Category Archives: Etymology

Picnics and barbecues

François Lemoyne’s “Hunting Picnic” [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

As the Memorial Day weekend approaches, Americans wipe the winter rust from their grills, stock up on steaks and dust off their picnic blankets, readying themselves for the alfresco dining event that opens the summer social calendar. And we ask ourselves that perennial question: just where do these two words describing festive outdoor meals come from? Curiously, one of them didn’t even have a hint of alfresco in its original meaning.

Contrary to various stories floating around the web in the last couple of decades, picnic has nothing to do with lynchings of African-Americans; indeed the word was born nowhere near American shores, but originated in France. And in true French tradition, it started out being all about wine, not food. Pique-nique was first seen in Tony Willis’s Origines de la Langue Française of 1692, and it described a group of people dining in a restaurant who brought their own wine. (Yes: the French invented the concept of BYOB.) In fact, the whole idea of the picnic began not as a pastoral alfresco dining experience, as we think of it now, but rather as a meal to which each individual contributed, no matter what the context or the setting — like a precursor of the modern potluck dinner. When it first appeared in English usage — which, according to the OED, was in one of Lord Chesterfield’s letters in 1748 (although it was not in common use until after 1800), the word picnic was associated with card playing, drinking and conversation; for some picnics of the early 19th century century, guests would contribute entertainment rather than food items, and so it began English life as a fashionable social occasion, rather than a meal as such. The concept of a picnic being an outdoor repast first evolved from the rather indulgent rest breaks with refreshments taken during hunts in the 18th century, as illustrated in Lemoyne’s painting pictured above. The original word piquenique is possibly from the French verb piquer, meaning “to pick or peck”, paired with the rhyming word nique, meaning “something of little importance or worth”, which has German origins. However, the OED is altogether doubtful about piquenique‘s provenance.

Barbecue is an even older word, dating back to the mid 17th century and a different part of the world: the Spanish Americas. With an etymology much simpler and straightforward than that of its alfresco cousin described above, it comes from the Arawakan word barbakoa describing the raised framework of sticks on which the Indians would cure meat, and slowly over the course of the early 18th century it came to refer more specifically to “an outdoor meal of roasted meat or fish as a social entertainment” (from the Online Etymology Dictionary).

Happy Memorial Day!

A laundry list for Jim

Jim in New York recently posed a question for Glossophilia:

“Dear Glossophile, I’ve never in my life made lists for my laundry. Yet I continue to hear the phrase, “laundry list,” as in “laundry list of complaints.” Whazzup? Did folks once need to inventory socks and underpants, etc. before laundering them?”

Yes, Jim in New York, it seems that once folks did indeed have to make inventories of their clothes before sending them to be laundered. The illustration above is of a laundry list filled in by guests of New York’s Hotel Astor, back in the day when it cost a mere 5 cents to launder a handkerchief. According to Wiki.answers, this practice might date back to as early as the Civil War, when soldiers would make a list of their items to be laundered. (Although were there really people laundering the clothes of the military back in those days?) Wiki.answers believes the laundry list proper originated in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century when many sent their laundry out to be cleaned.

The late Denver Post columnist Ed Quillen wrote a colorful little piece about his experience of working for the family laundry business when he was a young teenager. Enlightening and evocative as the article is — with images of counterpanes and half-pairs, women’s blouses and priests’ collars, it’s not difficult to imagine how such lists of clothing items could soon become deadly in their length and detail, especially to those reading or creating them for a living. Laundry lists of yore certainly wouldn’t have made it onto today’s Buzzfeed – the king of entertaining internet lists. No, it doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to see how our modern proverbial laundry list (ie. a tediously or unnecessarily lengthy list of items) was born from its literal forebear, which guaranteed efficiency and the return of freshly-laundered undergarments but not necessarily a basketful of laughs.

