Wednesday WOLF - Trivial

I'm such a big nerd that I tend to look up word origins in my spare time because I'm fascinated by our language. The odder the origin, the better. I've got a collection of random information in my brain that makes me an awesome Trivial Pursuit partner, but is completely useless when it comes to real world application. Like say, job applications.

I thought I'd share some of this random crap with you in the form of another acronym-ific series. I give you - Word Origins from Left Field - that's right, the WOLF. Er... ignore the fact that the "from" doesn't fit.

This week I came across something awesome and fitting. As I am such a big fan of the inane and trivial I looked up the origin or the word... trivial.

Trivial has its origins in the physical layout of Ancient Rome. Say what? No really. We've learned a lot from the Romans but one thing we didn't take from them is street grids. Ancient Rome was a twisty, turny city. There were many places where three roads converged, dumping all their foot traffic into a convenient location for temples and food carts. And who wants to eat alone? Lollygagging and gossiping became a trademark of these areas, and any news that one overheard there was usually of the non-important sort, thus it was tri (Latin prefix for "three") via (Latin for "way" or "road").

Wednesday WOLF - Snark

I've got a collection of random information in my brain that makes me an awesome Trivial Pursuit partner, but is completely useless when it comes to real world application. Like say, job applications. I thought I'd share some of this random crap with you in the form of another acronym-ific series. I give you - Word Origins from Left Field - that's right, the WOLF. Er... ignore the fact that the "from" doesn't fit.

Where do we get the word snark? I don't think I need to inform the YA community what that word means, but I will anyway. Snark is the new way to say someone is sarcastic, usually with a bit of an edge of humor... or at least those of us who are attempting to be snarky hope so. I think of snark as being good-natured sarcasm.

So where do we get it from? t actually means irritable or short-tempered, which we borrowed from the German verb snarken - meaning "to snort."  But did you know there's another meaning for it? 

I grew up in the country, and anyone who didn't and happened to be visiting might be invited by the locals to go snark hunting... which would be the equivalent of sending a complete yokel into the streets of NYC to hail a cab for the first time in their lives. Short version - there is no such thing as a snark. But what I didn't know is that that slightly mean-spirited little joke has it's basis in literature.

The Hunting of the Snark is a poem by Lewis Carroll. And if you feel like a little insight into both the history of sarcasm and country pranks, have a read.

Wednesday WOLF - Baker's Dozen

I'm such a big nerd that I tend to look up word origins in my spare time because I'm fascinated by our language. The odder the origin, the better. I've got a collection of random information in my brain that makes me an awesome Trivial Pursuit partner, but is completely useless when it comes to real world application. Like say, job applications.

I thought I'd share some of this random crap with you in the form of an acronym-ific series. I give you - Word Origins from Left Field - that's right, the WOLF. Er... ignore the fact that the "from" doesn't fit.

So many of the things we say make no sense. Take for example the term baker's dozen - which, if you don't know, actually means 13 of something, not 12.

Why?

Bakers were subject to pretty strict laws in medieval times, and sold their wares often not by the number but by the weight. In the year 1266 Henry III passed a law that established a correlation from the price of what to the price of bread. Bakers who short weighted their bread (by putting less actual wheat in it) could be fined, pilloried, or even flogged.

To avoid even the whiff of being guilt of such a thing, bakers would add an extra loaf to their dozen, nicely ensuring that the scale would save their skins.