The word “ornery” was originally a dialectal contraction of the word “ordinary.” Originally, “ornery” simply meant ordinary, or commonplace, but eventually evolved into meaning naughty or cantankerous.
Old people love that word.
And they love calling kids “ornery.”
Old person: “Hey, little kid. Santa won’t come this year, because you’ve been too ordinary!”
Classic old person.
æ was a single letter in the Old English alphabet, and was known as the “ashtree.” Nowadays, it’s commonly referred to as the “ash.”
Because it’s definitely commonly referred to…..
Why skivvies is slang for underwear is a little unclear, however, it was originally considered nautical slang. An earlier skivvy/skivey was also used in London as a slang word for a “female domestic servant.”
In Iran, “female domestic servant” is slang for “wife.”
Unlike nocturnal creatures, which are active at night, or diurnal creatures, which are active during the day, crepuscular creatures are active at dawn and at dusk. Ferrets, dogs, cats, rabbits, and old people are all crepuscular.
Sternutation is a fancy word for sneezing.
Mastication is a fancy word for chewing.
Masturbation is a sin.
A person from Nigeria is a Nigerian. A person from Niger is a Nigerien.
George W. would simply refer to them as African-Americans.
That wasn’t topical at all.
The word “rookie” likely derives from “recruit.”
A Wookiee, like Chewbacca, likely derives from “wecruit.”
The Jesus fish that you see on the back of cars is called the Ichthys (Greek for “fish”). ICHTHYS is an acrostic (see yesterday’s post) for “Jesus Christ, God’s son, savior” (transliterated from the Greek text).
It would have been funnier if the acrostic spelled “penguin” or “giraffe” or “corn.” I would put one of those on my car.
An acrostic is a poem or form of text where the first letter of each line or paragraph spells out a word.
Good
Research
Uncovers
New and
Delightful ways to
Learn, as well as ways to
Educate others
People from Boston are Bostonians. That’s not too hard to say.
But try talking about people from Massachusetts, using the US Government Printing Office’s recommended demonym: Massachusettsans.
It hurts to say.
I’ve been without a computer for a while. Time to play catch up.
A demonym is the name of a person from a certain place. That sounded vague…
American is the demonym for a person from the United States of America.
This week’s posts will all be about demonyms. It is going to be a horrible week.
SCUBA, as in scuba diving, is actually an acronym for Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
I love going self-contained underwater breathing apparatus diving so I can look at all the fish.
