Judith Herman

They may have been on people’s tongues even earlier, but 1914 marks the earliest year the lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary could document these words and phrases in print.

Sometimes words with the same origin take a separate path in each language, or words with different origins resemble each other by coincidence. That can mean trouble.

It’s easy to guess what an ancestor of someone named Cook, Carpenter, or Smith did for a living. With other occupational surnames, though, either the word or the trade has become obsolete, so the meaning is hidden.

Doctors are notorious for their illegible writing (ask any pharmacist), but these medicos gained more fame for their readable writing than for their skill with a scalpel.

Here's what the key grip, best boy, and gaffer actually do, plus the origins of those titles.

The fleshy, edible, seed-bearing parts of plants are a fruitful source of terms and phrases. We’ve picked eleven for you.

Why does the back of your lower leg have the same name as a baby cow?

A surprising number of common English food and beverage words have Arabic backgrounds.