Language

Yellow ribbons were first used during the Vietnam War. The inspiration came from a Civil War legend about a soldier returning home from the infamous Andersonville Prison. He had written his wife to hang a yellow handkerchief on the oak tree in the town square if she still loved him; otherwise he would stay on … Read more

In 247 B.C., the warriors of the Parthian Empire were such skilled archers on horseback that even Rome couldn’t conquer them. They had developed a saddle with a stirrup, which enabled them to turn and fire arrows while riding away at full gallop. This incredible maneuver during a strategic retreat was known as the Parthian … Read more

A vandal mindlessly defaces public property. During the fifth and sixth centuries the Vandals, a Germanic warrior race, expanded south from their Baltic base. They would go beyond defeating their enemies by desecrating their cultural symbols in an effort to humiliate as well as conquer. When in 455 they overwhelmed and then sacked Rome, the … Read more

During the First World War, a charge over the protective battery that ran alongside a trench was called “going over the top.” Such a charge usually resulted in many casualties, as did most operations during that tragic conflict. Since the casualty rate was very high, it took remarkable bravery to go over the top. Some … Read more

It’s a messy story, the result of confusion between two forms of the word that came into English at different times. Its source is the Italian colonna. This, along with the English word column, with the same meaning, derives from the Latin column, because a column of men was reminiscent of the shape of a … Read more

The phrase “that’s all she wrote,” meaning “that’s the end of it,” has a heartbreaking history. During the Second World War, it wasn’t uncommon for an overseas serviceman to receive a brief, cutting letter from a girlfriend telling him that their romance was over and that she’d found someone else in his absence. When questioned … Read more

Bailiwick is an old English legal term and is a compound of baile, which is now bailiff, and wic, meaning a farm or dwelling. From the mid-fifteenth century the word meant “under a bailiff’s jurisdiction”, which leads us to the sheriff. During monarchial rule, each English shire had a reeve who acted as chief magistrate … Read more

Gamblers understand that “pony up” means to put your money into the ante to start a poker game or to make good on your losses. Pone, pronounced like pony, is from the Latin verb ponere meaning “to seize”. Its current use came from a legal writ of common law instructing a bailiff to seize a … Read more

If you give somebody “power of attorney,” that doesn’t mean they suddenly become a lawyer. It simply means they can legally sign papers and make decisions for you in the area in which you’ve given them that power. In many, perhaps most, cases, lawyers are given power of attorney, but it doesn’t have to be … Read more

A grand jury is convened to determine if the prosecution has a case against a criminal suspect. Although still used in the United States, the grand jury has been dropped by Canada and Great Britain because they subvert the presumption of innocence and due process. Two thirds of all the lawyers in the world live … Read more

“To take a back seat” means that you have little or no influence in the decisions required to fulfill an objective, and has nothing to do with “back-seat driving.” It comes from the parliamentary system of government, where the leaders of all parties, those who make and debate the critical decisions, are seated on the … Read more

In 1828 Sir Robert Peel, then home secretary, and later prime minister, reorganized the London police force into a modern law enforcement agency. Officers in the new department were known at first as “peelers,” after their Irish counterparts in a similar reorganization when Peel was secretary for Ireland some years earlier. Bobby is the shortened, … Read more

A paddy wagon sounds like a logical reference to the great number of Irish policemen in uniform during the late nineteenth century, but not so. “Paddy” is a slur against the common Irish name Patrick because the Irish were considered the lowest in the social order. Whenever it was politically expedient to appear to crack … Read more

Stipulate is from stipules, the Latin word for straw, and refers to the specification of an essential part or condition of an agreement. When a landowner in feudal England wanted to remove a serf from his property, he would present the unfortunate tenant with a broken straw symbolizing the termination of their contract. During this … Read more

By definition, Liberals want to change things while Conservatives want to maintain the status quo. So it should be no surprise that the word Tory is from the Celtic words for “the king’s party” and “partisans of the king,” both of which were derived from the Irish word toruigh, meaning “to ambush.” Formed in 1679, … Read more