It’s not just beans that meanz Heinz

When Peggy made her saucy pitch to Heinz on Sunday’s Mad Men — following her former boss’s more cryptic (and in my opinion more classy) presentation to the condiment giant — she drew an interesting distinction between two names of the centuries-old sauce that made its way, originally tomato-less, from the Far East to western shores some time back in the 1600s. Trying to emphasize the superiority of the Heinz brand by dissing its competitors, she asked rhetorically, “What’s the difference between ketchup and catsup?” Her answer, designed to be like catnip to the catsup men-in-suits, was brilliant in its drawing of enemy lines between two words that were (and still are) effectively and officially synonymous. “Well, catsup has more tomatoes, comes in a bigger bottle. It’s cheaper, but tastes just like ketchup. Now, we know that’s not true. But that’s what your competitors are saying, over and over. They’re selling their watered down, flavorless sauce by pretending that they’re you. It makes you angry, doesn’t it?” It was a clever ploy on Peggy’s part to elevate the Heinz brand by distinguishing it not just descriptively but also verbally, aligning one of two generic names of the red condiment (and arguably the more linguistically appealing one — given its initial “k” and lack of feline associations) solely with the brand in question, and assigning the other word — catsup — as a catch-all verbal repository for everyone else’s inferior product. “Heinz: the only ketchup.” But was Peggy correct in making that distinction?

Fowler, in his Modern English Usage, states that ketchup “is the established spelling; formerly also catchup and catsup, of which the second at least is due to popular etymology. A Chinese or Malay word is said to be the source.” The OED explains in more detail that ketchup is “a spicy sauce made from tomatoes, mushrooms, vinegar, etc., used as a condiment”, and also suggests a possible derivation from the Cantonese word k’e-chap meaning “tomato juice”. In other words, both ketchup and catsup mean the same sauce, whatever the ingredients, quality or brand. And it seems they always have done, despite Heinz’s success (as Peggy foretold) at monopolizing the ketchup brand.

European traders were first introduced to the condiment while visiting the Far East in the late 17th century. According to Charles Lockyer in his book An Account of the Trade in India, published in 1711, “Soy comes in Tubbs from Jappan, and the best Ketchup from Tonquin; yet good of both sorts are made and sold very cheap in China.” The Europeans liked the sauce but didn’t like the “k”, Anglicizing its name to catchup as they brought it home to the West. (It is spelt as such in the 1690 Dictionary of the Canting Crew.) Although the “k” version crept back into usage in the early 18th century, the name catchup endured alongside it — especially in North America, where its modified alternative, catsup, was quickly adopted and kept up with ketchup — until Peggy and Heinz so cunningly dissed it in the boardroom. It was actually Jonathan Swift who first put catsup in print, in 1730: “And, for our home-bred British cheer, Botargo, catsup, and caveer.” (The history of the word caviar is another story entirely.)

See Glossophilia’s earlier post on brand names that have morphed into generic nouns and verbs.

Who’s Miranda?

There’s much discussion and speculation about the likelihood and legality of suspected Boston bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev being questioned without being read his “Miranda warning”, since investigators want to invoke a rare public safety exemption. We all know, from watching movies and Law & Order reruns, that on arrest an individual is read his or her Miranda rights: to remain silent, to consult with an attorney, and to have an attorney present during questioning. Where does the name Miranda come from?

In 1963, a laborer from Arizona, Ernesto Arturo Miranda, was convicted of kidnap, rape, and armed robbery, based on a confession he made under police interrogation. Miranda appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that his fifth amendment rights had been violated because he was not told of his right to remain silent or to consult with a lawyer before his questioning. The Supreme Court set aside Miranda’s conviction in a landmark ruling of 1966, and so the Miranda rights (or Miranda warning) were conceived and enshrined in U.S. law. (Miranda was later retried and convicted for the original crime.)

There is no exact wording for the Miranda warning; however, the Supreme Court’s ruling included guidelines that must be followed when arresting an individual and informing him or her of their rights:

“The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that they have the right to remain silent, and that anything the person says will be used against that person in court; the person must be clearly informed that they have the right to consult with an attorney and to have that attorney present during questioning, and that, if they are indigent, an attorney will be provided at no cost to represent them.

Almost inevitably, a verb has evolved in American English to capture the process described above. According to the Oxford American Dictionary, mirandize is a transitive verb meaning “to inform (a person who has been arrested) of their legal rights, in accordance with the Miranda decision.”

