Carte blanche, which means unconditional authority or power, was coined during the mid 1600s and literally means in French “blank document.”
Celebrity-hounding photographers are called paparazzi, in English as well as Italian. It is believed the word was coined after a particularly obtrusive character named "Paparazzo" in Federico Fellini's 1960 film, La Dolce Vita. It has been said that Fellini chose the name because it suggested, onomatopoetically, the predatory, relentless nature of the character — the "z" sound hinted at a buzzing, annoying insect. Considering the voracious, self-serving nature of such hangers-on as the paparazzi, Fellini may also have played with the Italian verb pappare, which means "to devour with wild abandon."
Cinderella's slipper, many scholars believe, was made of fur, not glass. The word verre, or "glass," they claim, was incorrectly substituted in early versions of the story for the word vaire. In medieval French, vaire means "fur."
Over 200,000 telephone calls are made daily at the Pentagon.
Per the dictionary, one definition of a "cartwheel" is a silver dollar.
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eyes."
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses is the longest word in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. It is a pneumoconiosis disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silicate or quartz dust.
Police investigators are experts in collecting "dactylograms," otherwise known as fingerprints.
Poliosis is the graying of the hair. It comes from polios, the Greek word for "gray."
Portmanteau words are descriptive word combinations, such as brunch (from breakfast and lunch), motel (from motor and hotel), and smog (from smoke and fog).
Rhubarb is named after the Volga River. In Greek, the name of the Volga is Rha, and barb means "uncultivated." Rhubarb is thus a wild plant that grows along the Volga.
Secure, relatively high-yielding stocks came to be called blue chips, a term taken from the game of poker, where blue chips are more valuable than white or red chips.
Shakespeare spelled his own name several different ways.
Cleveland spelled backwards is "DNA level C."
Coined in the early 1980s, the slang term “rock jock” is a mountaineering enthusiast.
Crayola has renamed only three crayon colors in its corporate history. In 1958, Prussian Blue was renamed Midnight Blue because, according to teachers, children could no longer relate to Prussian history. In 1962, Flesh was renamed Peach to recognize that not everyone's skin is the same shade. In 1999, Indian Red was renamed Chestnut after a public contest, which drew more than 100,000 entries; rejected contest entry names included ginger spice, crab claw red, old penny, and baseball mitt.
During routine conversation some time back, a stagecoach, wagon, truck, or cart of the past were often called "dillies."
During the bubonic plague of London, the city was sealed off to avoid contamination. This meant no food was permitted in. The only people willing to trade with London were the Dutch, who left food on jetties and then would take the money left there. They used to steel their nerves with liquor before landing on the plague-infested shores, hence "Dutch courage." To this day, the Dutch still have the freedom of the river Thames, which was granted as a reward for their courage and kindness.
English has replaced Russian as the most popular foreign language in schools in China.
Eskimos have more than twenty words to describe snow.
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