105: Thus versus Thusly Mar 23, 2015
Many consider the words 'thus' and 'thusly' to be entirely synonymous,
and therefore, 'thusly' is seen to be superfluous. For the most part,
these words are used to convey the exact same meaning, but there is a
notable difference. 'Thusly' is used to deliver quotations, while 'thus'
is not.
104: disgusting gusting Mar 22, 2015
Disgusting and gusting are not antonymous even though it would seem to
be so because of the prefix 'dis-'. Although 'gusting', in the sense of
wind movements, is a word, it is not the positive form for 'disgusting'.
This word did use to have a positive, as it comes from Latin 'dis-'
(expressing reversal) and 'gustus' which means ‘taste', but any word
resembling 'gusting' was snuffed out over time.
103: soap-opera Mar 21, 2015
You will never hear someone say "did you see in that soap opera when Mr.
Clean® turned out to have a long lost brother..." because the contents
of soap operas have nothing to do with actual soap. The term "soap
opera" originates from these programs, which were watched almost
exclusively during the day by house wives, with many advertisements from
soap and other cleaning product companies.
102: & (ampersand) Mar 20, 2015
Hello everyone, & have a happy Friday. The word today is
'ampersand'. The symbol of this word is the combination of the shapes of
the letters 'e' and 't' from the Latin word for 'and', 'et'. Like the
symbol, the word itself comes from a synthesis of sorts, the phrase,
"and per se and", meaning that it is 'and', nothing more.
101: hundred Mar 19, 2015
Today is the one hundredth Word Facts post! For today, the word is
'hundred'. It comes from the late Old English, from 'hund', of Germanic
origin and related to Dutch 'honderd' and German 'hundert'.
100: Bated Mar 18, 2015
Hello everyone, a very commonly misspelled word is 'bated', as in "bated
breath". This word is commonly written as 'baited'. Unless someone has
somehow managed to booby-trap one's own breathing, the accepted word is
'bated' which comes from 'abate', meaning to 'cause to become smaller or
less intense'.
98: monday Mar 16, 2015
Happy Monday (excuse the paradox). The word 'Monday' comes from the Old
English word, 'Mōnandæg' which means literally, "day of the moon". This
may seem to be oxymoronic, however it juxtaposes 'Sunday', also of Old
English origin (Sunnandæg), meaning "day of sun".
99: leprechuan Mar 17, 2015
Happy St. Patrick's Day. The word 'leprechaun' comes from Irish
'leipreachán', based on Old Irish 'luchorpán', from 'lu' which means
‘small’ and 'corp' a word meaning ‘body.'
97: penisula and penis Mar 15, 2015
Hello everyone. The words, 'peninsula', and 'penis', however much they
are similar, both being an appendage protruding from a main body, and
however much the words look and sound similar, the two are not related.
'Peninsula comes from Latin 'paeninsula', which gets its sound from
'paene' which means, ‘almost’ and 'insula' which means ‘island.’ 'Penis'
comes from the Latin word 'penis' meaning the exact same thing as it
does today. Because of its Latin '-is' ending, an acceptable plural of
'penis' is 'penes' pronounced ˈpēnēz'.
96: magpie Mar 14, 2015
Happy Pi Day. the word 'pie' comes from Middle English, probably
denoting the various combinations of ingredients, compared to objects
randomly collected by a magpie.
95: chatter Mar 13, 2015
In the last set of weeks in which the chattering of teeth is still a
conceivable notion, today's word is chatter. The word, having nothing to
do with the cold, is onomatopoeic, mimicking the sounds of birds.
94: portmanteau Mar 12, 2015
There is a very common activity many people do, for themselves and for
celebrities, ship-naming, which is the combining of aspects of two names
to create one. Although ship-names are quite common, there exists a
little-known noun, 'portmanteau', which means the same thing (though it
is not restricted to names). So just use this if any of you wish to
sound snooty or worldly while discussing 'brangelina'.
93: persona Mar 11, 2015
The Latin word 'persona' meant ‘actor's mask, or character in a play'.
Later, the word changed to mean a ‘human being'. This is where both of
the words, 'person', and 'persona' come from.
92: tale Mar 10, 2015
Many words are both nouns and verbs, that remain with the same spelling,
or will over time deviate in to unrecognizably different words. Some
words, however, change, but only very slightly' such as 'tell' and
'tale', which both are derivatives of the same Old English word 'talu'.
90: farmer Mar 8, 2015
Happy (or unhappy, up to you) Daylight Savings, a day originally
intended for farmers. The word 'farmer' comes from medieval Latin
'firmarius', and originally suggested a bailiff or steward who farmed
land on the owner's behalf, or a tenant farmer, but not the owner of the
land.
91: -Gue Endings Mar 9 2015
Many words can have variants, regarding spelling. Some words vary in
spelling depending on location, for instance 'honour' and 'honor'. Some
words behave this way because one people keep to a more traditional
spelling, while another adapts for pronunciation change. Words such as
'catalogue' and 'catalog', or 'dialogue' and 'dialog' are examples of
this phenomenon. However 'prologue' and 'prolog' are not synonymous,
even though it would appear they should be.
89: Confucius Mar 7, 2015
Often when words are transcribed by people, familiar or not, with a
language, the new word will not be exactly the same as it was in its
original language. For example, the word in Mandarin for 'New York' is a
fairly similar, 'NiuYue', but Confucius' name was not 'Confucius', as
we call him, but 'K'ung Fu-tzu' which means 'master Kung'.
88: infant Mar 6, 2015
Speech is difficult and takes time, neither of which babies ever have
much of. The word 'infant' comes from Anglo-French "enfant", which comes
from Latin "infant-, infans"' an adjective, meaning "incapable of
speech"
87: Distrust versus Mistrust Mar 5, 2015
'Distrust' and 'mistrust' are roughly the same. Both act as a noun and a
verb to mean "a lack of trust" or "to regard without trust". Yet, these
words are not synonymous. Generally, 'distrust' is created from
experience or reliable information, whereas 'mistrust' will be used to
express a sense of uneasiness toward someone or something. For example,
you might distrust someone you have been lied to by before, and you
might mistrust something said by a stranger. However, most people use
them interchangeably.
86: grammar Mar 4, 2015
Happy
National Grammar Day everyone! The word grammar comes from Greek
'grammatekhnē' which means the ‘(art) of letters'. The word,
'grammatekhnē' comes from the word 'gramma, grammat-' which means,
‘letter of the alphabet, thing written'.
Why Greek and not some other language?
The ancient Greeks did not have the first alphabet, but they did have the first alphabet with vowels, which is why many English lexical terms are of Greek origin.
Why Greek and not some other language?
The ancient Greeks did not have the first alphabet, but they did have the first alphabet with vowels, which is why many English lexical terms are of Greek origin.