Category: Word Trivia

Main Line – The principal line of a railway (1841), it also has the meaning “affluent area of residence” (1930s), originally that of Philadelphia, from the “main line” of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which added local stops to a string of backwater towns west of the city in late 19th century that helped turn them into fashionable suburbs. More…

one-track mind – Is a reference to the railway. More…

railway – The word was first recorded in 1776, but the first actual railway opened nearly 50 years later, in 1825. More…

sidetrack – First used for a railway siding or a minor track or path. More…

conjecture – First meant “the interpretation of omens or signs” or “divination,” and it literally means “to throw together,” that is, to produce a theory by putting together a number of facts. More…

diacritic – From Greek diakrinein, “distinguish from,” it denotes marks or signs that distinguish different values or sounds (pronunciations) of a letter. More…

semiopathy – A tendency to read humorously inappropriate meanings into signs. More…

sigla – The words for signs and abbreviations representing words. More…

rareripe – Originally simply a fruit or vegetable that ripened early. More…

fruit, vegetable – Fruit is the name given to those plants that have an ovary used for food; vegetable is the name given to a large category of herbaceous plants with parts used for food. More…

sauerbraten, sauerkraut – In German, sauerbraten is literally “sour roast meat,” and sauerkraut is “sour cabbage or vegetable.” More…

sweet potato, yam – The sweet potatoes and yams sold in most stores are the same vegetable—sweet potatoes are inside every mislabeled yam can; true yams are not sold anywhere except a handful of specialty grocers. More…

light year – Not a length of time but a distance, the distance a pulse of light travels in one year (about 5.88 trillion miles). More…

pea – Comes from Greek pison, “pulse, pease.” More…

asphyxia – Its original meaning was stoppage of the pulse. More…

ictus – The beat of the pulse, based on the Latin word for “stroke.” More…

extenuate – Comes from the Latin verb extenuare, “make thin or lean,” and originally meant “to treat as of small importance, make light of.” More…

macilent – Means “lean, thin” or “shriveled,” i.e. lacking in substance. More…

recubation, recumb – Recubation is reclining in a near-horizontal position; to recumb is to “lean, recline, rest.” More…

streaky – Describes bacon with alternating strips of fat and lean. More…

Cook’s tour – A very fast tour of a location, from Thomas Cook, the famous travel agent. More…

stamping ground, stomping ground – Stamping ground or stomping ground originally referred to a location frequented by animals. More…

map reference – The numbers and letters you use to find a location on a map. More…

urheimat – The location where a people or language originated. More…

assonance – The condition of the words of a phrase or verse having the same sound or termination without rhyming. More…

blank verse – A verse without rhyme. More…

rhyme – From Latin rhythmus, “rhythm,” from Greek rhein, “to flow.” More…

rhyme or reason – A phrase derived from French ni rime ni raison. More…

granulated sugar – So called because the last step in processing white table sugar is sending it through a granulator, where it is dried and formed into tiny grains. More…

mission – First denoted sending the Holy Spirit into the world, from Latin mittere, “send.” More…

perennial – First meant “remaining leafy throughout the year”; plants living three or more years—dying aboveground and sending up fresh growth every year—are perennials. More…

radio – An abbreviation of radiotelegraphy, the sending of messages by electromagnetic rays. More…

land of milk and honey – In the Bible, a land of prosperity and plenty promised by God to the Israelites. More…

pumpkin time – The end of prosperity and a return to normal. More…

thrift – First meant “acquired wealth, prosperity, success.” More…

welfare – Originally the phrase wel fare—first meaning “happiness” or “prosperity.” More…

ire, rage, fury – Ire suggests greater intensity than anger, rage suggests loss of self-control, and fury is destructive rage verging on madness. More…

mania – Based on a Greek word meaning “madness,” ultimately from an Indo-European root for “mind.” More…

rage – Traces back to Latin rabia, an alteration of rabies, meaning “fury, madness.” More…

woodness – Madness or insanity, from Old English wood, “out of one’s mind.” More…