Some homeowners association issues kept me on the busy side in the past month, so I really fell off pace with my reading. To further compound the problem, the letter E turned out to be much like the letters A and C. There are a plethora of scientific words that are not interesting and not nearly enough cool words to make up for that fact. Maybe the dictionary will have an every-other trend in enjoyability like the old Start Trek movies.Go figure that the last five letters of D would have eight interesting words. Then the 70% of the letter E that I’ve read so far only produced another eight interesting words. That’s where I am at right now. It’s a little disappointing but the end is in sight for E. Hopefully this means that F will be another fun letter to wander through. I’m hoping G breaks the trend and is a good one too because my name starts with G and it’s a pretty short section of the dictionary.
Noteworthy words:
DUCKS AND DRAKES- I’m clueless as to how the act of skipping stones on a body of water got to be called this term. Is that how people used to try to kill ducks? Is it because it maybe sort of almost looks like a duck splashing the water as it takes off in flight? I just don’t know.
DUCK SOUP- Again with a duck phrase that makes no sense. How is does duck soup become a catch-all phrase for something that is easy? A piece of cake doesn’t make much more sense if you think about it but at least it sounds more palatable.
DUDE- This common multi-purpose word is another one of those confounding terms of unknown origin. Maybe English-speaking people just started getting tired of the same old boring words rooted in Latin and Greek. That’s my new working theory.
DUMPSTER- It used to be a trademarked term (owned by Dempster Brothers, Inc.). I was unable to find out when the trademark was lost, however.
DUNCE- So a guy named John Duns Scotus was an influential philosopher and theologian. His writings had a profound impact on a lot of theological issues in the 14th and 15th centuries. Then his adherents didn’t go along with the English Reformation and the pro-monarchy interpretation that became the King James Bible, so the word Duns became a slur against anyone unwilling to learn new things. Duns turns into dunce and there you have it. A smart guy’s name came to be associated with idiocy. Ouch.
DUNK- Not only is this term only 95 years old, but it’s also Pennsylvania German in origin. Nice little plug for the home region!
DUTCH- A date where each party pays their own way has been going by this term for 100 years. Why it started getting called that is anyone’s guess.
DWEEB- My dictionary dated this term to 1983, which I thought was too recent. As it turns out, MW online can now trace it back to 1964. Happy golden anniversary you dweeb!
EBOLA- The virus that has been all over the news for months now was named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It comes from the French and Belgian butchering of the local tribes’ name for it- the Legbala.
ECCENTRIC- I’ve been mispronouncing it wrong for quite some time. I always thought that it could be pronounced ik-centric or ee-centric, with me preferring the latter. As it turns out, the only pronunciation listed by MW is ik-centric.
ELBOW GREASE- This term for hard work is much older than I thought. MW traces is all the way back to 1672. You know, back when all they had was elbow grease.
EMERGENCY ROOM- Now for a term that is much younger than I thought. MW only pegs it as 50 years old this year. I wonder which hospital used the term first.
EMMY- The name of the famous American television award itself actually has meaning (unlike Oscar for the movies). It’s an alteration of the word ‘immy’ which was the craft nickname for an image orthicon, which was a camera tube used is television. Given all the silly awards shows and award names out there, it’s nice to know that at least one of them has meaning.
EQUESTRIAN- I’ve known since my advanced biology class in high school that equus means ‘horse’ but I never put two and two together. I always thought it was a weird name for an Olympic sport but it actually makes sense. Then again, Latin is a largely dead language, so who can blame you for not figuring that one out?
EQUIVOCAL / EQUIVOCATE- I definitely thought this term was similar to ‘equivalent’ until now. They actually have very negative connotations. It means making a comparison that is unfounded but designed to confuse an unsuspecting person. It can also mean to deceive or uncertain. This is one I will definitely keep an eye out for in the future because it wouldn’t surprise me if some authors out there use it incorrectly.
ERUCT- It sounds like ‘erupt,’ which makes it all the more amusing. It’s a fancy way of saying belch or burp.
Page Count: 434/1600 (27.13%)
Countdown to the Letter F: 18 pages