The ultra-conservative view of those who propose extending the welfare state is that they are “bleeding hearts.” That expression entered politics in the 1930s, and by the 1990s “my heart bleeds for you” had become a general put-down. It comes from the Middle Ages, when a socially conscious group known as the Order of the … Read more

Discover the origin and dimensions of a rod, an ancient unit of measurement. Unravel its historical significance and understand its influence on diverse fields. Key Takeaways: Explore the historical roots of the unit of measurement known as a rod. Understand the varying lengths associated with a rod in different contexts. Gain insights into the cultural … Read more

As we unravel the mysteries behind the measurement unit known as a league, our exploration extends to decoding measurements, shedding light on the historical origins and geographical variations that contribute to the understanding of this intriguing unitFolk tales refer to a league as a specific distance. There were seven-league boots, and Jules Verne sent Captain … Read more

To “miss by a country mile” means you weren’t even as close as if you’d have only missed by a mile. A country mile is an exaggeration of the 1,760 yards in the standardized English distance. Rural roads in Britain twist and turn through the countryside. So although the distance to be traveled is a … Read more

FIAT, or Fabbrica Itailana Automobili Torino, was formed in a 1903 takeover of Ceirano, which had been founded in 1901 to make cars under Renault licence using a deDion engine. Ceirano’s assets included a racecar driver named Vincenzo Lancia. In a similar 1910 move, a group of Milanese businessmen took over a factory set up … Read more

Drag racing is a quarter-mile race between two cars starting side by side from a standing start. It began in the 1950s and was usually held on the main street of a small town. In the nineteenth century, because they were being dragged down the street by a horse, wagons and buggies were called drags. … Read more

If you’ve been stranded, you’re abandoned and powerless. The word “strand” came to English from the Scandinavians as a word meaning “beach” or “shore,” and it now refers specifically to the beach area between the high and low tide. In the seventeenth century, a stranded ship had been beached or left aground on the strand … Read more

The reason the nine numbers after ten are known as eleven, twelve, and the teens is clarified by looking at Roman numerals. In other words, they are all plus or minus units of ten and were interpreted into archaic English with this in mind. Eleven (XI) or “leave one” means ten is one less than … Read more

Those huge vehicles overwhelming the highways are called tractor semi-trailers because the back portion sits on wheels while the front end is supported by the tractor. A full trailer rides on its own wheels with axles on the front and back and is connected to the tractor by a drawbar. Sometimes a full trailer is … Read more

After NASA rolls out a rocket they start the countdown at T – 43, said as T minus 43 hours. And with critical holds, it takes three days before lift-off. The countdown was introduced by German film director Fritz Lang in his 1928 movie “By Rocket to the Moon” and then, much later, copied by … Read more

The reference is to the eleventh hour on the original clock devised by the Babylonians for use with their sundial. The period from dawn to sundown, when a sundial was usable, was divided into twelve hours, so the eleventh hour came just before sunset. In other words, if you did something at the eleventh hour, … Read more

In 1266, the English passed a law regulating the weight and price of beer and bread sold in the marketplace. Bakers depended on middlemen to sell their excess, especially during a good harvest year, but the new law forbade them to offer a discount or a wholesale price. They found a way to skirt the … Read more

Since the sixteenth century, writers have used the adjective myriad to describe a large, unspecified, or overwhelming number. For example, “The student had a myriad of excuses for not turning in his assignment” or “Steve had a myriad of reasons for his wrong decision.” Neither of these uses is literally incorrect, but based on its … Read more

Gold is very rare, but it’s also very malleable. If, since the beginning of time, all the gold ever mined were to be lumped together, it would make a cube about the size of a tennis court. A cube the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet that would cover that same … Read more

Pure or 24-karat gold is yellow and relatively soft. White gold includes an alloy of nickel and palladium. Zinc is added to harden the gold for gem settings. White gold can be more expensive than pure gold because it’s harder to fabricate. 18-karat yellow gold is the most popular in Europe and is 75 percent … Read more

