安裝中文字典英文字典辭典工具!
安裝中文字典英文字典辭典工具!
|
- etymology - Where did the phrase batsh*t crazy come from? - English . . .
The word crazy is a later addition Scanning Google Books I find a handful of references starting from the mid-60s where batshit is clearly just a variation on bullshit (nonsense, rubbish) - which meaning still turns up even in 2001, but it's relatively uncommon now
- offensive language - What is the etymology of BFE? - English Language . . .
UrbanDictionary com has a user-submitted definition with the following etymology: As I understand (and other people have corroborated), it derives its existence from another expression “bumble fuck” (I am unsure if it's one word or two), both of which mean "out in the middle of nowhere "
- etymology - Where did the word “quim” come from? - English Language . . .
This Norse word shares a common ancestor with Old English cwēne (the genitive singular reflex), Modern English queen, whose etymology the OED gives as: Cognate with Old Saxon quān wife, Old Icelandic kván wife, (in poetry) queen (also as kvæn ), Gothic qens woman < an ablaut variant (lengthened grade) of the Indo-European base of quean n
- etymology - Why shrink (of a psychiatrist)? - English Language . . .
I'm afraid I have to disagree here From my understanding, and a recent article in the Atlantic, derived from the new text Marketplace of the Marvelous: The Strange Origins of Modern Medicine, referring to a psychiatrist as a shrink refers not specifically to head-shrinking tribesmen, but to the field of phrenology, a significantly closer cultural institution to psychiatry
- nouns - Etymology of history and why the hi- prefix? - English . . .
This question is a tad backwards, because looking at the etymology, it's rather clear that it's not a prefix that was added to form "history", but rather a part of the word was lost to form "story" Why that happened, however, is not obvious, so it's still a fair question to ask –
- etymology - Origin of the phrase, Theres more than one way to skin a . . .
There are many versions of this proverb, which suggests there are always several ways to do something The earliest printed citation of this proverbial saying that I can find is in a short story by the American humorist Seba Smith - The Money Diggers
- Whats the etymology of when the sh*t hits the fan?
The Online Etymology Dictionary says: The expression [the shit hits the fan] is related to, and may well derive from, an old joke A man in a crowded bar needed to defecate but couldn't find a bathroom, so he went upstairs and used a hole in the floor Returning, he found everyone had gone except the bartender, who was cowering behind the bar
- What is the etymology of cornhole? - English Language Usage Stack . . .
EDIT: What I said above was related to me by my grandfather, who grew up in a farming community in Illinois in the early 20th century So it may be folk etymology Etymonline com differs somewhat, although I find their explanation bizarre (and note that it is qualified with the word "apparently" — apparently what?
|
|
|