Easter — sunrise in a name

The origin of the name Easter — one of the most important days in the Christian calendar when the resurrection of Christ is commemorated throughout the Western world — is not definitive, but it’s now generally understood that its pagan etymology dates back many centuries to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre (also Estre, Estara, Eastre, Ostara, and other variations), the goddess of sunrise. Linguistically and spiritually she is thought to be related to Hausos, the Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess, and to Austron, the Proto-Germanic goddess of fertility and spring, whose feast was almost certainly celebrated on the spring equinox, a time recognized by many pagan cultures as the start of the year and marked with important celebrations. At the heart of the names of these fruitful morning goddesses is the word East — the direction of the sunrise.

The eighth-century Christian saint, scholar and linguist Bede argued in his book De temporum ratione (“The Reckoning of Time”) that the Anglo-Saxon Christians adopted not just the name of the goddess Eostre but also many of the celebratory practices of her spring feast day for their Mass of Christ’s resurrection.

That Easter is named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess isn’t a universally accepted truth, however. The historian Ronald Hutton argues with Bede in his book Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain, suggesting that “the Anglo-Saxon Eostur-monath meant simply ‘the month of opening’ or ‘the month of beginnings'”, and his theory is borne out by the fact that many of the other Anglo-Saxon month names translate as seasonal events rather than the names of gods or goddesses.

Why is a ship a she?

Why are ships called she?

“A ship is called a she because there is always a great deal of bustle around her; there is usually a gang of men about; she has a waist and stays; it takes a lot of paint to keep her good-looking; it is not the initial expense that breaks you, it is the upkeep; she can be all decked out; it takes an experienced man to handle her correctly; and without a man at the helm, she is absolutely uncontrollable. She shows her topsides, hiders her bottom and, when coming into port, always heads for the buoys.”

Based on this prose posted in the wardrooms of most U.S. naval ships and printed on many a tacky tea-towel (take it as mildly cheeky or inexcusably offensive), this is the explanation most people will offer up. (See also the even more chauvinistic rendering by Rear Admiral Francis D. Foley below.)

But seriously: why are ships and countries (and sometimes cars and other vessels and vehicles) often referred to with the feminine pronoun? Continue reading →

49 shades of nonsense: a thesaurus of piffle

Art is Tilda Swinton sleeping in a glass box … Boris Johnson wants to take over from David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party … The History Channel’s Obama-Satan resemblance … The Real Housewives franchise … The new TSA rules … George Osborne on Cyprus … Manchester United’s manager snubs a pre-match handshake … The Dow Jones Index …

These momentous news items have each been described as a load of old codswallop and poppycock by commentators in the world’s media in recent weeks — but not necessarily using that particular language. We probably don’t realize just how lucky we are to be able to draw on such a wide, rich vocabulary of words — many of them slang, a few taboo or vulgar — to identify and dismiss baloney with emphasis and flair when nonsense simply won’t do, even with the word utter placed firmly in front of it. The etymological bios of these sassy characters are often as colorful as the words themselves.

