A lexical lagniappe at a gas pump leads to a discussion of the word serendipity, coined by 18th-century writer Horace Walpole. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Gas Station Serendipity”
I was caught off guard the other day when I was pumping gas, and the gas pump said to me,
Your word of the day.
Oh, yeah.
I had the same thing.
Have you had this experience?
I’ve had this, yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
I was shocked.
I thought, how do they know I’m here?
Maybe it was just you and I.
Yeah, maybe that’s what it was.
Maybe nobody else gets that.
Maybe the people who follow sports get sports scores.
I mean, and what was really crazy is that the word was serendipity.
Yo, I saw the same thing.
Did you?
Well, I have to say, you know, the word was serendipity, and it did not have the etymology, which I was not happy about.
And that’s the best story there, the Serendip Island, right?
Right, right.
It was a word coined by Horace Walpole.
In one of his books.
The writer, right.
It was based on the three princes of Serendip, Serendip being an old word for Sri Lanka.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah, and these princes were always making discoveries, and that’s where we get the word serendipity.
So they could have added that.
Right.
I mean, I would have filled the tank.
I had enough time for that.
Yeah, exactly.
