X-Nico

unusual facts about the A-word



Anglo

The word is derived from Anglia, the Latin name for England, and still the modern name of its eastern region.

Ben Zimmer

Zimmer's research on word origins was frequently cited by William Safire's "On Language" column for The New York Times Magazine.

Cyan

Cyanotype, or blueprint, a monochrome photographic printing process that predates the use of the word cyan as a color, yields a deep cyan-blue colored print based on the Prussian blue pigment.

Deadly Towers

It is a pun of the word mashō (魔性), meaning "devilishness", and in keeping with this theme, the Japanese cartridge contained a red LED at the top which illuminated when turned on.

Decimus Laelius

Cicero's use of the word "respectable" (honestus) instead of "noble" (nobilis) to describe his family background suggests that he was not descended from the consular Laelii.

Dyson tree

The word "Orwood" in this context was originally coined by Anders Sandberg.

ELBO Kentaurus

The vehicle takes its name from the Greek word for Centaur the creature from Greek mythology.

Elisa Maza

Her last name was changed to Maza, which the creators believed to be a Sioux word for "iron", and which suited the character's strong will.

Fibularis brevis

The terms "Peroneal" (i.e., Artery, Retinaculum) and "Peroneus" (i.e., Longus and Brevis) are derived from the Greek word Perone (pronounced Pair-uh-knee) meaning pin of a brooch or a buckle.

Fiddler on the Roof songs

The song is often played at weddings, and in 2011 Sheldon Harnick wrote two versions of the song, suitable for same-sex weddings, with minor word changes.

Follow the Word

"Follow the Word" was the only single taken from Máire's album Whisper to the Wild Water released the previous year.

Gartz

The name derives from northern Lechitic (Proto-Polish) dialects (namely from West Pomeranian) from the word "gard" < *gord, meaning "fortified settlement".

Gasogene

The gasogene is mentioned as a residential fixture at 221B Baker Street in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia: "With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner."

Goona-goona epic

The word goona-goona comes from the 1932 film Goona-Goona, An Authentic Melodrama of the Island of Bali by Andre Roosevelt and Armand Denis.

Grog

The word originally referred to a drink made with water or "small beer" (a weak beer) and rum, which British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon introduced into the Royal Navy on 21 August 1740.

Helmut Krone

He was the art director for the popular 1960s campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle, which featured a large unadorned photo of the car with the tiny word "Lemon" underneath it; the series of "When you're only No. 2, you try harder" advertisements for Avis, and the creation of Juan Valdez, who personified Colombian coffee.

Inflammatory

The word inflammatory is not used to refer literally to fire and flammability, but is used in relation to comments that are provocative and arouse passions and emotions, however in English this is not technically correct.

Jaca Navarra

The word jaca has an unusual history, from Old Spanish haca, itself from Old French haque, which in turn is ultimately derived from the English place-name Hackney, a place famous for its horses.

James Fargo

Fargo has also directed television shows, such as The A-Team, Hunter, Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Beverly Hills 90210.

Jiliya

The Title of the rulers "Tazim Naresh Maharaja Shri" (The Great Hon'ble King) is derived from the Urdu word Tazeem (Tazim) meaning Respect or Honour, which describes their special position as a Dual Tazimi Thikana in the Princely State of Jodhpur whom the Jodhpur Maharaja receives in Darbar by rising from throne, taking steps, and hugging, and are exempted from appearance in Courts of Law in Civil Cases; and Naresh meaning "King" or "Maharaja" or "Raja".

Kenning

For example, Old Norse poets might replace sverð, the regular word for “sword”, with a more abstract compound such as “wound-hoe” (Egill Skallagrímsson: Höfuðlausn 8), or a genitive phrase such as randa íss “ice of shields” (Einarr Skúlason: ‘Øxarflokkr’ 9).

Kimmy Robertson

Robertson performed a short spoken-word segment on Roger McGuinn's 1990 album Back from Rio.

Kloosterkerk

In the Netherlands the word Kloosterkerk or monasterium refers to a church that is or was connected to a monastery.

Kommersant

To make the point that the publication had outlasted the Soviet regime, "Kommersant" is spelled in Russian with a terminal hard sign (ъ) – a letter that is silent at the end of a word in modern Russian, and was thus abolished by the post-revolution Russian spelling reform.

Kovachevtsi, Pernik Province

The name is derived from the Bulgarian word for blacksmith, kovach (ковач), either as a nickname of its residents or because it was founded by a blacksmith.

