Words & Stuff

Related to that last entry, the etymology of "sneeze" is pretty cool: MW11 says it's from Middle English "snesen," alteration of "fnesen,"; related to Middle High German "pfnusen," to snort...

I always used to mix up Limbo and purgatory. Well, okay, to be honest I still do. But now at least I know that "Limbo" is called that because the...

I've known what caltrops were since I was a kid: those four-pointed metal things, scattered in roadways to damage tires or hooves or feet. But as with so many words,...

I wasn't planning to run an item today, it being my birthday, but then I learned my favorite bit of etymology in ages: It turns out that "soccer" was originally...

I've known the word "gunnysack" (for a burlap bag) since I was a kid, but it was only a few days ago that it finally occurred to me to wonder...

I had always assumed that "widdershins" derived somehow from "widow shins," though I was never quite sure what that had to do with anything (something about witches and shinbones, no...

Somehow it never occurred to me before (unless I've forgotten) to wonder about the etymology of the word "mile." In Adam Roberts's novel On, there's a moment when a character...

I've known the term "dum-dum," referring to a particular kind of ammunition, for years, but it was only just now that I found out where the word comes from: the...