The expression “Finding the motherlode” is usually used figuratively for the discovery of an abundance of almost anything. The phrase comes from the mining camps of the late nineteenth century. A lode is a mining term for a vein of metal ore, the discovery of which would be exciting enough, but add “mother” and you’ve … Read more

To take something to the “nth degree” means we have exhausted all possibilities. The letter n is the mathematical symbol meaning “any number.” If you say “nth plus 1” you mean “to the utmost.” The expression derives from the mathematical formula n plus 1 meaning “one more than any number,” which of course is beyond … Read more

The history of money is fascinating. The word money is from the Latin word “moneta”, which derives from the Hebrew word “mone”, meaning weight or coins. It is referred to in the Bible as maneh. The word cash entered English in the late sixteenth century. It’s from the French words casse, meaning money box, and … Read more

In 1516, a silver mine opened in the German town of Sankt Joachimsthal in what today is the Czech Republic. St. Joachim was the husband of St. Anne and the father of the Virgin Mary. The German word “thal” means “valley,” and the town soon became known simply as Thaler. The silver coins minted from … Read more

During the nineteenth century, it was common practice at commercial exhibitions to promote the event through wooden coins. The coins could be redeemed at face value only by exhibitors or participating merchants at and during the run of the fair. When the exhibition closed and moved on, patrons were often left with wooden nickels or … Read more

If someone wins a lot of money in the lottery and is called “a lucky stiff,” it means we think of him as a hard-working, average person who got lucky. But the original meaning of the word stiff described a failure, someone with as much chance of earning that much money on his or her … Read more

In the nineteenth century, before the mint started issuing coins with reeding or grooves on the edges to prevent it, some slightly dishonest people would shave the precious metal just enough to go visually undetected. They would then have full value for the coin as well as that of the shavings. If suspicious, a merchant … Read more

The United States and England calculate both one billion and one trillion differently. One billion in the United States is one thousand million, while in England it is one million million. One trillion in the United States is one million million, while one trillion in England is one billion million. In both cases the British … Read more

When the people of Great Britain exchange money for goods or services, they will often refer to the value of a pound note as a quid. even though centuries earlier a quid referred to a sovereign, the most important gold coin in history. One pound is equal to one hundred pence. When exchanged for something … Read more

Experimental human guinea pigs are not named after the animal associated with medical testing. Human volunteers selected for observation under trial were usually desperate for money and would receive the nominal daily fee of one guinea for their trouble. A guinea was a forty-shilling piece first minted in 1664, so called because it was minted … Read more

If someone speaks up out of turn or forcefully inserts their unsolicited opinion, we say he gave his “two cents’ worth.” The expression dates back to the late nineteenth century. Back then, if you wanted to write an opinion to the editor of a newspaper or complain to a member of the legislature, the cost … Read more

Some buildings are titled manors or halls and some call themselves arms, like the Windsor Arms in Toronto. The use of the word arms is a practice dating back to old English inns, which proudly displayed the coat of arms or heraldic insignia of the local lord above the front entrance. In America, there were … Read more

The Middle Eastern suffix stan is an ancient Farsi word for “homeland.” Kazakhstan is from the word kazakh, meaning “free,” while Kyrgyzstan means “home of forty tribes.” Pakistan, however, is an exception. This modern republic took its name from the first letters of Punjab, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, with the suffix istan taken from the province … Read more

The phrase “The boondocks” refers to an isolated, unsophisticated rural region. Although it’s been used in England since 1909, American Marines stationed in the Philippines during the Second World War popularized the term. A bundok, in the primary language of the Philippines, is a mountain. The word became entrenched in the English language when it … Read more

The United Kingdom includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Southern Ireland is a separate nation. The nations on the large island as well as Northern Ireland share a common government and passport. Great Britain includes the main island of Scotland, Wales, and England and excludes all of Ireland, including the north. It’s called Great … Read more