applesauce: by 1739, American English Slang attested from 1921 and noted as vogue word early 1920s. Mencken credits it to cartoonist T.A. (“Tad”) Dorgan. DAS suggests the word was thus used because applesauce was cheap fare served in boardinghouses. (OnEtDic)
balderdash: 1590s, of unknown origin; originally a jumbled mix of liquors (milk and beer, beer and wine, etc.), transferred 1670s to “senseless jumble of words.” From dash; first element perhaps cognate with Dan. balder “noise, clatter” (cf. boulder*). 1611 CHAPMAN May-day III. Dram. Wks. “S’fut winesucker, what have you fild vs heere? baldre~dash?” 1629 B. JONSON New Inn “Beer or butter-milk, mingled together..It is against my free-hold..To drink such balder-dash.” (OED)
balls: slang for testicles
baloney (also boloney): 1915–20, Americanism; first known use 1922 (MW); Bologna sausage is commonly believed to be created from lowly scraps of meat cuts. It is assumed that this food, therefore, is the origin of the slang word baloney, meaning “nonsense” or “BS”. However, the origin of the word “Baloney” is a corruption, through the French, of the city of Bologna, Italy. As the university at Bologna was known for its legal education, the French, and later English, came to call legal clap-trap “Balogna,” or “Baloney.” (Wiki)
bilge: 1510s, “lowest internal part of a ship,” also used of the foulness which collects there (OnEtDic)
blah: (1940), probably imitative or echoic in origin (Wiki)
blarney: 1796, from Blarney Stone (which is said to make a persuasive flatterer of any who kiss it), in a castle near Cork, Ireland; reached wide currency through Lady Blarny, the smooth-talking flatterer in Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield” (1766). (OnEtDic)
blatherskite: c.1650, bletherskate, in Scottish song “Maggie Lauder,” which was popular with soldiers in the Continental Army in the American Revolution, hence the colloquial U.S. use for “talkative fellow, foolish talk,” especially in early 19c. From blather (v.) + dialectal skite “contemptible person.” (OnEtDic)
blather (also blither): 1787, from the verb: 1520s, Scottish, probably from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse blaðra “mutter, wag the tongue,” perhaps of imitative origin. (OnEtDic)
bollocks (also bollix) (Brit.): 13th c. Probably a derivative of Teutonic ball-, of which the Old English representative would be inferred as beall-u, -a, or -e“. One early reference is John Wycliffe bible (1382), Leviticus xxii, 24: “Al beeste, that … kitt and taken a wey the ballokes is, ye shulen not offre to the Lord…” (any beast that is cut and taken away the bollocks, you shall not offer to the Lord, i.e. castrated animals are not suitable as sacrifices). (OED) In British slang, as an ejaculation meaning “nonsense,” recorded from 1919. (OnEtDic)
bosh (Brit.): From Turkish bos (“empty, unoccupied”). Entered popular usage in English from novels of James Justinian Morier. (Wiki)
bull/bullshit: From Middle English bull (“falsehood”), of unknown origin. Possibly related to Old French boul or boule meaning fraud, deceit, trickery (Wiki) (and see cock and bull below)
bunk, bunkum or buncombe (chiefly U.S.): 1830s, from “speaking to Buncombe” (or “for Buncombe”). In 1820, Felix Walker, who represented Buncombe County, NC in U.S. House of Representatives, rose to address question of admitting Missouri as a free or slave state. This was his first attempt to speak on this subject after nearly a month of solid debate and right before the vote was to be called. Allegedly, to the exasperation of his colleagues, Walker insisted on delivering a long and wearisome “speech for Buncombe.”He was shouted down by his colleagues.His persistent effort made “buncombe” (later respelled “bunkum”) a synonym for meaningless political claptrap and later for any kind of nonsense.The term became a joke and metaphor in Washington, then entered common usage.
claptrap: c.1730, trick to ‘catch’ applause,” a stage term; from clap (v.) + trap (n.). Extended sense of “cheap, showy language” is from 1819 (OnEtDic)
cobblers (Brit.): mid 20th c; Cockney Rhyming Slang: originates from ‘cobblers’ awls’, the pointed hand-tools that cobblers use to pierce holes in leather; rhymes with ‘balls’, meaning testicles (see above). (PhraseFinder)
cock and bull/cock (chiefly Brit.): believed to have originated from stage coach travellers’ gossip and rumor exchanged between two coaching inns, The Cock and The Bull in Stony Stratford, England. These inns were a main stopping point on the turnpike road from London to Birmingham, Chester and North Wales (for Ireland). Other commentators suggest origin is in mythical or fictional conversations among animals; however, this seems to be based on supposition that the French expression coq-a-l’ane (“cock to donkey”) has been imported into English. This is not an unreasonable supposition, since the Scots word cockalayne appears to be a direct phonetic transfer from French. (Wiki). Often shortened to cock (Brit.) and bull (American – see above).
codswallop (Brit.): Unknown, attested from 1959 episode of UK TV series Hancock’s Half Hour; proposed etymologies from sense of cod meaning “scrotum” (as in codpiece) or “joke, imitation”+ wallop (slang for beer) hence cod + wallop = “imitation beer” (Wiki)
crap: “act of defecation” 1898; sense of “rubbish, nonsense” also first recorded 1898. (OnEtDic)
