by Dictionary Scoop Our language loves to borrow from the dinner table. Many everyday words that sound delicious once referred only to food but have since taken on entirely new meanings. Take a look at 12 of these idioms and see for yourself! 1-Butterfingers A term once used for describing the act …
Category Archives: language
Will You Use These Ten Weird Words?
by Kevin Burton The cautionary note from Dictionary Scoop regarding today’s content is “Warning: once you learn these strange words, you’ll start using them!” Well I don’t think so, other than one I already use and another I might use, sparingly. Thinking of words as tools, I would decline to jam most of …
Ten Surprising Foreign Language Enclaves
by Dictionary Scoop Migrations, trade, and other historical events have contributed to the spread of languages to regions far from their origins. But sometimes, we arrive at a new location expecting to hear a particular language, only to be surprised by the use of a language we wouldn’t expect. Here are ten places in …
What The British Mean When They Say ‘Sorry’
by Mike MacEacheran BBC In the UK, sorry is not simply an apology, it’s a cultural reflex – a five-letter pressure valve used to soften requests, smooth over awkwardness, fill conversational gaps and avoid the national horror of seeming rude. It is perhaps no coincidence that such famously polite characters as Paddington and …
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Ten Words That Came From Nordic To English
by Dictionary Scoop Romance languages, led by French, have had such a lasting influence on English that we sometimes forget that it is actually a Germanic language, and as such, a relative of the Nordic languages. However, Nordic languages had left their mark on English centuries before the French-Normans even attempted to conquer England, and they …
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Seven Metallic Idioms From Merriam-Webster
by Kevin Burton Are these phrases magnetic? Do they constitute heavy verbal metal? You be the judge. But Merriam-Webster dictionary has identified seven common idioms that include one metal or another. Do you see yourself in any of these metallic descriptions? 1-Lead foot Despite its reputation, lead is not the heaviest of …
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Ten English Words Borrowed From Dutch
by Merriam-Webster Dictionary Caboodle: all of a group of things So, you’ve gone and got yourself a kit. Very nice, very nice. Looks like a sewing kit, or maybe a first aid kit. Okay, now we see it’s a model airplane kit. Congratulations. But do you have the caboodle that, we presume from the phrase …
Three-Letter Words For You Scrabble Nerds
by Dictionary Scoop Need a few tricks up your sleeve for playing Scrabble? It’s not always the long words that will impress the other players: Sometimes it’s the surprisingly short combination of letters that none of them knew. Let’s explore some of the most obscure –yet perfectly valid– three-letter words. 1-Cwm Before …
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The Meaning Of Ten Geographical Terms
by dictionary Scoop Geography, like all academic disciplines, has its own vocabulary and terminology. Concerned with everything from physical phenomena of the planet to social interactions, geographers have many specialized terms and concepts. You’ve probably used some of the words in this list. Yet, do you know exactly what they mean or where …
More Financial Words With Surprising Origins
by Kevin Burton Some of the words we use to discuss finances didn’t start as money words, as we learned Wednesday, from a list from Merriam-Webster dictionary. We continue the theme today with a colorful phrase from the world of poker: Blue-chip Blue-chip, meaning “a stock issue of high investment quality that …
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