One of the main tenants of Luther’s Protestant Reformation was the discarding of the belief in transubstantiation (that the communion bread literally becomes the body of Christ). There was a famous magician in protestant King James I’s court who would say “hocus pocus” before his tricks, mocking the words Catholics priests spoke before giving communion - “hoc est corpus meum” (This is my body). This intonation before doing a magic trick carries on today.
Anyone of a curious mind has wondered at some point in their life if the fruit was named after the color, or the color named after the fruit. Wonder no more. The fruit is the OG.
It may come as a surprise to most that “Nazi” is a pejorative term i.e. Nazis would not take kindly to being called Nazis. The term Nazi was used in Germany much the same way the word “hick” is used today. It was actually coined by the opposition party to attack Hitler’s government, taking advantage that the actual Nazi party name was National Sozialistisch and throwing it back in their faces.
Infatuate - “to become foolish”
This word, derived from latin “fatuus” (foolish), reminds us that love makes idiots of us all.
Museum - “shrine of the muses” (gr.)
From Greek “mouseion.” The muses, those goddesses and protectors of the arts and science, are “enshrined” inside the buildings dedicated to them - musuems.
Tragedy - “goat song” (gr.)
From tragos (goat) + ode (song). Many theories have been offered to explain the origin. One is that Greek tragedies were known as goat-songs because the prize in Athenian play competitions was a live goat.
Vaccine - “relating to cows” (la.)
Vaccine - literally “relating to cows” - comes to us from the technique
British physician Edward Jenner devised of preventing smallpox by injecting people with the cowpox virus, which translates in Latin as variolae vaccinae. Just don’t tell the anti-vacciners…
Lemur - “spirit of the dead” (la.)
From latin “lemures” meaning “spirits of the dead.” The ghostlike appearance of the animal’s face most likely contributed to its naming.
Clue - “yarn or thread” (mid. eng.)
Clue, first spelled “clew”, originally meant a ball of twine/yarn. In Greek Mythology, Theseus uses a ball of twine to figure out how to escape a labyrinth. It’s from this story that the meaning eventually shifted to something that helps us solve a problem. It also gives a double entendre to the euphemism “unravel a clue.”
Algebra - “The reunion of broken parts” (ar.)
From Arabic al jabr “reunion of broken parts.”
X just wants to be reunited with Y. Can you help them? Math: the great love story.
humansofnewyork
“I had very thick hair as a child. But I was also very tender-headed, so I hated getting my hair combed. The first time my mother took me to the salon, I screamed bloody murder. So for the rest of my childhood she did my hair herself. And it always looked good. I grew to believe that my hair was my best quality. I could have on my best make-up, and my best outfit, but if my hair wasn’t done right, the whole thing was off. After college my boyfriend discovered the first bald spot on the back of my head. Soon afterwards I was diagnosed with an auto-immune condition. The doctor told me that I could eventually lose all of my hair. I was devastated. I immediately called my mother, and she told me we were going to fight it. We prayed and prayed. We kept finding new oils and new shampoos. But the bald spot only grew bigger. My mother started doing my hair again, just like when I was a kid. And whenever a new spot appeared, she’d invent a new style to hide it. For the longest time no one knew. But it was so much stress. I’d panic if someone was behind me in the elevator. Dating was the worst. It was like: ‘Oh my gosh. How am I going to keep this a secret?’ Some mornings I’d call my mom in a moment of desperation. I’d tell her: ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’m going to shave it off.’ But she’d talk me out of it. She’d tell me: ‘Don’t worry. We’re going to figure this out.’ But we never did. It only got worse and worse. By the age of thirty-one I was in a really dark place. And I decided to go on a fast because I needed some clarity from God. And that’s when I made the decision. The first person I told was my mom. She’d been telling me not to do it for so long, because she was scared too. But I needed her to be OK with it. I needed her to finish this journey with me. Everyone in the hair salon was nervous. The person in the next chair was nervous. Even the hairdresser was nervous. She was like: ‘Do you really want to do this?’ But then she took out the clippers, and began to shave it off. My mother was the first one to break the silence. After the first pass of the clippers, she looked closely at my head. And then she announced to the whole salon: ‘It’s going to look good!’”
