Language

A “touchstone” is a figurative standard of value or quality against which something is measured. The word comes from ancient times when a special stone was used to guard against counterfeit money. The gold or silver content of coins wasn’t well governed, so phony money was often mixed with other metals and passed off as … Read more

Most people tend to emphasize characteristics of the left side of the brain, which controls verbal and analytical skills such as speech, language, and grammar. Lawyers, accountants, politicians, business executives, salespeople, and teachers depend on these skills. On the other hand, the right brain is visual, it jumps easily to conclusions and it gets the … Read more

Buddy is a masculine term for a close companion who can be counted on in a crisis, or in other times of need. In wartime males become buddies during combat or while watching each other’s back in a foxhole. The word originated with seventeenth-century Welsh and English coalminers. They referred to a workmate with whom … Read more

We often use the word flagship to indicate the most important or largest component or unit within an industrial complex or corporation. This tendency derives from the navy where a flagship carried the admiral and flew his flag. The admiral’s ship was the largest in the fleet, and just like today’s CEO, the admiral required … Read more

If you are trying to get on someone’s good side with insincere behavior, your actions are “currying favor” from that person. Curry is a horse-grooming term for cleaning and rubbing down an animal. Within this expression, favor was originally Favel, the name of the half-man, half-horse centaur in the fourteenth-century satire Le Roman de Fauvel. … Read more

The word boondoggle was first used in 1935 to describe “make-work” projects during the New Deal of American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945). It meant any useless task created simply to give men employment during the Great Depression. Surprisingly, the word comes from the Boy Scouts whose braided leather lanyard is simply cosmetic with no … Read more

The phrase “fighting fire with fire” means to meet a challenge with measures at least equal to the problem being confronted. The expression originates from a method still used to fight forest fires and serious grass fires. Settlers in the New World learned quickly to set fire to a strip of land in the wind … Read more

A “masse” shot in pool is required when a ball is between the cue ball and the one a player is required to hit. To strike the target ball, a spin on the cue ball is necessary to curve around the obstruction. This procedure is accomplished by hitting the cue ball with the cue stick … Read more

Equestrian is a word used to describe a competitive horseback rider and entered English in 1656 as meaning a “knight on horseback.” The horse has evolved over fifty million years to become the majestic animal exhibited at various competitions today. Equestrian is from the Latin word for horse, which is equus. The Detroit Tigers baseball … Read more

It is a good idea to stay out of the way of anyone “hell bent for leather.” The word bent has meant a mental inclination other than straight since 1586 and resurfaced as “bent out of shape,” meaning “extremely upset or weird,” during the 1960s. “Hell bent” means the disturbed subject is in a big … Read more

To “knock off work” might be for any length of time, but it usually means for the day. The expression certainly had significance to those who first used it, because they were the oarsmen of a slave galley. To keep the ship on course, the slaves were kept rowing in unison by a drumbeat pounded … Read more

A “taxi squad” is made up of those professional football players who are under contract but not dressed for a game. They are four extra players beyond the roster limit who are only eligible to play on short notice as a substitute for an injured player if the team is shorthanded. The name “taxi squad” … Read more

The official birth date of all Thoroughbred racehorses is January 1 of the year they were born regardless of the actual birth date. All horses are “foals” until they are a year old. Between the ages of two and five, males are called colts while female horses are fillies. Beyond the age of five, male … Read more

It is difficult to imagine men competing in today’s high-contact sports without that essential piece of equipment informally referred to as a “jock.” Officially known as an athletic supporter, the device was introduced in 1874 to protect bicycle riders, who were called “bicycle jockeys,” from hurting themselves on the crossbar after slipping off the pedals … Read more

Cheerleaders have become a major attraction at football and basketball games. We can thank the enthusiasm of University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell, who stood during a football game in November 1898 and started leading the crowd in “rah, rah, rah” cheers. Since then the culture of cheerleading has often become larger than the game. … Read more

Most government leaders have unofficial non-elected advisers outside their legitimate cabinet and these people have been labelled a “kitchen cabinet.” The expression was coined in 1832 when Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was president of the United States. He used to hold frequent unofficial private meetings with three close friends, and in order to avoid scrutiny or … Read more

