Category Archives: English

Why is X Pronounced Like a Z Sometimes?

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Which cocktail means “moist little thing”? | BOOZY WORDS

13 Nov 2024 #etymology #wordfacts #English ❗️HEADS UP❗️ This episode includes much alcohol talk 🍻 Rob and Jess are getting a round in at the bar in this episode crammed with boozy etymology. Let’s explore the origins of our words … Continue reading

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Old Phrases We Still Use Today And Where They Originated From🤯😅 #history #phrases #idioms #english

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How can “tree” and “truth” be related? | WOODLAND WORDS

In this episode of Words Unravelled, Rob and Jess explore woodland words. Join us to uncover the extraordinary origins of names for forest flora and fauna. 📕 Which trees are books named after? 🦔 Which animal is the “hedgehog of … Continue reading

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How are people using “mortified” wrongly? | EMOTION ETYMOLOGY

🤔 Where do our emotions come from? In this episode of Words Unravelled, Rob and Jess dive deep into the fascinating origins of the words we use to express how we feel! From the familiar words like “sad,” “mad,” and … Continue reading

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Linguist Answers Word Origin Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

22 Oct 2024 Linguist Gareth Roberts joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about the etymologies of English words. How did the first languages first form? Was there once a single common language that all the others evolved from? … Continue reading

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What’s the ‘were’ in werewolf? | SPOOKY ETYMOLOGY

23 Oct 2024 #etymology #ghoststories #halloween In this episode of Words Unravelled, Rob and Jess dig into the spooky origins of Halloween words. From ‘ghosts’ and ‘ghouls’ to ‘warlocks’ and ‘witches’, they uncover the hauntingly fascinating roots of supernatural lingo. … Continue reading

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Why is English so weirdly different from other languages? | Aeon Essays

Death and the word; William conquers Harold and the English language. From Cotton Vitellius A XIII(1) f3v. Photo courtesy British Library No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other … Continue reading

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COW vs BEEF Busting the Biggest Myth in Linguistic History.

[…] The story that’s been told 100s of times: The names of animal comes from the Anglo-Saxon peasants who were English and the names of the meat comes from the French Nobles. An interesting story but it’s a myth. I’ll … Continue reading

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Why Can’t English People Pronounce “Kamala?”

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