Category: Word Trivia

temporary

booth – First a temporary dwelling made of branches, material, etc. More…

learning cottage – A residential trailer used as a temporary or portable classroom. More…

lodge – First was a temporary dwelling, as a hut or tent. More…

jerry-built – Is either from English dialect jerry, “bad, defective,” a pejorative use of the male nickname Jerry, or from nautical slang jury, “temporary,” which came to be used of all sorts of makeshift and inferior objects. More…

select

elegant – Comes from Latin eligere, “select.” More…

eximious – Means “choice, excellent, select,” or “distinguished.” More…

garble – Originally meant “to sort out” or “to select in a biased way,” and was applied to the selection and sorting out of individual passages from a person’s writings or any separation of the good from the bad, of a selection of the worst and setting aside the better; it evolved to mean “to jumble, scramble.” More…

select – From Latin legere, “choose,” with the prefix se-, “apart.” More…

interchangeable

although, though – Although and though are interchangeable as conjunctions, but to start a clause, use although. More…

fungible – Interchangeable, returnable, or easily replaced. More…

convertible – If terms are interchangeable or synonymous, they are convertible. More…

inalienable, unalienable – Inalienable and unalienable are interchangeable for “unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor.” More…

protein

albumen, albumin – Albumen is the white of an egg, from Latin albus, “white”; albumin is a protein within the albumen. More…

protein – Pronounced PRO-teen or PRO-tee-un, it comes from Greek proteios, “primary,” as these compounds are essential to all living organisms. More…

protoplasm – A mixture of organic and inorganic substances, such as protein and water, it is regarded as the physical basis of life. More…

textured vegetable protein – A protein obtained from soy beans and made to resemble minced meat. More…

soldier

bombardier – First denoted a soldier in charge of a bombard, an early form of cannon. More…

functional shift – The process by which words change parts of speech without the addition of a prefix or suffix, as in soldier on, the verb, being created from soldier, the noun. More…

guerrilla, gorilla – Guerrilla is from a Spanish diminutive of guerra, “war,” and refers to a soldier of an independent armed resistance force; gorilla is the ape. More…

military – Based on Latin miles, “soldier.” More…

host

host – One of its early senses was “army.” More…

harbinger – Originally, one who provided lodging or acted as a host. More…

table d’ hote, prix fixe – Table d’ hote, literally “table of the host,” is a complete meal with specified courses for a set price—and means the same as prix fixe. More…

French leave – Comes from the French custom of leaving a ball or dinner without saying goodbye to the host or hostess. More…

tables

waitron – A person, male or female, who waits on tables at a restaurant. More…

backgammon – Appears to literally mean “back game,” and was first called tables; gammon is the ancestor of game. More…

busboy – A person who clears the dirty dishes from diners’ tables, so called from his “bus” or trolley. More…

turn the tables – May come from backgammon, as the game itself was once called tables, and the two halves of the playing board are still called tables. More…

traffic

filter lane – The lane of traffic reserved for those making a specific turn at the next junction. More…

reverse commute – To travel to work opposite of the normal rush of traffic. More…

traffic calming – The deliberate slowing of traffic in residential areas, with speed bumps or other obstructions. More…

traffic – Can only be traced to Italian traffico and trafficare, “trade,” but that is all that is known. More…