The notion of the “prime” or first minister as the leader of government was introduced to Great Britain in 1646. Cabinet members or departmental ministers have been selected from elected representatives within that parliamentary system since 1625, but the reference to those holders of high office of the state as “minister” began in 1916. In … Read more

If the outcome of a circumstance is known during a procedure is ended, we say “it’s all over but the shouting.” The expression comes from a wide-spread practice in early England. For centuries, when a straightforward public issue was to be decided, an assembly of townspeople was called for an informal election that was settled … Read more

Although the statue at Giza in Egypt is the most famous Sphinx, there is another. According to Greek mythology, the original Sphinx was a female winged creature with the body of a lion that attacked travellers near Thebes and then strangled and devoured those who couldn’t answer her riddle: “What creature has one voice yet … Read more

Even though they both involve a disagreement, there is a dramatic difference between bickering and dickering. Bickering now means to quarrel, but the word began as bicken, Dutch for “an attack involving a misunderstanding by slashing or stabbing.” Dickering came from the Roman habit of packaging units of ten hides for bartering or haggling with … Read more

Maroon is a dark reddish colour or a chestnut flavour. As a verb, the word means “to be put ashore on a deserted island” or “to abandon someone in isolation.” However, the obscure use of maroon as a reference to slaves who escaped or were set free in the seventeenth century is lesser known. These … Read more

There are thousands of fountains around the world inviting passersby to toss in coins for good luck. They have all been inspired by the romance of the legend behind Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi). Built over a thirty-year period in the mid-eighteenth century, the Trevi became the focus of a legend that said … Read more

Lockets are usually worn on chains around the neck and carry small personal items, photos, or memories of a loved one. They are the reason a small clipping or tress of hair is called a “lock of hair.” The word locket probably arrived in England in 1066 with the invasion of William the Conqueror (circa … Read more

The expression “Don’t count your chickens” is a commonly used saying similar to New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra’s warning that “it ain’t over till it’s over.” First written in the sixth century BC, it is a quotation from one of Aesop’s fables, called “The Milkmaid and Her Pail.” It means “don’t get ahead of … Read more

A widow’s peak is hair that comes to a point at the top of the forehead. Today the term generally applies to men with receding hair, but it began as a reference to women with just such a pointed hairline. The reason it is called a widow’s peak is because it resembles the pointed crest … Read more

The English translation of fleur-de-lis is “flower of the lily.” The Quebecois and French symbol is a stylized depiction of a lily or a lotus flower and was adopted and used by French royalty to signify perfection, light, and life. Legend has it that an angel presented Clovis I (circa 466-511 AD), the Merovingian king … Read more

To the English, the expression “pardon my French” usually means “you can put it where the sun doesn’t shine.” It’s a non-apologetic apology. The expression is as old as the historic wars waged between France and Britain, and we can be certain the French have similar expressions about the English. Hatred aroused during war frequently … Read more

Throughout time flowers sent as gifts have had unspoken meanings and are steeped in centuries of tradition. For example, red flowers represent love, respect, passion, and courage. Pink flowers express perfect happiness, grace, thankfulness, and admiration and are an appeal for trust. Yellow flowers mean friendship, joy, jealousy, and an appeal for affection. White flowers … Read more

It was the Persians (Iranians) who initiated the idea of communicating through flowers. The custom was introduced to Europe courtesy of Sweden’s King Charles XII (1682-1718), who lived as an exile in Turkey in the early eighteenth century. In Persia every flower had a meaning. This notion captured the hearts of Europeans, who began carrying … Read more

The average person spends two weeks kissing during his or her full lifetime. The romantic or erotic kiss is a sensual genetic memory search for compatibility, whether on the lips or elsewhere, and is revealed to the brain through smell and taste. Kissing originated from prehistoric mothers breast-feeding, then chewing and pushing food into their … Read more

A raisin is, of course, a dried grape, and may be eaten raw or used in cooking and baking. Like two-thirds of the English language, the word “raisin” comes from Old French, where it means “grape,” shriveled or otherwise. The Old French word for “grape” came from the Latin word “racemus”, which means “a bunch … Read more

