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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bee's knees (paid)

cat's pajamas / whiskers / meow

The phrase the cat’s pajamas (also cat’s whiskers or cat’s meow), meaning something superlative or excellent, is indelibly associated with the 1920s and the jazz age. The phrase is often credited to cartoonist Thomas Aloysius “Tad” Dorgan, but while he did use the cat’s meow (and

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creek / up shit's creek (paid)

oganesson

Oganesson is a synthetic chemical element with atomic number 118 and the symbol Og. The element is named for Yuri Oganessian (b. 1933), a lead researcher at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. Oganesson is the second element to be named after a living person, the other

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zirconium / zircon / hyacinth (paid)

ham

A ham is a bad or overly dramatic and emotive actor. But why ham? What does the meat have to do with the theater? In this case the etymology, where the word comes from, is reasonably clear, but the etiology, why it is so, remains mysterious, with the only answers

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spaghettify / spaghettification (paid)

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cat's pajamas / whiskers / meow (paid)

jabroni

Fans of professional wrestling will undoubtedly be familiar with the term jabroni, meaning a loser, a poser, an incompetent or substandard wrestler. The wrestler (now actor and general-purpose celebrity) Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson popularized the term beginning in the late 1990s. To call someone a jabroni is, of course, an

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ham (paid)

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oganesson (paid)

nobelium

In theory, the naming of new chemical elements should be rather straightforward: the scientists who first discover/synthesize the element suggest a name, which is officially approved by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). But the naming of element 102, nobelium, is twisted and fraught with controversy

pretendian

Pretendian is a word that has yet to make it into any major dictionary, and it refers to a person who falsely claims to be Native-American or to have Native-American ancestry. It’s etymology is rather obvious, a blend of pretend + Indian. Pretendians range from people who have been told

Canada

The name Canada comes from Huron-Iroquois kanata (kaná:taʔ), meaning town or settlement, entering English through French. The original town in question was the Iroquois village of Stadaconé, the site of the present-day Quebec City. French-Breton explorer Jacques Cartier reached Stadaconé in July 1534, taking the chief, Donnacona, and several

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jabroni (paid)

nitrogen

Nitrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 7 and the symbol N. It is the most common element in the earth’s atmosphere. The English name is borrowed from French, which formed it as a combination of nitre and ‑gène. The latter lexeme is from the Greek -γενής (-genes)

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nobelium (paid)

boss

The word boss has many different meanings with many different etymologies, but most of these senses of the word are uncommon or archaic. The dominant meaning of boss is that of a supervisor or person in charge. That sense comes from the Dutch baas, brought into English via the Dutch

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pretendian (paid)

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Canada (paid)

pill / the pill

A pill is a tablet or other such mass containing a drug intended to be swallowed. The pill is an oral contraceptive. The definite article underscores the revolutionary nature of reliable oral contraception. With the pill, women for the first time could exercise their reproductive autonomy, opening up opportunities in

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nitrogen (paid)

niobium / columbium

Niobium is a chemical element with atomic number 41 and the symbol Nb. It had been known previously as columbium, symbol Cb. Niobium is a light gray, crystalline transition metal with a hardness similar to titanium and a ductility similar to iron. It is used as a component of steel

Maritimes / Maritimer / Maritime Provinces / Atlantic Provinces

The adjective maritime is a mid sixteenth century borrowing from French, which in turn is from the Latin martimus, an adjective meaning related to the sea. But in Canada, the Maritimes, refers to the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, not to be confused with the

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boss (paid)