Etymology rarely disappoints as is the case with the word "weird". Weird comes from the Old English word wyrd, meaning fate, which brings us to the three Weird Sisters (or Fates) of Shakespeare fame who were known for telling the future. Next up is porpoise which comes from two Latin roots, porcus, meaning pig and piscis, meaning fish which combine to make pig fish. Not sure how that came to describe a porpoise since there is little resemblance to anything porcine, but there you have it!
Most everyone uses idioms in their everyday speaking, today we will take a look at how a few of them came into our language. Bringing home the bacon means being the top earner, there are two possible origins of the phrase. In the 12th century the English awarded couples with a flinch of bacon for their devotion, the second comes from 1906 when the mother of a boxer urged him to win his match and bring home the bacon. Next up is how cheesy came into use, though the exact origin is unclear it's thought that it was comparing cheap or tacky things to cheeses that have unpleasant odors. To butter someone up doesn't seem like it should mean flattery but historians think it came from an Indian custom of throwing ghee at statues of Hindu gods to gain their favor. Now you have your food for thought for the day!
Other than being a religion the Flying Spaghetti Monster is now a real being. Along with a new seamount discovered off the coast of Chile 20 new species of sea creatures have been spotted including the flying spaghetti monster, the Casper octopus and a genus of squid so rare a live specimen had yet to be seen. It's oddly reassuring to hear that there are still new things to be found on this planet.
A sign war got started after Ioanni's Grill left "Happy Birthday Jeff" on the restaurant's sign for 26 days. Dank Burrito, the establishment across the street, grew tired of looking at the sign and responded on their sign, "Ioanni's Quit Being Lazy and Change Your Sign". The return message read, "We're Not Lazy We're Just Busier Than You" was met with, "Y'all Just Look Busy Because It Takes 2 Hours For a Dollar Taco." After that other local business joined in the melee.
A major tourist attraction in China decided to do something about the long wait lines at the women's restrooms but they are now facing backlash. Timers were installed on the stalls to indicate when a stall was occupied. When the door was closed the green light turned to red and started counting down the amount of time it was in use, the timers do not impose a time limit though most people didn't like the idea of being timed. On the other hand it might be helpful if someone had fainted or had a health issue but it still wouldn't discourage those who wanted to use their phones with no regard for the women waiting in line.
Nationwide Insurance announced this year's finalists for the annual Hambone Award, which recognizes the most unusual pet insurance claims. Not wanting to take up too much of your time I will only list a few of the more bizarre cases. Bear, a corgi chewed on a bottle of nail adhesive and glued his mouth shut. A parrot named Clover got her nails tangled after a growth spurt. Kodiak (a dog) enjoys eating rocks and even though she had 4 removed previously she couldn't resist eating just a couple more. Skye, a Great Dane in Oregon fought a weasel and lost but he will be fine after the bite on his eyelid heals.
Does anyone ever wonder where some of the common idioms come from? Today's post will reveal of few of the more mysterious expressions origins. We all know how to get someone's goat but where did that phrase come from? Although I don't think goats are used for the same purpose anymore, at one time they were kept with racehorses to keep them calm. Pulling the wool over someone's eyes comes from the wig wearing days of the 17th century when bandits would pull the wigs down over their mark's face to facilitate the theft. The last phrase is from the early 1900s, wet behind the ears comes from when animals lick their babies clean the last place to dry is behind the ears. They seem so obvious once you know their origins.
Capsule hotels got their start in 1979 in Japan where they offered sleeping pods mainly for business men who worked long hours but oddly enough the concept has caught on in a big way with regular hotel rooms being out of a lot of people's price range. Today there are several hybrids offering along with the bed there are different places with different styles of pods from upcycled sewer pipes in the Columbian desert to transparent sleeping pods on the sides of a cliff and several other varieties. Good idea for those traveling on a budget but not so much for those with claustrophobia.
Today we're going to look at some slang phrases from both past and present, a couple of these I'd never heard. "I'll be a monkey's uncle!" comes from the 1930s and is a reference to Darwin's theory of human evolution. "Jive Turkey" is from the 1970s African-American vernacular meaning someone deceitful. We all know at least one jive turkey. Bae, from the 2010s meaning significant other has two possible origins, a short form of babe or baby, the second possibility is it's an acronym for, "before anyone else". Lastly "no cap" from the 2020s meaning the speaker is being honest.
The phrase a shoo in comes from the 1920s referring to a rigged horserace meaning a "sure win", though today's post isn't about horseracing it's about a new high heeled shoe named Sneez. The shoe is the brainchild of the founder of Spanx who set out to create a high heel shoe as comfortable as a pair of sneakers. First the shoe needed to have more toe room so it didn't compress the toes, second it fills the gaps so your foot is properly supported, the third pain point was balance which was 80% of the weight on the ball of the foot and 20% on the heel, Sneez makes the weight distribution closer to 50/50. The shoes are made in Spain of Napa leather and Italian mesh, are available in a variety of styles, and cost between $395-$595. It's still hard to understand why "white collar" workers would go along with wearing uncomfortable shoes or willingly tie a noose around their necks everyday in the name of office attire.
In today's post we will explore how some fruits came by their names. The apple's name is kind of underwhelming in that it comes from Old English aeppel meaning all fruits. Moving on to pineapple when explorers discovered the fruit in South America they were surprised by the resemblance to a pine cone and introduced it in Spain as pina de Indes, meaning pine of the Indians. We'll finish up with orange, it's roots go way back in time and was originally called naranga, meaning orange tree. The name for the fruit predates the name for the color orange.
It's often said that people look like their pets but what about people looking like donuts? or for that matter fruit, vegetables, or even certain foods? With that thought in mind see what you think of the following examples.
Just about any item offered for sale is considerably less in volume/size than it once was. Think of cereals and chips for instance they give you less product for a higher price which wouldn't be such a crime if that money wasn't going to pay a CEO an outrageous salary, but once again I digress. Perhaps the worst example of shrinkflation is toilet paper and hardly anyone notices because it is a necessity so you pay more money for less paper. The worst offender is Charmin, back in the 1970s they gave you 650 sheets per roll, but 1979 it was down to 400 sheets though the current amount is 56 sheets per roll. When will this insanity stop? At one sheet? I encourage you to look at other options rather than continue to be scalped by Charmin, they are out there you just need to put in a little work to find them. Good luck!
Hey! Wordwise would be a good name for a word puzzle...ok, never mind. Today's post will present some lesser known words which you can choose to work into your verbal repertoire or not. From the Greek word agelastos, meaning grave or gloomy, agelast is a person who never laughs. Also from the Greeks the word noetic means based on intellect. The next word is from Latin ultracrepidarian for a person who judges, we all know at least one of them. The last word was created by author Thomas Hardy, dolorifuge, meaning to boost your spirits. If you're dealing with either a agelast or a ultracrepidarian you will need to enable your dolorifuge.