India pale ale dates from the late eighteenth century and was developed by the Hodgson’s Company. It was created to solve the problem of getting fresh-tasting beer to soldiers and sailors in India and other British colonies in sailing ships that had to navigate hot, tropical waters. Unlike most British beers of the time, India … Read more

There is no difference in formula between Brandy and Cognac. Brandy is an abbreviation of brandy-wine and is any spirit distilled from either wine or fermented fruit juice. Cognac is also a brandy but is so called because it is exclusive to the Cognac region of France. The word brandywine comes from the Dutch brandewijn, … Read more

Bride comes from the Old English word bryd, while at the same time the word guma simply meant “a young man.” The two together, brydguma, referred to a suitor looking for a wife. This compound changed in the sixteenth century when groom evolved within folk language to take over from guma as a description of … Read more

Licorice has been popular in Britain since the Middle Ages when the Crusaders returned with the plant it is made from. Many different candies have evolved that contain licorice, including varieties that surround or layer the licorice with coconut paste. In 1899 a sales representative named Charlie Thompson for the Bassett Company accidentally dropped a … Read more

Nothing could be more immediately rewarding than a piece of cake, and to indicate delight, we sometimes say a chore was a “piece of cake.” The expression first appears in English literature in a 1936 Ogden Nash (1902-1971) poem called “Primrose Path.” During World War II, the phrase was adopted by British pilots to describe … Read more

The eating customs of the poor from all over the world were intended to fill stomachs with little cost. Yorkshire pudding is one of England’s answers to this culinary problem. Although we think of pudding as a dessert, Yorkshire pudding is quite different. It can be eaten as a dessert with the addition of toppings, … Read more

Salad days are the “green” days of our youth. William Shakespeare refers to “salad days” negatively when he has Cleopatra mention them in his play Antony and Cleopatra, where she claims that her youthful naïveté led to her love affair with Julius Caesar. Since then the phrase has come to mean “youthful good times that … Read more

A “bumper crop” is a result of extraordinary abundance. You can have a bumper business, bumper crowds, or bumper crops. This ancient use of bumper comes from a drinking goblet called a “bumper,” which was filled to the brim when used for toasts. While quaffing a bumper of ale, drinkers touched, or bumped these goblets … Read more

Allspice is not a combination of spices, it is one spice with a flavor that hints at several others. Europeans discovered allspice in Jamaica where, because its berry looks like a peppercorn, it is called Jamaica pepper. The other spices its flavor emulates are cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

Smarties are a British invention. In 1937, Rowntree of the United Kingdom introduced a line of chocolate beans that, a year later, were given the name Smarties. Packaged in cylindrical tubes, the original eight colors were red, yellow, orange, green, mauve, pink, light brown (coffee centre), and brown (chocolate centre). In 1989 the brown was … Read more

During the 1890s, Caleb Bradham (1867-1934), a pharmacist in New Bern, North Carolina, invented a drink for sale to his customers. At first it was only available at his store, so people called it Brad’s Drink. Bradham preferred to call it Pepsi-Cola because he claimed it aided digestion by relieving dyspepsia, a gastric problem, and … Read more

“Bangers and mashed”‘ is a traditional English meal of sausages, mashed potatoes, gravy, and very often pork and beans. Nothing could be more working-class or middle-class comforting than this dish. Banger, as slang for sausage, dates from 1919 and refers to the noise made when the skin of a frying sausage explodes in the pan. … Read more

A “real doozy” may be an old-fashioned expression, but it still means something remarkable. It was used to describe one of the most impressive cars ever made. Built between 1920 and 1937, the Duesenberg was the best and most expensive American car ever built. During the Great Depression, and at a time when a Ford … Read more

The first thing most poor gold prospectors needed to keep going was food and supplies. They would make a deal to share their future success with a general store or a wealthy acquaintance in exchange for credit to buy food, shovels, picks, and a pan to sift the gravel of a stream for nuggets. This … Read more

