Dave Wilton

Dave has a PhD in medieval English literature from the University of Toronto and has been publishing Wordorigins.org since 1997.

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Streisand effect (paid)

unidentified aerial phenomenon / UAP

Unidentified aerial phenomenon, or UAP, is another name for a UFO https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/flying-saucer, that is an unexplained observation of some object in the sky. Sometimes UAP is interpreted as unidentified anomalous phenomenon. The term is also an illustration of two general principles that can be applied

frak

0:00 /6:49 1× "Obscene” words are funny things. Supposedly, a word is classified as obscene or not because of its meaning, what it represents. But very often the meaning seemingly has nothing to do with it. Frak is a case in point. Frak is a euphemism for

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commode (paid)

broligarchy

Slang terms often exist for years before the general public takes notice of them. Broligarchy and broligarch are examples of this. The words are a play on bro + oligarchy. And a broligarchy is small group of men who control a situation or political power structure. It differs from an ordinary

radium

The element radium is a radioactive, silvery-white, alkaline-earth metal with atomic number 88 and the symbol Ra. Its most stable isotope, radium-226 has a half-life of 1,600 years. Radium is particularly toxic in that it is chemically similar to calcium and can deposit in bones, causing long-term exposure to

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radon (paid)

libel

In present day legal parlance, according to Black’s Law Dictionary, a libel is “a defamatory statement expressed in a fixed medium, esp. writing but also a picture, sign, or electronic broadcast.” It is also a verb meaning “to defame (someone) in a permanent medium, esp. in writing.” The word

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unidentified aerial phenomenon / UAP (paid)

duke / dukes

A duke is the ruler of a duchy or the highest rank of nobility below the sovereign. The word comes from the Anglo-Norman duc, meaning ruler or general, which in turn is from the Latin dux, leader or general. The oldest use of the word in English that anyone has

frak (paid)

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radium (paid)

protactinium

The element protactinium is a dense, radioactive, silvery-gray metal in the actinide series with atomic number 91 and the symbol Pa. Due to its rarity and its radioactivity, it has no applications outside of research. The element was first discovered by Kazimierz Fajans and Oswald Helmuth Göhring in 1913, and

yassify / yas

To yassify something is to apply beauty filters to a digital image in an over-the-top manner in order to create a humorous result, and often, in a callback to the term’s roots in 1980s Black and LatinX queer culture, to transform the image of man into that of a

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libel (paid)

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duke / dukes (paid)

gerrymander

Political jargon terms often have a short life. Terms terms such as to bork or hanging chad which once briefly dominated the news cycle are now historical footnotes. Gerrymander, however, is one of the most successful political jargon terms of all time, but its survival is somewhat unfair to its

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protactinium (paid)

promethium

Promethium, a chemical element in the lanthanide series with atomic number 61 and the symbol Pm, may very well be the element with the dubious honor of having the most names attached to it. It is radioactive and extremely rare in nature. Only one isotope of promethium has uses beyond

Calvinball

(Recent US Supreme Court decisions have brought this post, originally published on 2 May 2019, to mind.) Calvinball is the name of a fictional sport coined by cartoonist Bill Watterston in his syndicated comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. In the strip, Calvinball is a sport where the participants make up

grog

Grog is another name for booze. Originally, it applied specifically to a mix of rum and water, often with added sugar and lime juice, served to sailors in the Royal Navy, and over time it came to be applied to any spirit or beer. The etymology of the word has

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yassify / yas (paid)

stool pigeon

In American underworld slang, a stool pigeon is a police informer. The stool is puzzling to most. It is a variant on an older word, stale, meaning a decoy or lure. That word comes from the Old English stæl, meaning place (also the source of our present-day word stall). The

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gerrymander (paid)

special relationship

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the phrase special relationship as “a particularly close relationship between countries, often resulting from shared history, politics, or culture, spec. that of the United Kingdom with the United States.” While that definition is correct as far as it goes, it misses the point that the