Leszek Murzyn

For the Polish word for a black person, see Murzyn

Matutinal

The etymology of the term is the Latin word mātūtīnus, "of or pertaining to the morning" (from Mātūta, Roman goddess of the dawn + -īnus, "-ine") + -ālis, "-al".

Michael Turvey

His research spans a number of areas including: dynamic touch and haptics, interlimb coordination, visual perception and optic flow, postural stability, visual word recognition and speech perception.

Milieu

Milieu is the word for environment in French, and, for hundreds of years, also in Dutch, German, Swedish, Danish, English, and other languages that were strongly influenced by French culture and French language, primarily during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Moclips River

According to Edmond S. Meany the word moclips comes from a Quinault word meaning a place where girls were sent as they were approaching puberty.

Oppido

Oppidum, a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome

Podokesaurus

The generic name Podokesaurus is derived from Greek word podokes (ποδοκες) meaning "swift-footed", an epitheton often used by Homer in the Iliad to describe the hero Achilles, and sauros (σαυρος) meaning "lizard"; thus "swift-footed lizard".

Pointy-haired Boss

The company's actual name, as spoken in the TV series, was "Path-Way Electronics" before merging with "E-Tech Management", making it "Path-E-Tech Management" (a play on the word "pathetic"), but when Dogbert acquired it later in the episode, there was a "Dogbert Inc." sign being lifted into place.

Proposition bet

:*Betting on specific aspects of the pageantry surrounding a sporting event, such as a) the duration of the word "brave" in the pregame performance of the U.S. national anthem or b) the color of the Gatorade or other sports drink dumped on the winning team's coach in the traditional practical joke and victory ritual known as Gatorade shower

Rabble.ca

First started as a news magazine in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Centre for Social Justice, rabble has expanded beyond the realm of the written word and now includes podcasts as well as branching out to video in 2008 with the creation of rabbletv.

Remember Last Night?

PCA head Joseph Breen forbade the use of the word "hangover" in the title.

Roger Rogerson

He also became an entertainer, telling stories of his police activities in a spoken-word stage show called The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, with former Australian footballers Warwick Capper and Mark "Jacko" Jackson.

Scripture: No Word Needed

Released in 1998, Scripture: No Word Needed is the first album of a solo project called Scripture by French Canadian composer Jean-Pierre Isaac.

Seersucker

The word came into English from Hindustani (Urdu and Hindi), and originates from the words "kheer aur shakkar", literally meaning "rice pudding and sugar", probably from the resemblance of its smooth and rough stripes to the smooth texture of milk and the bumpy texture of sugar.

Slip End

The name of Slip End possibly has a connection with the brickworks, Slip is an old English word for clay and End is quite common in Bedfordshire and not unknown in other counties.

Snaith

The name "Snaith" derives from the Old Scandinavian word sneith, meaning "Piece of land cut off".

Sound symbolism

Linguist Keith McCune demonstrated in his doctoral thesis that virtually every word in the Indonesian language has an iconic (phonosemantic) component.

Spittal, Pembrokeshire

Its name is a corruption of the word Hospital, which is also the root of such names as Spitalfields, London, Spital, Merseyside, Spital-in-the-Street, Lincolnshire, etc: the village possessed a hospitium (place of accommodation for pilgrims) belonging to the Cathedral of St David's.

Swabian German

In 2009 Muggeseggele, literally referring to the scrotum of a male housefly, was elected in a readers survey of Stuttgarter Nachrichten, the largest newspaper in Stuttgart as most beautiful Swabian word, with a large lead on any other expression.

The Kiss Seen Around the World

The man who frequently appears throughout the episode calling Peter (and later Neil) a phony is named Holden Caulfield in the credits, a reference to the character of the same name who is the protagonist of the 1951 book The Catcher in the Rye, known to use the word "phony" many times throughout the book.

Thomas Taro Higa

Word spread and Professor Tadaoki Yamamoto, the Department Chairman of the Faculty of Science & Engineering at the Waseda University, came to meet Higa and asked him to come to Japan and study.

Vineland

Vineland may be a play on the word "Hollywood", a reference to the first Viking settlement in North America, Vinland, or a reference to Andrey Vinelander, a character in Vladimir Nabokov's Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle.

West of Eden

The central characters are Vaintè, an ambitious Yilané; Stallan, her vicious and obedient adjutant; and Kerrick, a "ustouzou" (the Yilané word for mammal) who is captured by the reptiloids as a boy, and raised as a Yilané.

Wihan Daeng District

The word Wihan Daeng comes from the Buddhism Red Wihara of Lawa people in Ban Lam area, which was built by red bricks.

Kami, the Japanese word for the spirits within objects in the Shinto faith


see also