A “bender” is a prolonged, irresponsible, and dangerous bout of drinking and took its name from the patrons of London, England, alehouses during the 1850s. To promote drinking, it was common for a tavern to offer patrons all they could drink for a tuppence a day, so sixpence was good for three days. The sixpence … Read more

Punch is usually a mixture of fruit and soda drinks combined with alcohol and served at large gatherings. It originated from the British colonization of northern India after the colonizers discovered a refreshing native drink made from five ingredients: rice alcohol blended with tea, sugar, and lemon, then diluted with water. The Hindi word for … Read more

“High on the hog” is a recent expression that dates back only to the mid 1940s. It means you can afford to eat well. The best pork cuts (chops, hams, roasts, et cetera) are found higher on the pig than those traditionally prepared and eaten by the less affluent. Of course, being poor doesn’t mean … Read more

In the beginning, a Caesar salad was made with whole leaves of romaine lettuce, tossed at the table, and eaten with the fingers. It was intended as an entrée. Today, served at restaurants of every type, it is a salad of convenience and often includes chicken or beef. When the salad was first introduced, though, … Read more

Mocha coffee got its name around 1773 when Ethiopian beans shipped from the Yemeni port city of Mocha became the most popular coffee in Europe. In the mid-nineteenth century, Americans began adding chocolate to mocha coffee as a flavoring. But it wasn’t until recently when boutique coffee shops coined the term that mocha coffee took … Read more

Many North Americans associate bagels with breakfast. Legend has it that they were originally a homage to a Polish king who saved Vienna, Austria, from a Turkish invasion in 1683. A local Jewish baker thanked the king by creating a special hard roll in the shape of a stirrup to commemorate the Polish cavalry. One … Read more

Charles Rolls (1877-1910), a salesman, and Henry Royce (1863-1933), an electrical engineer, got together in 1906 to produce a car that would be sold exclusively by Rolls. They agreed the car would be called a Rolls-Royce. The first model was the Silver Ghost, which they produced until 1925. The company continued in private ownership until … Read more

Hitchhiking is a combination of two words. The term has two origins that collided in 1923 as an inexpensive way of traveling. Hiking means to “walk vigorously” and has been around forever. In 1578 the word hitch surfaced as a nautical description of “fastening with a hook” but eventually gained broader use as in “hitching … Read more

A station wagon was originally a horse-drawn carriage. The name transferred to cars in 1904, and in 1929 the first modem station wagon was manufactured. It referred to a car big enough to haul people and luggage to and from railway stations. Prior to the 1930s, most automobile makers used hardwoods to frame the passenger … Read more

During the seventeenth century, American slaves did most of the heavy lifting in the U.S. South. Most of these slaves were from West Africa and still spoke their native Bantu languages. Tota is the Bantu word for “lifting” or “carrying.” From these slaves and then through the plantation owners, tota entered English as tote. The … Read more

We have all been stumped at one time or another, whether by a private or professional circumstance or perhaps by a mathematical or legal problem. Stumped, as in unable to proceed, comes from the first crude highways built by the early settlers in North America. It was the law that when trees were felled the … Read more

Stop signs first showed up in Detroit, Michigan, in 1915. They were black on white and smaller than modern signs. Until then traffic-control devices were generally manual, using semaphores, or flags, policemen in traffic towers, and hand-turned stop-and-go signs. In the 1920s, black-on-yellow signs were introduced, while white on-red signs appeared in 1954. Mounting height … Read more

The MGB is the best-known classic British sports car and was introduced in 1962 as an update of the original MGA, which first appeared in 1955. There were approximately 375,000 MGBs built before the company went out of business in 1981. The MG stands for Morris Garages, a retail outlet that was established in 1911 … Read more

Up until the 1980s, laws required freight trains to have a caboose. It was a little shack on wheels and served as an office, a kitchen, and a bedroom for the crew. The caboose was also an observation deck from which brakemen could watch the train for shifting loads, overheating wheels, and other problems. The … Read more

The word crackpot is often used to describe an irrational crazy person. Crackpots have always been with us, but the term only came into use in the late 1800s. The term plays on the obsolete use of the word pot to describe a skull. It suggests that the person in question has a cracked skull, … Read more

