What a difference pronunciation makes! The United States has a Department of Defense, and an individual might take classes in self-defense. So why do football and basketball coaches say they’re proud of their . . . “DEE-fence?” Linguists have a...
Cobwebs are the same thing as spiderwebs, and they get their name from the old English term coppe, meaning “spider,” which turns up in The Hobbit in a poem about an attercop. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Etymology of Cobwebs”...