akimbo To stand akimbo is to have one’s hands on one’s hips with the elbows turned outward. The word dates to the fifteenth century, but its origin is unknown. There are, however, a number of competing hypotheses. Let's start with what we know for sure. The word
zeppelin Zeppelin, meaning a dirigible airship, comes, of course, from the name of Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin (1838–1917), who designed such airships. Ironically, the word appears in English before it does in German. English use as an adjective referring to such airships dates to 1896, while the
Cajun / Acadian / Arcadian A Cajun is a member of the community of descendants of French Canadians who colonized the Bayou Teche region of Louisiana after 1755, the dialect spoken by them—a variety of English with strong influence from Louisiana French—or a style of cuisine, a mix of French and African influences,
confabulation / confab / fable Confabulation is a neat study of how a word can acquire an additional sense. It was borrowed into English in the fifteenth century from the Latin confabulatio, meaning a conversation or discussion. The word appears in Anglo-Latin by the late ninth century English-language use, in the same sense, is in
vet / veterinarian / veteran Vet has three distinct meanings. It can be a verb meaning to examine thoroughly, especially of a person slated for a position of responsibility; it can be a noun meaning a doctor who treats animals; and it can be a noun meaning an experienced person, especially a soldier or a
nuclear option The term nuclear option is used figuratively, especially in politics, to refer to a response that threatens “mutual assured destruction.” It is, as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it, “the most drastic of the possible responses to a situation.” But of course, it does have a more literal original sense.
Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party The fictional and satirical Leopards Eating Faces Party was the brainchild of Adrian Bott, who posted the following to Twitter on 16 October 2015: “I never thought leopards would eat MY face,” sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party. The sentiment, in the midst of
love bug Back when I used to live in Texas, each spring I would be subjected to two assaults. The first was by allergies, which I’d experienced before when living in more temperate climes, but which are especially bad in the Texas spring when everything is in bloom. The other was
tarheel / rosin heel Tarheel is a nickname for a native of North Carolina. The term is preceded by the older rosin heel. Originally an epithet, its early history is mixed up in the racist attitudes of the antebellum South. But tarheel has been ameliorated and is now used proudly by residents of that
fiscal / procurator-fiscal One of my favorite TV shows is Shetland, a police procedural set, obviously, on the Shetland Islands. One of the words that keeps popping up is fiscal. The detectives talk of referring matters to the “fiscal” or someone has to fly to Aberdeen to meet with the "fiscal office.
star-spangled We all know that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner in 1814 after watching the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor: O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? But most of us don’
don't look a gift horse in the mouth The proverb don't look a gift horse in the mouth dates back to antiquity. The phrase’s underlying metaphor is that a horse’s age can be judged by examining its teeth, and it is rude to question something that is freely given. There are calques of the
