Wordorigins.org Newsletter
  • Home
  • About
Sign in Subscribe

truthiness (paid)

  • Dave Wilton

Dave Wilton

14 Mar 2025 • 3 min read
Still image of Stephen Colbert sitting behind a desk with a Chyron that reads, “The Wørd: Truthiness”

This post is for paying subscribers only

Subscribe now

Already have an account? Sign in

Photo of a dish of bananas Foster served over brioche French toast
Paid-members only

French toast (paid)

06 Apr 2026 2 min read
Victorian engraving of a girl lying in bed, with mother, father, and brother at the bedside looking concerned

hot little hands

6 April 2026 The phrase hot little hands was brought to my mind by Languagehat, a denizen of this site and proprietor of his own excellent blog on language. The phrase is used today in the context of eagerly possessing or receiving something. But why hot? And why little? The
06 Apr 2026 3 min read
Country road leading into Moynalty with a sign saying it won the 2006 Tidy Towns competition; a church is in the background

tidy

3 April 2026 Tidy is one of those words whose origin seems unfathomable, but when you learn it suddenly becomes patently obvious.  Our modern word tidy comes from the Old English tid, meaning “time, hour season,” and that word is also the origin of our modern word tide and tidings.
03 Apr 2026 3 min read
Wordorigins.org Newsletter © 2026
  • Sign up
Powered by Ghost