Comments by tristero

  • That's the one! I love the Anagram Times too. Also just read "The Dord, The Diglot, and an Avacado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words" by Anu Garg the page's creator. Very fun book.

    May 19, 2017

  • This little poem by QMS might be my favorite of all the ones I've read so far :)

    May 19, 2017

  • Thanks. The word bodkin came up in a word a day type e-mail I get and it got me musing on this subject (and thinking about the Music Man and the old episode of the Twilight Zone where the traveling salesman fools death w/his sales pitch)

    May 19, 2017

  • Etymology as listed by Wordsmith.org: From Dutch lusthuis (country house), from German Lusthaus (summer house), from lust (pleasure). Earliest documented use: 1590.

    May 17, 2017

  • Pop Culture Note: Enchiridion also appears as a formal title in the "Adventure Time!" series as a handbook for heroes. Episodes where it plays a major role:

    ◾"The Enchiridion!"

    ◾"Another Way"

    ◾"In Your Footsteps"

    ◾"The Lich"

    ◾"Crossover" (Farmworld Enchiridion)

    ◾"Winter Light" (Farmworld Enchiridion; in Standard Timeline)

    ◾"Cloudy" (Farmworld Enchiridion; in Standard Timeline)

    ◾"Skyhooks II" (Farmworld Enchiridion; in Standard Tim

    May 10, 2017

  • Thanks! I guess I should have checked to make sure I wasn't creating a redundant list, but I've been digging into this subject since reading about Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī and the origins of algebra. I'd be really curious to find a list of words that travelled to English via the Silk Road.

    May 10, 2017

  • Per Merriam Webster the etymology on this is: Latin circensis of the circus (from circus) + English -an — more at circus

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/circensian

    May 10, 2017

  • Got curious about the etymology and looked up the word desultor . The Wordnik definition lists it as "A bareback rider in the Roman circus who rode two or more horses at once, leaping from one to another." Merriam Webster adds the phrase " (as in the circensian games)"circensian which is apparently just a fancy way of saying "Roman circus"

    May 10, 2017