Judas Iscariot repented after betraying Jesus and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the conspiring priests. He then took his own life. Because they couldn’t return blood money to the temple treasury and Judas couldn’t be buried in hallowed ground, the priests used the silver to purchase Jerusalem’s Potter’s Field. There, they buried Judas … Read more

Earth got its name long before the sixteenth century, the time of Copernicus, when humans started considering that we are on just another planet. Earth comes from the ancient Germanic languages and originally meant the soil that was the source of all life. Earth is the English name, but hundreds of languages all refer to … Read more

It was the jockeys of New Orleans who first began referring to the big-time racetrack in New York as the Big Apple, a phrase popularized by gossip columnist Walter Winchell. Possibly in response to this, during the 1970s New Orleans gossip columnist Betty Guillaud began referring to her city as the Big Easy. The Big … Read more

Boulder City was created specifically to house workers from the Hoover Dam building project. Because of the danger and precision of their labour, the government didn’t want these men, who earned fifty cents an hour, to be distracted by the consequences of gambling. In 1931, the state of Nevada legalized gambling everywhere except for Boulder … Read more

The push for urgency in our day-to-day existence is often expressed as a “New York minute” because that’s how long it takes an impatient New Yorker to let you know you’re a problem. It was discovered in 1967 as a response to a survey for a Dictionary of American English. One question asked was to … Read more

A dumbbell is a silent bell devised to strengthen the men who rang very large church bells. At Canterbury in the Middle Ages, it took twenty-four men to ring one bell. To build up strength, and develop their skills, novices used a silent or “dumb” bell, which was a heavy weight suspended by a rope … Read more

The confusion around a shoo-in is in the spelling, which is often written “shoe-in.” The shoe isn’t footwear. Instead, it’s spelled as in shooing something to make it move quickly. The term “shoo-in” comes from dishonest horse racing. After conspiring to bet on a probable loser, the jockeys hold back their mounts and urge or … Read more

The word upset means to be unhappy or tipped over. It had nothing to do with sports until August 13, 1919. In his seventh race, the great horse Man o’ War, who had defeated all of the other greats of his day by fifteen lengths or more, fell victim to an inexperienced starter and lost … Read more

If you have “a leg up” on your competition then you’re ahead of the game because you’ve received a boost. The expression comes from the equestrian world. When a rider needs help mounting a large horse, he might ask someone for a leg up. That someone will then create a foothold by cupping both hands … Read more

Bleachers were used in a pinch as uncovered overflow seating from the grandstand before they became common at baseball and football games. The first recorded printed reference was in the Chicago Tribune on May 6, 1889. They were called “bleachers” because of their exposure to the sun. The folding seating at an inside gymnasium simply … Read more

The expression “putting English” on a ball is used in tennis, golf, soccer, and baseball and means you’ve spun and curved the ball to overcome a problem. The expression comes from English snooker, a pool game where one of the main strategies is to block an opponent from having a straight line shot at a … Read more

Football goes so far back in history that one form or another has been played by every known civilization. In the 1800s, British football split into rugby and soccer, two games with very different rules. Soccer started out as socca, a slang abbreviation of “association” as in “association football,” and just like rugby became rugger … Read more

The Anaheim Angels took their name from Los Angeles, the city where the franchise began. Los Angeles is Spanish for “the angels.” The Indiana Pacers represent the home of the Indianapolis 500, where the pace car leads the field. Although lakes are scarce near Los Angeles, they have a team known as the Lakers because … Read more

A charter member of the American Basketball Association in 1967, this team was first known as the Americans. When they moved to Commack, New York, a year later they chose the name Nets because nets were an important part of the game. And the name rhymed with other pro teams from New York, the Mets … Read more

“Out in left field” means to be misguided or lost, but it generally means to be out of touch with the action. In baseball, left field is generally no more remote then centre or right field, but in Yankee Stadium, when right fielder Babe Ruth was an active player, the choice outfield seats were near … Read more

