Why do baseball announcers say that a pitcher who throws a high fast ball is bringing high cheese? The cheese might be related to big cheese, a term that in turn may go back to Hindi and related languages where chiz means “thing.” This is part of a...
Words for “mother” begin with the letter M in many languages, but not all of them. The reason has to do with the physiology of infant vocalization. Among the first sounds babies make are bilabial sounds with an open vowel, the lips coming together...
Elsie from Fredericksburg, Texas, wonders if a gunnysack and a burlap bag are the same thing. Both are made from coarse fabric, but the word gunnysack is actually redundant, because the gunny goes back to a Sanskrit word that means “sack.” Tow sack...
Sayed lives in Houston, Texas, but grew up in Pakistan speaking Urdu and Punjabi. As someone who began learning English two years ago, he finds that he often mixes up gendered pronouns. It’s not surprising that he would confuse he with she and him...
The term bobbery means a noisy disturbance or hubub. The word’s origin is disputed, although one explanation is that it comes from the Hindi exclamation “Bap re!” or literally, “Oh father!” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bobbery”...
Hundreds of years ago, the word girl didn’t necessarily mean a female child — in the 14th and 15th centuries, it could refer to a child of either sex. Only later did its meaning become more specific. • Some people think that referring to a former...