crock (of shit): based on the literal meaning of crock (container); used as an image of worthless rubbish since 19c., perhaps from the use of crockery as chamberpots (OnEtDic)
crud: 1940940, U.S. slang; originally 1920s army and college student slang for “venereal disease.” Said to be a metathesis variant of curd, which actually makes it an unconscious return to the original Middle English form of that word. (OnEtDic)
drivel: Middle English, from Old English dreflian; perhaps akin to Old Norse draf meaning malt dregs; first known use: before 12th century (MW); Old English dreflian, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to draff (OED)
fiddle/fiddle-faddle/fiddlesticks: 1570s (n.); 1630s (v.), apparently a reduplication of obsolete faddle “to trifle” (OnEtDic). “Do you suppose men so easily damage their natures? Fiddlestick!” (William Makepeace Thackeray, Miss Tickletoby ‘s Lecture, 1842)
flannel (Brit.): origin in sense of nonsense unknown
flapdoodle: origin uncertain. 1833, originally “the stuff they feed fools on” [Marryat]; an arbitrary formation (OnEtDic)
folderol (also falderal): a nonsense refrain in songs; first known use c1820 (MW)
fudge: perhaps an alteration of fadge “make suit, fit” (1570s), of unknown origin. As an interjection meaning “lies, nonsense” from 1766; the noun meaning “nonsense” is 1791. Farmer suggests provincial French fuche, feuche, “an exclamation of contempt from Low German futsch = begone.” The traditional English story traces fudge in this sense to a sailor’s retort to anything considered lies or nonsense, from Captain Fudge, “who always brought home his owners a good cargo of lies” [Isaac Disraeli, 1791, citing a pamphlet from 1700]. It seems there really was a late 17c. Captain Fudge, called “Lying Fudge,” and perhaps his name reinforced this form of fadge in the sense of “contrive without the necessary materials.” (OnEtDic)
gibberish: ca. 16th c. Either onomatopeic, imitating sound of chatter, probably influenced by jabber, or derived from root of Irish gob (“mouth”) (Wiki)
guff: 1888, from earlier sense of “puff of air” (1825), of imitative origin. (OnEtDic)
hogwash: mid-15c., “slops fed to pigs,” from hog (n.) + wash (n.). Extended to “cheap liquor” (1712) then to “inferior writing” (1773) (OnEtDic)
hokum (North American): probably blend of hocus-pocus and bunkum; first known use: 1908 (MW)
hooey: US slang 1920s, origin unknown (OED); ? Russian translit. of хуй slang for penis, synonymous with cock (Chambers Dict. Slang)
horsefeathers (also horse-hockey)(U.S.): said by J. E. Lighter’s Historical Dictionary of American Slang to be euphemism for horse-shit; coined by comic-strip artist and writer William Morgan “Billy” de Beck (American Speech, 1928). Made famous by Marx Brothers’ 1932 film Horse Feathers. (Phrase Finder)
malarkey (or malarky): 1924, American English, of unknown origin (OnEtDic). Found renewed fame when Joe Biden used it to describe his opponent’s remarks during 2012 VP debates.
moonshine: In figurative use, implying “appearance without substance,” from late 15c.; perhaps connected in that sense with notion of “moonshine in water” (cf. moonraker) (OnEtDic)
nerts: 1932, originally American English college slang, colloquial or euphemistic pronunciation of nuts as slang retort of defiance or dismissal (1931) (OnEtDic)
Niagra Falls: London Cockney rhyming rhyming slang (rhymes with balls: see above). (Probert)
palaver: sailors’ slang, from Portuguese palavra “word, speech, talk,” traders’ term for “negotiating with the natives” in West Africa, metathesis of Late Latin parabola “speech, discourse,” from Latin parabola “comparison”. Meaning “idle talk” first recorded 1748. (OnEtDic)
pap: see poppycock below
piffle: Unknown, 1847. Perhaps blend of piddle and trifle; possibly puff (onomatopoeia, puff of air”) + diminutive -le (Wiki)
poppycock: 1865, American English, probably from Dutch dialect pappekak, from Middle Dutch pappe “soft food” + kak “dung,” from Latin cacare “to excrete” (OnEtDic)
rhubarb (Brit.): repeated by actors to give the impression of murmurous hubbub or conversation. Hence allusively. (OED)
rot: From Middle English rotten, roten, from Old English rotian (“to rot, become corrupted, ulcerate, putrify”) (Wiki)
shmegegge (Yiddish): from the Yiddish sh- + megege meaning “dawdler, idler” (Encarter)
spinach: In 1930s colloquial American English, it had a sense of “nonsense, rubbish,” based on a famous New Yorker cartoon of Dec. 8, 1928. (OnEtDic)
tommyrot: 1884, from tommy in sense of “simpleton” (1829), diminutive of Tom (as in tomfool) + rot (see above) (OnEtDic)
tosh (chiefly Brit.): Origin unknown; possibly derived from tosheroon (“5 crowns”), therefore something of minimal worth. (Wiki)
tripe: from Middle English, from Old French tripe (“entrails”) (Wiki). Applied contemptuously to persons (1590s), then to anything considered worthless, foolish, or offensive (1892) (OnEtDic)
twaddle: variant of an older word, twattle (mainly dialectal and not recorded much in print) meaning to talk foolishly or idly or to chatter inanely. A twattle-basket was a chatterbox. It seems to have been itself a variation on tattle, as in tittle-tattle, another English reduplicated term, also written as twittle-twattle. OED notes that these, and other forms, are probably echoic in origin and are primarily colloquial (World Wide Words)
waffle: derived from waff, a 17th-century onomatopoeia for sound of dog barking, similar to modern woof. (Wiki)

