When Marco Polo brought the first porcelain to Europe, just how did it get its name? From Roman nursery slang, perhaps.
etymology
Spoof was originally a card game. But why April fools? A quick trip around trickery.
The computing sense of crash lacks onomatopœa, is gross hyperbole, and is far too widely encompassing to be meaningful.
A panorama is an image, usually broad in its extent, of landscape, and has seen extensive figurative application. What is remarkable is that it did not exist until 1789, and still thrives today.
Every so often, I see some English which strikes me as being odd or unusual. This time it […]
Sometimes chasing the origin and meanings of an apparently simple English word gives us a glimpse of a […]
In a language with so many words, this is another which has several different meanings, which seem to be growing away from their origins.
From a brave king, to the pungent taste of mustard, with a wail on the side – all in the one word.
A single origin, many different meanings, and some irregularities to provoke the odd peeve.
This odd preposition can also appear as a postposition, but does not behave much like either.