In 1874, Montreal’s McGill University was invited to play football against Harvard. Harvard was used to playing with a round soccer ball, with different rules than the Canadians, who played rugby using an oblong ball. The game ended in a tie, but the Americans were so impressed with the Canadian game that they adopted the … Read more

The Baltimore Ravens took their name from the classic poem “The Raven” by Baltimore native Edgar Allen Poe. When a football team moved into Wrigley Field in 1921, they took the name Bears to relate themselves to the stadium owner, the Chicago Cubs. The Green Bay Packers are named after the Indian Packing Company, which, … Read more

Before steroids, Roger Maris’s record of sixty-one home runs entered the books with an asterisk because of the longer length of the baseball season by 1961. Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs in 1927 during a shorter season. Most sports fans overlook the fact that Maris broke Ruth’s seasonal record with five fewer at-bats. And … Read more

In the 1800s, baseball managers looked after travel and logistics, while a uniformed playing captain guided the team on the field. Captains who had retired from playing kept their uniforms on in case they were needed as a player. Eventually the manager’s job expanded to include coaching. But tradition and a 1957 rule insisted that … Read more

In 1932 James Norris purchased the Detroit Falcons hockey team and renamed them the Red Wings. Norris had played for a Montreal team named the Winged Wheelers, which inspired the name and the winged wheel logo on the NHL’s motor city franchise. After Madison Square Garden president “Tex” Rickard bought the New York team in … Read more

“The wave” is when crowds at sporting events rise up and down in a continuous pattern. It gained its popularity among college crowds during the 1970s and ’80s after it was first seen in North America during live telecasts from the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Known in Europe as “the Mexican Wave,” the move was revived … Read more

There are eight major North American sports franchises whose team names do not end in S, and none of them are in football. They are, in basketball, the Miami Heat, the Utah Jazz, and the Orlando Magic. In baseball, the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. And in hockey, the Tampa Bay Lightning, … Read more

Legendary Brooklyn Dodgers broadcaster Red Barber first used rhubarb on-air to describe a baseball altercation in 1943. He said he heard it from reporter Garry Shumacher, who picked it up from another reporter, Tom Meany, who learned it from an unnamed Brooklyn bartender. The anonymous bartender used it to describe an incident in his establishment … Read more

In the 1920s, Charles Adams held a city-wide contest to name his new Boston hockey team. Because the colors of his Brookside Department Stores were brown and yellow, he insisted that the team wear those same colors. He also wanted the team to be named after an animal known for its strength, agility, ferocity, and … Read more

Although shins take a beating during a game of shinny, the name comes from the Celtic game of shinty. A pick-up game of hockey, either on the street or on ice, shinny has no formal rules, and the goals are marked by whatever is handy. The puck can be anything from a ball to a … Read more

While in Canada a hat trick refers to three goals by a single player in a hockey game. A “hat trick” means any accomplishment of three and comes from the English game of cricket. When a bowler retired three consecutive batsmen with three consecutive balls, he was rewarded with a hat. It became hockey jargon … Read more

After winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1936, Louis Meyer was photographed drinking his favorite beverage, buttermilk. An executive from what is now the American Dairy Association saw the picture in the paper. Realizing it was a good example for children, he ensured that from that point on every winner of the Indy 500 would receive … Read more

In the eleventh century, French monks started playing a game by batting a crude handball around the monastery. It was a kind of handball with a rope strung across a courtyard. The game progressed and became popular with royalty before catching on in England in the thirteenth century. When returning a ball over the net, … Read more

The origin of the word puck is from the Celtic game of hurley, where it means “striking the ball with the stick.” A “puck-in” after a foul is the act of sending the ball back into play from the sidelines. Since a ball is unmanageable on ice, Nova Scotians and Quebeckers started using a flat … Read more

The New Jersey Devils began their NHL life as the Kansas City Scouts. Their tenure there lasted only till 1978, when the NHL approved the team’s move to Denver as the Colorado Rockies. In 1982 the Rockies relocated once again; this time to New Jersey. After a fan vote, the new team was christened the … Read more