Red, green, and yellow traffic lights developed directly from the trial and error of controlling railways during the nineteenth century. Trains needed advance warning to prevent fatal accidents and collisions. The first choice was red for stop, which was logical because red had symbolized danger for thousands of years. During the 1830s, engineers tried using … Read more

Britain’s Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was very familiar with the discomforts of childbirth. During delivery of the first seven of her nine children, Her Majesty suffered a lot of pain. This agony made her very interested in the discovery of chloroform, which became available as an anesthetic early in her reign. Despite protests against the practice … Read more

The seriousness of a burn is assessed in degrees depending on the number of layers of skin involved. A sunburn, or a red mark on a finger touched to an iron, is a first-degree burn. A second-degree burn blisters. Third-degree burns mean that all skin is destroyed right down to the layer of tissue under … Read more

All new inventions, including medicines, require a patent; that is, their components must be revealed. The word patent means an “open letter” and is a grant made by a government that confers upon the creator of an invention the sole right to make, use, and sell that invention for a set period of time. During … Read more

Keeping danger at bay obviously means to take action to protect your interests, but how does the word “bay” get involved? The ancients believed the bay tree had mystical powers because it seemed never to be struck by lightning. The Greeks and Romans wore its leaves during thunderstorms as protection, and wreaths were made from … Read more

Fear not only causes goose bumps, but it also makes our hair stand on end, and both reactions are related. When we are frightened, our bodies draw blood away from our extremities, like skin, and redirect it to support our vital organs. As a defense against this tendency, our very hairy primitive ancestors developed an … Read more

It was once believed that dogs with rabies were afraid of water, which isn’t the case. But in Greek, phobia means “fear” and hydro is “water,” which is why the disease was called hydrophobia. To be made raving mad from rabies surfaced in 1804 as rabid. It’s from the Latin word rabere, “to be raving … Read more

The French began treating wounded soldiers in the field in 1809 by bringing the hospital to the injured. Those who could walk or be carried on a stretcher were taken to a tent or field hospital and treated immediately. The French verb for to walk is ambulare, which gave us the English word amble. In … Read more

If someone is emotionally or physically reserved, we say they are “aloof.” This remoteness is sometimes interpreted as being regally snobbish or simply shy. Aloof is derived from the nautical word loof, which in early sixteenth-century English meant “windward direction” or “the weather side of the ship.” The helmsman directed the ship into the wind … Read more

In 1626 in a guide for young seamen, the English captain and explorer John Smith (1580-1631) recorded the first use of the word breeze in a list of winds in order of their severity. These included a calm, a breeze, a gale, a gust, a storm, a spout, a tornado, a monsoon, and a hurricane. … Read more

If you are “fit as a fiddle,” it means you are in great shape. When the early North American settlers gathered for a barn dance, it was often an all-night session of dancing and romancing for the hard-working and socially starved farmers. The local band of amateurs was led by the fiddler who needed great … Read more

The use of flags to signal distress is a very old naval tradition, but flying the national flag upside down isn’t one of them. From a distance it’s hard to read whether a flag is or isn’t upside down. The rule was that when you needed help, you drew attention to your ship by doing … Read more

We describe a “careening” car as one that lurches or swerves from side to side in a dangerous manner, because the word careen is the nautical term for keel. Sailing ships leaning precariously while sailing into the wind must careen or steer from side to side. These ships needed to have their bottoms repaired regularly … Read more

Openings on the sides of a ship have been called portholes since 1243. The word port comes from the Latin porta, which means “door” or “gate.” Because steering apparatus or the “steerboard” was on the right, ships of the time docked on their left, which was originally known as the “larboard” side because it’s the … Read more

Today a “tramp steamer” is more accurately described as a “tramp freighter,” since steam engines have long been replaced by diesels. In either case, just like human “tramps” who wander the streets, these ships navigate the oceans of the world without a fixed schedule, looking for ports of call that will offer the best price … Read more

