piccalilli 21 October 2026 Piccalilli is a pickle consisting of chopped vegetables, mustard, and spices. In early use it was also commonly referred to as Indian pickle. The origin is uncertain. The picca- is probably a variation on pickle, and the -lilli is likely either a variation on chili or simply
tommyrot 19 October 2026 Tommyrot is a Briticism, a noun and interjection meaning nonsense or balderdash. It’s now rather dated. The origin is unknown, but we can make some reasonable speculation about it. It’s first recorded in an article in London’s Sporting Times of 17 July 1880: So
rob Peter to pay Paul 16 October 2026 To rob Peter to pay Paul is a proverbial phrase used to mean to right one wrong by committing another or to pay off one debt by incurring another. A modern example might be using one credit card to pay off another. The use of the names
hissy / hissy fit 14 October 2026 A hissy or hissy fit is a slang term for a tantrum or angry outburst. As an adjective, it means angry or in a bad temper. The origin is somewhat uncertain, with two leading contenders for the underlying metaphor. It could be from hysterical, or it could
nonesuch 12 October 2026 A nonesuch, or nonsuch, is something that is unparalleled, without equal. The word, rare today, dates to the sixteenth century, although the use of a negated such, as in no such, goes back to Old English. The nominal use of nonesuch stems from Nonsuch Palace, a grand
Black Death 9 October 2026 The Black Death was a pandemic caused by plague (Yersinia pestis) that raged through Europe and the Middle East from 1346–53. In that brief period it killed as many as fifty million people, that is around half the population of Europe and a third of those
gnarly 7 October 2026 The history of gnarly is one of changing forms within English. The adjective gnarly appears in the mid nineteenth century with a sense of covered with protuberances, knotted, twisted. It was formed from the older gnarled, which dates to the early seventeenth century and which also came
tea (drink) 5 October 2026 The word tea ultimately comes from Chinese, which in Mandarin is 茶 (ch’a) and in the Fujian dialect of Xiamen (Amoy) is tiä or te. These words were borrowed several times into European languages, often through intermediary languages. Hence, in addition to the English tea, we
enshittification 2 October 2026 Use of enshittification exploded in 2023, leading to its being voted as the Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society when that organization met the following January. Enshittification was popularized by writer Cory Doctorow in a blog post of 21 January 2023 that went viral:
Broadway / off-Broadway / off-off-Broadway / Obie 30 September 2026 Broadway is the metonym for the major theatrical productions in New York City, so called because many of the big theaters are on that street. But smaller theaters and productions are labeled off-Broadway, and even smaller productions are referred to as off-off-Broadway, regardless of
