The word “barbecue” has been around since 1650, and has meant “outdoor meal of roasted meat or fish as a social entertainment” since 1733.
During the Black Death, incoming ships were forced to wait for 40 days…
During the Black Death, incoming ships were forced to wait for 40 days to prevent possible infection. The Italian word for 40, “quaranta”, is where we get the word “quarantine”.
The at-sign, @, is not a modern invention. It has been..
The at-sign, @, is not a modern invention. It has been found on documents as old as 1345. Today, it is referred differently around the world. In Italy, it is called chiocciola (snail) while the Germans call it Klammeraffe (spidermonkey). In Spanish it’s Arroba (the word has its origin in Arabic, the term defined the […]
The Japanese have a word (tsundoku [積ん読]) for the habit of buying…
The Japanese have a word (tsundoku [積ん読]) for the habit of buying a lot of books and never reading them.
English words for livestock (cow, sheep, chicken) are Germanic-based and the words…
English words for livestock (cow, sheep, chicken) are Germanic-based and the words for meats (beef, mutton, poultry) are French-based. This is because the people who raised the animals were Anglo-Saxon peasants and the people who ate them were Norman aristocrats.
The reason we say “redhead” instead of “orangehead”” for hair color is because English…
The reason we say “redhead” instead of “orangehead”” for hair color is because English didn’t differentiate between the colors until the 1540s, long after the term was coined.
Yūgen /yoo-gehn/ n. (japanese) is a Japanese word pertaining to a profound awareness of the…
Yūgen /yoo-gehn/ n. (japanese) is a Japanese word pertaining to a profound awareness of the universe which evokes feelings that are inexplicably deep and too mysterious for words.
The Aboriginal Mbabaram word for dog is “dog”. This type of coincidence…
The Aboriginal Mbabaram word for dog is “dog”. This type of coincidence is called a “false cognate” and there are many occurrences throughout the world.