Etymology
Word origin stories

Strangely Familiar

When is a word? Who is a dictionary? [D.R.H.]
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Word origin stories

Gastonology

In which we demonstrate that “the true meaning of words” can be fun, by applying the principals to a Disney cartoon character. By Talia Felix, Assistant Editor.
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Word origin stories

PIE and Me

Cue the PIE rant again. Admiration and respect for PIE linguists as they attempt to magic the lost past back into the living air. However, .... [D.R.H.]
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Word origin stories

Six Degrees of Geek

Now's a good time to hunt the "uncertain origin" words with roots in the 20th century. We have tools to track their paths and smoke them from their lairs. [D.R.H.]
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Word origin stories

Ancient Echoes

Germanic words are mushrooms growing on the same rotten log, to steal a priceless image from Anatoly Liberman. [D.R.H.]
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Word origin stories

Spooky Speculation

A Halloween word with a history. [D.R.H.]
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Word origin stories

Sure About Sherbet

The poor relation of American dessert recipes. By Talia Felix, Assistant Editor.
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Word origin stories

Who Lusts for Certainty Lusts for Lies

We need to talk about the Google Ngram Viewer n-grams. They are wrong. [D.R.H.]
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Word origin stories

A Fig for Dates

reprinted from ten thousand e-mail replies [D.R.H.]
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