Dilly-dally comes from Anglo-French dalier, which means “to chat” or “act playfully,” making it a linguistic relative of dally, “to trifle with” or “to spend time frivolously,” and dalliance, a “frivolous act.” This is part of a complete episode...
Justin in Dallas, Texas, is curious about the origin of the name William, and why the Spanish version is Guillermo. Its popularity goes back to the days of William the Conqueror. Modern languages have several versions of this name, such as German...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a twist on a challenge that’s a favorite among members of the National Puzzlers League, the classic fill-in-the-blank game called The Flat. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Flat Word Game” You’re...
What does a piggyback ride have to do with pigs? Not much. In the 16th century, the word was pickaback, meaning to pitch or throw on one’s back. It’s had dozens of spellings over the past few centuries, but perhaps the word piggy has contributed to...
Many of the world’s languages apparently derived from a prehistoric common ancestor known as Indo-European. But since no one ever wrote down a word of it, how do we know what it was like?