The Racist Origins of 7 Common Phrases
From ‘cakewalk’ to ‘no can do,’ the origins of these common idioms and sayings are surprisingly dark.
From ‘cakewalk’ to ‘no can do,’ the origins of these common idioms and sayings are surprisingly dark.
Many bad words come and go, but these six have withstood the tests of time. Here’s how they came to be.
‘Of course’ is one of the most versatile ‘yes’ synonyms we have. But what does it actually mean?
Sometimes words move up in the world. Their meanings change with time, becoming more positive—a process linguists call amelioration.
The connections between words aren’t always as straightforward as the link between run and runner; often, figuring them out requires the subtle unraveling of linguistic evolution, the kind of detective work that makes etymology so fascinating.
The figurative phrase is more than 200 years old, but the obscure etymology of a 'red herring' is a fishy story that is itself a red herring.
Does it have to do with pea coats? Or maybe Latin scribes?
Here’s (at least) one interesting way station each of these common words made on its journey to the present day, whether it’s an analysis of the Latin roots, a hypothesis about a proto-Indo-European origin, or a pivotal change in meaning.
The story behind which orange came first involves Arab trade routes and a bunch of old phrases that mean 'orange apple.'
It’s another in a long line of etymologies that doesn’t have one clear-cut answer, but a few plausible (and interesting) possible explanations.
It’s delightfully old-timey slang we still use today. But does it have anything to do with the Duesenberg cars of the 1920s?
The origin of the phrase ‘silver screen’ is less about movies and more about how people watched them in the good old days.
‘Spick’ doesn’t mean ‘clean.’ And ‘span’ doesn’t mean ‘clean.’ So what’s going on here?
The tongue-in-cheek—and superstitious—saying "break a leg" has several possible origins in the theater world.
Sadly, PU isn’t an initialism for “Pretty unsavory!”, “Putrid, ugh!”, or even “Please use (deodorant)!”
The most popular language in the world and the language with the most native speakers are not the same.
Whoever started 'from scratch’ didn’t actually do it in the kitchen—and ‘scratch’ has nothing to do with clawing ingredients together with your bare hands.
This very German word became embedded in the American vernacular—but not before German politicians tried to ban kindergarten entirely.
Understanding the difference between ‘immigrate’ and ‘emigrate’ requires a fun little dive into the world of Latin prefixes.
If you’ve been spelling ‘restaurateur’ with an ‘n’ for your entire life, don't feel bad. But here’s why you’re wrong.
White collar jobs are purportedly better paying and more respectable than blue collar jobs—here’s how that came to be.
If we’re being pedantic here (and we are), ‘vaccination’ and ‘immunization’ shouldn't be used interchangeably.
'Fall off the wagon,' which is typically used to describe someone who has begun drinking alcohol after a period of abstinence, does not actually involve anyone tumbling off a horse-drawn carriage.
It started centuries ago, when puddings contained spices, cereal, and potentially putrid minced meat.