Because of the oceans’ depth, a harbour anchor is of no use to a ship at sea. In its simplest form, a sea anchor is a canvas sack attached to a metal ring. Tying it to the stem of a boat and dragging it through the water creates resistance, which slows the boat down. In … Read more

“Davy Jones” seems like such a nice normal name, but this mythical creature struck terror into the hearts of ancient mariners. Going to his locker meant you were a man overboard and destined to die because the locker was at the bottom of the sea where biblical images of Jonah and the whale came into … Read more

A squeegee brings to mind either spring cleaning or an annoying panhandler at a traffic light. The word probably had an equally unpleasant effect on the sailors who gave the scraping instrument its name. Squeege was an eighteenth-century alteration of squeeze or press and was the inspiration for the name of a tool used for … Read more

Discipline on early British sailing ships was necessary but often extreme. The lash or cat-o’-nine-tails left sailors scarred for life, but the act of keel hauling, tying a victim with rope and pulling him under the ship, sometimes more than once, was the discipline feared most. If the prisoner survived drowning, he was suspended from … Read more

Life-and-death situations always give rise to superstitions, so early sailors took no chances and followed many good-luck rituals beyond prayer. One such ritual was to raise or “step” the main mast on a silver coin from the year a ship was built to keep the wind “happy.” As a backup, horseshoes were nailed to the … Read more

Sea shanties are the songs sung by sailors working on the great sailing ships of a more romantic time. A shanty man leads the songs. He chants a line, and the sailors respond within the rhythm of their work. Shanties take different forms, depending on the labour being done. There are short-haul shanties and long-haul … Read more

“Flotsam and jetsam” is sometimes used broadly as “odds and ends,” but its origin dates back to the late sixteenth century as a description of debris left after a shipwreck. Flotsam is whatever is left of the cargo or ship that is found floating on water. Jetsam is cargo or parts of the ship thrown … Read more

In his book Two Years Before the Mast, the American lawyer and author Richard Henry Dana (1815-1882) reveals his experiences as a young man at sea aboard the brig Pilgrim in 1834. The mast of a sailing ship was the boundary between the quarters of officers in the rear and the crew in front. Dana … Read more

Strait is a Middle English word that was used by sailors to describe a narrow or tight and difficult-to-manoeuvre channel of water such as the Straits of Gibraltar or the Bering Strait. The word comes from the Latin strictus, meaning “to bind tightly.” Dire also has a Latin root and means “terrible” or “fearsome.” Although … Read more

An “albatross” is a figurative stigma for shame. It refers to a guilt that never leaves you and becomes the defining characteristic of a moral burden. The albatross is a bird that symbolized good luck to sailing ships because it signaled that land was nearby. The bird’s change in fortune resulted from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s … Read more

The concept of a redneck being a poor white farmer or laborer from the U.S. South dates back to the late 1800s, but 200 years earlier Scottish and Northern Irish Presbyterians were also known as rednecks. To show their rejection of the Church of England, they wore red cloths around their necks. The South African … Read more

The origin of this phrase is nautical and refers to the ends of the countless number of ropes on early sailing ships. These “ends” needed to be bound tightly to prevent unravelling, which could cause disaster at sea. Whenever a captain noticed that his men had too much time on their hands, which could lead … Read more

British sailors started wearing bell-bottom trousers near the end of the eighteenth century. Before then they wore “slops,” a loose-fitting mid-calf-length pant. “Bells” were only worn by “swabs,” or regular seamen, and not by officers. Regulation dictated that the bells be made of wide cuffs large enough to roll up to the thigh during wading … Read more

The term hillbilly generally describes an uneducated or rough-hewn inhabitant of the Ozark and Appalachian mountains of the United States. Hillbillies are a proud culture unto themselves with amazing music that reflects their harsh, isolated existence and the origins of their forefathers. The first hillbillies were the Scots-Irish followers of Britain’s King William III (1650-1702) … Read more

The original Mentor was the name of a wise and trusted counselor in Greek mythology who was Odysseus’s friend and a trusted teacher of Telemachus, Odysseus’s son. Mentor was often the goddess Athena in disguise. The word guru has the same meaning as mentor because it is the Hindi word for “honored teacher.” Guru was … Read more