When a golfer begins at the tee, he hits the ball towards the green by driving, or using a long stroke. When the ball is on the green, he must get the ball in the hole by putting, or taking short strokes. Similarly, a painter, of canvases, not houses, begins on a clean canvas using … Read more

The word links is a Scottish reference to the coastal strips of semi-barren land between the ocean beach and the inland farming areas. Links land was too sandy for crops so it was where the Scots put their first golf courses. There were no trees close to the beach and the sand traps were natural … Read more

The winner of the women’s hundred-meter race at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics was a Polish athlete named Stanislawa Walasiewicz. The silver medalist was Canadian Hilde Strike. In 1980, when the Polish gold medalist was tragically killed as an innocent bystander during a bank robbery, the ensuing autopsy discovered that she was a he, and … Read more

The five Olympic rings were formally introduced in 1920. They represent the union of the five continents or regions of the world that are linked by the Olympic spirit and credo during the Games. The six colours of the Olympic flag, including the rings and white background, are taken from all of the nations’ flags. … Read more

Albatross is the Spanish word for “pelican,” and although to a mariner it may be bad luck, to a golfer it’s an amazing accomplishment. More commonly known today as a double eagle, a three under par for an individual hole was originally called an albatross. Only one has ever been scored in the U.S. Open … Read more

Knickerbockers or knee breeches are pants that only go down to the knee and were quite popular in the first half of the twentieth century. Bobby Jones, among other golfers, found knickerbockers and breeches too restrictive for a full swing. Tailors solved this by designing special golf knickers with an additional four inches below the … Read more

People held in low esteem are stigmatized for their actions by some outward sign or symbol of weakness. Although stigma is a Greek word meaning “puncture,” we get the word from the Romans, who called the scar branded on a slave’s forehead a stigma. In Hawthome’s The Scarlet Letter, the letter A stigmatized Hester Prynne … Read more

President Teddy Roosevelt’s sixteen-year-old daughter popularized “Alice Blue.” It’s a light blue with a hint of gray to match her eyes. During a time of cartwheel hats and the Gibson Girl look, the press nicknamed the pretty young woman “Alice Blue Gown”. The nickname became the title of a very popular song written by J. … Read more

There are real estate brokers, wedding brokers, pawnbrokers, and, of course, stockbrokers. A broker is someone who arranges or negotiates things. It comes to English from the French wine industry, where brocour described the person who bought wine in bulk from the winery and then sold it from the tap. The accepted meaning became anyone … Read more

A plumb or plumb bob is the lead weight at the end of a line used to determine the depth of water. It was sailing ships’ precursor to sonar. In the fourteenth century, when indoor plumbing was introduced, the pipes were made of lead. The artisans who installed the pipe systems to buildings took their … Read more

The word stickler is from the Middle English word “stightlen” and means “to arrange.” A stickler is a person who does everything by the book. Historically, the stickler was the title of a judge at a duel. Within life and death circumstances he was entrusted to see that the laws of gentlemanly combat were followed … Read more

A “dry run” is firefighter jargon. It was once common for firefighters, especially volunteers, to hold public exhibitions of their skills and to compete with other companies at fairs and carnivals. This dry run gave the firefighters practice and was so called because no water was used. A “fire run” or “wet run” is a … Read more

The expression “smart aleck” for someone too cocky dates back to the 1840s. New York scam artist Aleck Hoag paid off police to look the other way while he had his wife pose as a prostitute to attract men. This was done so he could break in on them, revealing that he was the woman’s … Read more

A steward or stewardess is usually employed as a caretaker in a variety of circumstances, including at sea and in the air. Although the position carries great responsibility, working conditions are often unpleasant. The title of steward was originally given to someone who took care of the cattle and pigs. It derives from the Anglo-Saxon … Read more

A tomboy has meant a bold, aggressive girl since about 1579, but before that, a “Tom” was a boisterous, rude boy. If you think of the nighttime habits of a tomcat you might understand that a tomboy, a girl who liked the company of men, was used as late as the 1930s as a reference … Read more