225: bit Jul 21, 2015

The etymology does make a bit of sense if you think about it. The word 'bit' derives from Old English 'bita' which is a ‘bite', or 'mouthful’. The term was later extended to inedible substances, and even intangible entities, too. The computing term 'bit' has nothing to to with the other 'bit', as the computing term derives from a blend of 'binary' and 'digit'.

223: dollar Jul 19, 2015

The word 'dollar' comes from Low German 'daler', short for 'Joachimsthaler', a coin from the silver mine of 'Joachimsthal'. Why did this adopted word win, over all possible choices for words to adopt‽ The term 'daler' was later extended to a coin used in the Spanish American colonies, which was also commonly used in the North American colonies of Great Britain, at the time of the American Revolution. When the United States needed to come up with a name for its currency, it used 'dollar'.

224: fortnight Jul 20, 2015

'Fortnight' does not have anything to do with military forts, despite what it may appear. The word comes from Old English 'fēowertīene niht' which means ‘fourteen nights.’

222: female (versus male) Jul 18, 2015

The word 'female' appears to just have a prefix 'fe' attached to the word 'male', however 'female' is no extension of the 'male'. Both of these have separate Latin Etymologies; 'female' comes from the word 'femina' which as you probably guessed means 'a woman', and 'male' derives from Latin 'masculus', which comes from 'mas' meaning ‘a man’.

221: ax versus axe Jul 17, 2015

Why is it that 'ax' and 'axe' are both acceptable spellings‽ Because in Old English, the 'a' was a long vowel sound, so over time many started writing the word with a silent 'e', but since the 'a' is now pronounced short, the silent 'e' is was not always included at the time when English was being standardized.

220: petrichor Jul 16, 2015

There are a lot of commonly unknown words, usually either very old or very new. The smell after it rains is generally a favorite one, but the word for it was only invented in the 1960's, 'petrichor'. This word is a blend of 'petro-' which means ‘relating to rocks', as the smell is believed to be caused by a liquid mixture of organic compounds that collects in the ground, and 'ichor'.

219: nightmare Jul 15, 2015

There is a common misconception that the word 'nightmare' has anything to do with the horses. The word derives from Middle English denoting an evil spirit thought to lie upon and suffocate sleepers, which comes from a combination of 'night' and Old English, 'mære' which meant a 'succubus' or ‘incubus'. In fact the word 'incubus' comes from the Latin word 'incubo' which means ‘nightmare’, and comes from the verb 'incubare' meaning ‘lie on’. Even today 'incubus' is an archaic term meaning 'nightmare'.

218: bastille day Jul 14, 2015

Happy Bastille Day. The word 'Bastille', opened in 1383, was named, not after a person or place like many buildings are, but a building, or rather 'building'. The word comes from Old French, from Provençal word ‘bastida’ which ultimately derives from 'bastir' which means ‘build'.

217: Ruthless Jul 13, 2015

'Ruthless' does not mean "lacking anybody named Ruth", but that is still not far from the truth. 'Ruthless' comes from Middle English 'ruth' which is now archaic, but comes from the word 'rue', and means "a sense of pity or regret", because those who are ruthless do not show rue for anything.

216: bon fire Jul 12, 2015

The word 'bonfire' comes from late Middle English: bone + fire. The term originally denoted a large open-air fire on which bones were burned (sometimes as part of a celebration), also one for burning heretics or outlawed literature. Johnson accepted the mistaken idea that the word came from French 'bon' meaning 'good'. but in recent years, that idea has been dispelled.

215: groggy Jul 11, 2015

Most morning people can understand the tired, groggy feeling of just having woken up. The word 'groggy' comes, like 'sluggish, from describing someone like a drunk. 'Grog', originally was a sailor's term (which ought not to be a surprise as it means "diluted rum", and 'groggy' is someone who acts like he is drunk on grog.

214: party July 10, 2015

The idea of a party has a few different meanings:
"a social gathering of invited guests", and also "a formally constituted political group." This word derives from Middle English (denoting a body of people united in opposition to others): based on Latin 'partiri' which means ‘divide into parts’. Sense 1 of this noun dates from the early 18th century, in the sense of a much less oppositional [than a political assembly] gathering.

213: To-night, to-morrow and to-day Jul 9, 2015

Languages are essential to culture and demonstrate how people think, even a simple hyphen can do just that. 'To-night', 'to-morrow', and 'to-day' have got the preposition 'to', because it used to be thought of as places, where as now it is treated as time.

212: lasso and noose Jul 8, 2015

The lasso and noose knots are quite similar, and that's not a coincidence. The words are related due to Spanish cowboys, who used the word 'lazo' which derives from Latin 'laqueus', which means 'noose', in regards to cattle wrangling.

211: outrage versus outrageous Jul 7, 2015

Like science, linguistics is constantly changing. 'Outrage' and 'outrageous' do not have similar meanings, but both come from Middle English in the senses ‘lack of moderation’ and ‘violent behavior’, although now the two words only have one sense respectively. The sense of 'outrage' development has been affected by the belief that the word is a compound of out and rage, however this belief is now outdated.

210: galore Jul 6, 2015

'Galore', a like most postpositions in English, was not originally a postposition. In fact, the word was originally two words. 'Galore' derives from the Irish word 'go leor' which means 'to sufficiency'.

209: want Jul 5, 2015

Language lends a perspective on societies. The word, 'want' derives from Middle English, from the noun from Old Norse, 'vant', (which–for all curious–is neuter of 'vanr') meaning ‘lacking’. The original notion of “lack” was early extended to “need,” and after that a more global consumer culture came to be, and the sense of ‘desire’ developed.

208: raze and razor Jul 4, 2015

The words 'raze' and 'razor' are related: 'razor' deriving from the Middle English sense of the word ‘raze’, which was 'to scratch' or 'to incise'. Razors were first item sold to be disposable in Victorian London; razors raze the face then are effectively, razed in a garbage dump.

207: gung ho Jul 3, 2015

"Gung ho" is a post positive adjective, and derives from a misunderstood Chinese motto used in WWII. The word comes the interpretation of the Chinese (Beijing) word, 'gōnghé', short for "Zhōngguó Gōngyè Hézuò Shè", which just means "Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society". 'Gōnghé' was interpreted as meaning "work together" when adopted by certain United States marines, originally used to discuss soldiers.

206: Than Jul 2, 2015

Following traditional grammar, personal pronouns should be in the subjective case rather than the objective case, when following the word 'than', as 'than' introduces its own clause. In informal settings, it is fine to forgo this rule, but it does lead to some confusion. The sentences, "I know the material in the textbook better than she", and "I know the material in the textbook better than her" mean two very different things: the first statement is boastful, and the second reveals that the speaker doesn't know the referenced girl as well as a the contents of a textbook. Comment with your thoughts on this!