Other common informal and vulgar synonyms for nonsense relate to refuse and excrement: eg. trash, garbage, rubbish, shit, crap, horse-shit (origins of sense of nonsense varied and unknown)

OED = Oxford English Dictionary
OnEtDic = Online Etymology Dictionary
MW = Merriam Webster
Wiki = Wikipedia, Wiktionary

Chaucer, mating birds, a fertility festival: Valentine’s Day

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
— Chaucer, Parlement of Foules, c.1381

Valentine is a name (usually masculine) derived from the Roman family name Valentinus, which in turn comes from the Latin word valens meaning “strong, vigorous and healthy”. Valentine was the name of several saints of the Roman Catholic Church. As an English Christian name, Valentine has been used occasionally since the 12th century; it was first recorded as a given name in Wiltshire’s Curia Rolls in 1198 — as Valentinus. The surname was first recorded in the mid 13th century.

How did St. Valentine’s Day (on February 14) come to be associated with romantic love? It certainly has nothing to do with the name Valentine itself. There was a Saint Valentine, a 3rd-century saint and martyr ,whose feast day fell on February 14 — a day before the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia that was observed on February 15. With the rise of Christianity in Europe, pagan holidays were often renamed for and even moved to the feast days of early Christian martyrs in order to boost participation and involvement in church occasions, so it’s possible that the fertility festival and Valentine’s feast day became one — and so assumed the notions of romantic love associated with mating and fertility.

As Chaucer wrote in his Parlement of Foules in the late 14th century, Valentines was the day in early spring on which birds would choose their mates; some argue that this was the reason for Valentine’s Day — named after the saint and his feast day — to be thought of as one of love.

20 Words Inspired by Real People

It’s generally well known that the wellington boot was named after the first Duke of Wellington, who first came up with the idea of that particular style of footwear. Here’s a fascinating piece on Flavorwire about words like this whose origins can be traced back to people in history. Who knew, for example, that ‘decibel’ is named after Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone?

http://www.flavorwire.com/369827/20-words-you-didnt-know-were-inspired-by-people

20 Words You Didn’t Know Were Inspired by People

By Emily Temple on Feb 8, 2013

Given that all we do is write about culture all day, we at Flavorpill are always fascinated by words and the tricksy ways they come to be. Recently, we’ve been thinking about the etymology of common words, particularly the ones that can be traced back to specific people in history, whether authors, scientists, or just wealthy estate agents who were, well, boycotted by the town around them. After the jump, twenty common words that originated as people’s names — and there are many more, so add your favorite to the list in the comments!

The 7th Earl of Cardigan. Portrait by Sir Francis Grant

begonia — “Any of various tropical or subtropical plants of the genus Begonia, widely cultivated as ornamentals for their usually asymmetrical, brightly colored leaves.” After Michel Bégon (1638-1710), former governor of the French colony of Haiti and patron of botany.

bloomers — “A costume formerly worn by women and girls that was composed of loose trousers gathered about the ankles and worn under a short skirt.” After Amelia Bloomer, a women’s rights advocate who popularized the style in the early 1850s.

