins

• Breaking down the origin of “fracking”

  

  What starts with geoengineering jargon ends with Ancient Greek musical instruments.

  John Kelly

  September 14, 2024

  Feature

• Some more Emojiology for World Emoji Day

  July 17 is World Emoji Day, a celebration of all things emoji. It’s the perfect occasion to promote some writing I’ve been doing for Emojipedia, the encyclopedia for emoji—and one reason, among other word-working, the blog has been less active in recent weeks. 

  John Kelly

  July 17, 2018

  Updates

• 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

  December 18, 2017

  Feature

• Etymology of the Day: Chauffeur

  Do chauffeurs ever chafe at—or from—the long days spent behind the steering wheel? Etymologically they do, at least.

  John Kelly

  April 6, 2017

  Etymology of the Day