Oregon 20 March 2026 About the origin of the name Oregon, little can be said with certainty. It is of Native American origin and was first applied in English as the name of a river, but that’s about it. The name first appears in a 1765 petition to English Privy
lam, on the 18 March 2026 To be on the lam means to be fleeing, especially from the law. Lam probably comes from an English dialectical verb meaning to thrash or to strike, and that verb may ultimately come from the Old Norse lemja, also meaning to beat or strike, but the connection
weaponize / weaponized 16 March 2026 The verb to weaponize (weapon + -ize) literally means to turn something into an armament. It also has a figurative meaning of using something to undermine, criticize, or oppose others. And accompanying the verb is the adjective weaponized. The words came into widespread use during the Cold War
boycott 13 March 2026 To boycott someone or something is to refuse to buy goods or otherwise engage in commerce with them. Boycotts are usually undertaken as a form of economic, political, or social protest. Boycott is an eponym, a word that comes from a person’s name. The namesake is
tawdry 11 March 2026 Something that is tawdry is cheap and gaudy. The word comes from the story of Æþelðryþ (Æthelthryth), also known as Audrey, the daughter of Anna, a seventh-century king of East Anglia. Æthelthryth’s tale is recounted by Bede in his eighth-century Ecclesiastical History and by Ælfric in
notorious 9 March 2026 Usage manuals like to point out that notorious refers to someone or something of unfavorable reputation and that the word should not be used to mean merely famous or notable. While this is true to an extent, like many questions of usage the answer is more complicated,
hurricane 6 March 2026 Hurricane comes to us from the Taino language of the Caribbean via Spanish. The Taino word is hurákan. It makes its first English language appearance in Richard Eden’s 1555 translation of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés’s 1535 summary of La historia general de las
laneway / laneway house 4 March 2026 Literally, laneway (lane + way) is a redundant term, and one that is unfamiliar to most Americans. It is found in Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Originally simply meaning a road, the word in Canadian usage has narrowed to mean an urban
Turtle Island 2 March 2026 Turtle Island is a calque of a Native American term from the creation accounts of tribes speaking languages of the Iroquoian and Algonquian families. It originally was a name for the world, taken from various stories in which the world is said to be the back of
arch / arch- 27 February 2026 Arch, in English, encompasses three broad senses. It can be a combining form signifying chief or high as in archangel or archbishop, it can mean clever or cleverly humorous, and it can mean a curved structure or to make a curved structure. Of these, the combining form,