Read the rest of the Flavorwire piece to discover the other 18 words …

http://www.flavorwire.com/369827/20-words-you-didnt-know-were-inspired-by-people

Poms, limeys and lemon heads: what’s with the fruity Brits?

We all know that “everyone’s a fruit and nut case” — as Cadbury’s told us in the 1970s when we sang along with The Nutcracker fruitcakes. But why is it that the Brits are tutti fruity when it comes to the nicknames historically bestowed on them?

A close look at the names’ origins suggests that the fruit connection is entirely coincidental.

Limey

A colloquial name for British sailors, as they commonly sucked on limes (or were given rations of lime juice) to prevent scurvy — a disease caused by lack of vitamin C that was common among seafarers. Originally an insult (and still listed as offensive by the OED), limey is rarely used nowadays. But not to be confused with [cor] blimey, a wonderful British word for wow (derived from “God blind me”).

Pom

Pom (also pommy or pommie) is a slang term used in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to describe a British person — especially a recent immigrant. There’s no definitive etymology for the nickname, but most agree that it derives from the name of the succulent Middle Eastern fruit known as the pomegranate. But why that particular fruit? The OED argues that pomegranate is Australian rhyming slang (now defunct) for immigrant. The dictionary cites, as evidence, a line from an article in the 14 November 1912 edition of the Australian newspaper The Bulletin: “The other day a Pummy Grant (assisted immigrant) was handed a bridle and told to catch a horse.” Another explanation for naming Brits after pomegranates is the color they share when British people spend too much time underthe Australian sun. The rhyming slang seems more plausible. Some believe that P.O.M. (or P.O.M.E. or P.O.H.M.E) is an acronym for Prisoner of Mother England, Prisoner of Her Majesty’s Exile, or Prisoner of Millbank (the holding center for prisoners awaiting transport to Australia). Nothing to do with apples, though.

Lemon Head

According to Wikipedia, “”Lemon Head” is a term to describe British and other Western nationalities in Malaysia and Singapore. It originates from the Hokkien dialect language referring to the “red hair” British military based in the Straits Settlements after the Second World War.” Wikipedia lists no citations or verifications, and I can’t find a reference to this nickname anywhere else, in any dictionary. Please comment below if you’re familiar with this nickname, which seems to be unrelated to the lime/vitamin C/scurvy etymology, despite the apparent citrus connection.

Other nicknames for Brits:

Le Rosbif/Rosbeef

This strange French nickname for the English started out as an 18th-century gastronomic term describing the English style of cooking beef. Eventually, in the mid 19th century, the term came to describe an Englishman himself. Nice.

Island Apes

The German name for the British is Inselaffen, which means ‘island apes’ or ‘island monkeys’. Well, it’s better than some of the words we use for the Krauts …

John Bull

Starting life as a character created by political satirist J. Arbuthnot in the 18th century, John Bull — much like America’s Uncle Sam — is England personified, or a typical Englishman, represented in cartoons and caricatures through the centuries. According to Historic-UK.com, “The John Bull character was that of a drinking man, hard-headed, down-to-earth, averse to intellectualism, fond of dogs, horses, ale, and country sports.” Bull faded from the public eye in the 1950s — but many would argue that his characterization of the English man remains true.

Les goddams

A term used by the French during the Hundred Years War to refer to the English soldiers whom they were fighting. The English were notorious for their extreme profanity — and especially for the expletive “God damn”. The nickname is no longer in use. But the British use of profanity is alive and well today.

Nicknames that originated in military contexts:

Black and Tan, or Tan:

The Black and Tans were British men recruited to join the Royal Irish Constabulary and fight against the Irish Republican Party during the Anglo-Irish war. This British Army unit was known for its extreme brutality, and so its name lingered.”Black and Tan” or “Tan” remains a pejorative word used by the Irish to name the British in their midst.

Tommy

A slang name given to soldiers (usually privates) in the British army, Tommy Atkins — or just plain Tommy — dates back to as early as the 18th century, and was well established by the 19th. It is, however, most closely associated with World War I. It’s widely understood that Tommy Atkins was the name the War Office used in its sample guide for soldiers filling out regulation forms and documents, and the OED bears this out, citing “the casual use of this name in the specimen forms given in the official regulations from 1815 onward.”

Redcoat:

Another name for British soldiers, arising from the scarlet uniforms worn historically by most regiments.