Etymology Archives

Culture

What’s in a name?

Yes, that one in the byline is my own — and I couldn’t abandon it if I tried

Matt Purple

It would cheer me to see these ten expunged from the language

Dot Wordsworth

We never used to use the term in speech

Dot Wordsworth

In 1920s American slang ‘wash up’ meant to finish something or somebody

Dot Wordsworth

Language

Association football became soccer in the 1880s, at first sometimes written socker

Dot Wordsworth

Language
June 24, 2021
Critical thinking: the difference between ‘critique’ and ‘criticize’
Once upon a time, the art of criticism had the name critick in Englis
Dot Wordsworth
April 28, 2021
Many people have fallen upon petrichor as a favorite word
But how is it pronounced?
Dot Wordsworth
April 24, 2021
What’s so great about ‘super’?
As a label of approval, it dates only from the 1950s
Dot Wordsworth
April 15, 2021
How ‘ACAB’ links David Bowie and BLM
In graffiti form it is sometimes rendered 1312, from the place of the letters in the alphabet
Dot Wordsworth
March 25, 2021
Is it exotic to vibrate?
Only in 1993 did the Oxford English Dictionary catch up with a newer meaning of vibrant that suggested ‘vitality or the exotic’
Dot Wordsworth
March 22, 2021
The meaning of artichoke
Artichoke came into English in the 16th century from words already obscure in their derivation
Dot Wordsworth
March 11, 2021
The concrete truth about ‘Formica’
Mica was an electrical insulator — the original purpose of Formica
Dot Wordsworth
December 3, 2020
The strange language of this year
We have become distanced strangers fearful of a handshake or a kiss
Dot Wordsworth
November 22, 2020
Starting out in cyber
I am annoyed by the use of cyber as a noun
Dot Wordsworth
Music
November 14, 2020
Is Billie Eilish really in shock over James Bond?
‘Shock’, from the French ‘choque’, began as the word for a collision of armies
Dot Wordsworth