How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms blue and orange arrived in English via French, so why didn’t we also adapt the French for black and white? • Not every example of writing goes in one direction across the page...
Edward in Fargo, North Dakota, wonders about the expression of exasperation, If that doesn’t take the cake, meaning “Well, doesn’t that beat all!” or “Isn’t that a shame!” The origins of this phrase go back...
Mark from Richland Center, Wisconsin, wonders about the origin of the expression Murphy’s Law, which is often rendered as Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. The concept has been around for years, but researchers Fred Shapiro, Stephen...
The history of the word passenger, meaning “someone on some sort of conveyance,” is a bit surprising. In the 1300s, a passager was the pilot of a ferry, not one of the other people on board. Later passager acquired what linguists call an...
Lily in Madison, Wisconsin, wonders about the use of the words vibe and vibing to mean “having a good time” with someone else. The sense of vibrations reflecting some kind of mystical connection goes centuries back and was famously...
Is the term hooligan an anti-Irish slur? Probably not, although it does come from the name of one of several British gangs operating in London in the late 1800s. This is part of a complete episode.