Grant gives Martha a little Greek test with the word leucomelanous. Leuco, meaning “white,” and melano, meaning “black,” together refer to someone with a fair complexion and dark hair, like Snow White or Veronica from the...
It’s always fun to catch moviemakers’ blunders. Say you’re watching an epic about ancient Rome and spot a toga-clad extra who forgot to remove his wristwatch. That’s an anachronism. But what do you call something that’s...
When it’s raining cats and dogs, the Greeks say, “It’s raining chair legs!” Omniglot has many more terms for downpours around the world. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Raining Chair Legs” So...
Great Googly-Moogly, it's another newsletter from "A Way with Words"! In our latest archive episode: If a woman keeps her own name after marriage, is she "Ms." or "Mrs."? Also,"redd up," "out like...
Jeff from Columbus, Indiana, asks about his father’s use of the expression “not one iota” to mean “not one bit.” An iota is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet, and ancient Greek speakers used the word for something exceedingly tiny. The...
Sean, a public affairs officer at Camp Pendleton, California, asks about gyrene, an old slang term for a Marine. The word appears in print as early as the 1890s. Although a doubtful popular theory derives it from GI plus marine, the Historical...