Brian in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reports hearing an older person talk about getting the receipt for a dish, using the word receipt in the same way that others might use the word recipe. The use of receipt as a synonym for recipe, as in “a set of cooking instructions,” is fading out, but is still occasionally heard. Both words go back to the Latin word recipere, meaning “to take,” but entered English at different times. Receipt is the older term, originally denoting “the act of receiving something.” Recipe is the Latin imperative form of recipere, and was inscribed at the top of a list of instructions for a medicinal preparation. There’s a vestige of this usage in the abbreviation ℞, now seen on pharmaceutical prescriptions. This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
Subscribe to the fantastic A Way with Words newsletter!
Martha and Grant send occasional messages with language headlines, event announcements, linguistic tidbits, and episode reminders. It’s a great way to stay in touch with what’s happening with the show.
