Why Do We Only Say “Merry” for Christmas?
Americans favor 'Merry Christmas,' while Brits opt for 'Happy Christmas.' Here's how we got here.
2023-11-10 05:48
Why Do We Call Blonde Kids ‘Towheads’?
The origin of ‘towhead’ has roots in 14th-century England, when ‘tow’ often referred to textile fibers.
2023-10-28 05:24
Why Is It Called the “Placebo Effect”?
What is a placebo? Technically, a Latin phrase meaning ‘I will please.’ It’s also a Catholic prayer and a clever insult.
2023-10-23 23:49
13 Old and Obscure Terms for the Butt
When talking about the fundament, some terms have slipped through the crack of lexical history—so please enjoy these old and enjoyable terms for the hindquarters.
2023-10-18 20:17
Why Are Some Liquors Called “Spirits”?
One theory suggests that we call liquor 'spirits' because of alcohol’s association with one spirit in particular: the Holy Spirit. But there are other theories.
2023-10-17 00:22
Koalas Aren’t Bears, So Why Do People Call Them “Koala Bears”?
If you were an 18th-century settler in Australia with no knowledge of marsupials, you just might decide to call a koala a ‘bear,’ right?
2023-10-11 04:45
11 Common English Words That Come From Native American Languages
‘Avocado’ comes to us from Nahuatl—and it doesn’t mean what you might think it means.
2023-10-04 04:26
How Did ‘Jones’ Come to Mean ‘Craving’?
Nowadays, we use jones to express an intense craving for something. But it used to refer specifically to drugs.
2023-09-30 04:29
Why Are Unidentified People Called John or Jane Doe?
From the courts to the morgue, if the government doesn't know someone's name or wants to withhold it, they give them one of these as a placeholder. Why?
2023-09-26 04:51
20 Fall Harvest Words and Their Origins
Fall is here, and you're getting hungry. Feast on this cornucopia of etymologies for seasonal veggies straight from the garden.
2023-09-23 01:21
The Reason Why People Who Cross Picket Lines Are Called ‘Scabs’
By the late 1700s, laborers adopted the insult to refer to workers who wouldn’t join a strike, a union, or take part in organized labor and undermined their fellow workers.
2023-09-15 00:22
50 Words That Sound Dirty But Actually Aren’t
To paraphrase Krusty the Clown, comedy isn’t dirty words—it’s words that sound dirty. Here are 50 of them.
2023-09-14 03:17