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todayilearned

Jun 24, 2020

TIL that the verb 'egg' (i.e. egged on, to incite into action) has been in the English language longer than the noun 'egg'.

egg egg on english english language etymology expression grammar language linguistics phrase origin usage word origin writing

todayilearned

Apr 12, 2020

TIL that the saying, “Happy as a Clam” is short for Happy as a Calm at High Tide, since they have no predators that attack during high tide and can roam around freely

big questions college-weekend food linguistics

todayilearned

Mar 02, 2020

TIL Semantic Satiation - When you hear/say a word too many times that it temporarily loses its meaning and sounds like gibberish.

language linguistics

todayilearned

Dec 07, 2019

Today I learned that sign languages also have accents.

accents io9 linguistics science sign language

todayilearned

Nov 07, 2019

TIL that the fruit, orange, was named before the color, which was commonly referred to as “yellow-red.” Hence why people with orange hair are called “redheads” and not “orangeheads.”

big questions etymology food history language linguistics origins top-story words

todayilearned

Sep 03, 2019

TIL that before and during the American Revolution, the English, both in England and in the colonies, mostly spoke with a rhotic accent, meaning they pronounced the r in words, like in today's General American accent.

featured language linguistics top-story

todayilearned

Aug 17, 2019

TIL In the Middle Ages the word "poop" meant to blast a horn. By the 1600s it was slang for farting.

english english language etymology expression grammar language linguistics phrase origin poop poop deck pooped pooped out usage word origin writing

todayilearned

Aug 13, 2019

TIL we call people with red hair "red heads" as opposed to "orange heads" because the phrase has been around longer than the colour orange. The colour orange was described as red up until the 1500's when the first reference of orange in the English language can be found.

big questions etymology food history language linguistics origins top-story words

todayilearned

May 16, 2019

TIL: The reason we say "o clock" is from the period when mechanical clocks and their sundial predecessors overlapped. To clarify which type of time you were giving you'd say, for example, "10 on the clock" which became "10 o' clock"

chronology clocks gizmodo linguistics o'clock tifo today i found out

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