antifa 13 May 2026 In its present incarnation, while it is often styled in the press as a “group” or “organization,” antifa is more of a political ethos or orientation that opposes fascism and anti-democratic forces. While not inherently violent, some of those who self-identify as antifa are often willing to
hodad 11 May 2026 Hodad is surfing jargon. Exactly what it means has shifted a bit. It started out as a deprecatory term for non-surfers, but it quickly shifted to become a general term of opprobrium. The origin of the term, like that of many slang terms, is unknown. J. E.
sophism / sophomore / sophomoric 8 May 2026 An argument or statement that is sophomoric is pretentious and crudely reasoned (cf. sophisticated). It is no surprise that it comes from sophomore, a word for second-year university student. And that word’s root is sophism, which brings us full circle as that word refers to a
religion 6 May 2026 Religion has a straightforward etymology, but its original English meaning is rather different from how it is commonly used today. It is a late twelfth-century borrowing, partly from the Anglo-Norman religiun, and partly from the post-classical Latin religio. Its original English sense was that of a monastic
English (spin) 4 May 2026 In billiards, and in other sports, to put English on a ball is to cause it to spin so that it’s course changes. In billiards, this is done by striking the ball on one side, and the course change often occurs after it caroms off the
eighty-six / 86 2 May 2026 Eighty-six or 86 originated in restaurant slang with the meaning that an item was out of stock. It also came into use as a verb meaning to cancel an order and to eject or not serve a customer. It then passed into general slang to mean to
hokum 1 May 2026 Hokum is a slang term with two main senses. One is something that is overly sentimental or melodramatic; the other is nonsense, something that is false. Like most slang terms, its origin is a bit mysterious, but the most likely explanation is that it is a blend
buck up 29 April 2026 Today, buck up usually means to cheer up, to be encouraged. But in the past it was used in a wider range of meanings with the base sense of to become confident and assertive. The metaphor underlying the phrase is the behavior and attitude of a male
college widow 27 April 2026 College widow is a term you don’t hear anymore, except in historical usage. It harkens back to a time when only men attended university and short-lived love affairs between the male students and female residents of college towns were common. A college widow was often, but
moonbat 24 April 2026 Moonbat is a slang term for a crazy person that suddenly rose to prominence in 2003. Like most slang terms, its origin cannot be determined with certainty, but it likely formed through a mixing of two other metaphorical terms, barking/howling at the moon and bats in
incumbent 22 April 2026 Today we usually find the word incumbent in the context of politics, referring to the current holder of a political office. But English use of the word was originally in the sense of the holder of an ecclesiastical office. Incumbent comes from the medieval Latin incumbere, meaning
