Deadpan, an adjective used to describe a flat or unsmiling affect, as in deadpan humor, derives from the use of pan as a slang term for “face.” This is part of a complete episode.
- Listen on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- iHeart Radio
- »
Leave a comment
1 comment
More from this show
If you start the phrase when in Rome… but don’t finish the sentence with do as the Romans do, or say birds of a feather… without adding flock together, you’re engaging in anapodoton, a term of rhetoric that refers to the...
There are many proposed origins for the exclamation of surprise, holy Toledo! But the most likely one involves not the city in Ohio, but instead Toledo, Spain, which has been a major religious center for centuries in the traditions of both Islam and...
While the earliest known use of “dead pan” in print is from the sports pages of the St. Louis Star and Times in 1915, that particular 1915 quote says it originated with actors. Here’s a deep dive into its origin: https://etymology.kenliss.com/blog/?p=490