etymology — Bunk History

Corn in a basket.

Translating Corn

To most of the world, “corn” is “maize,” a word that comes from the Taíno mahizwas. Not for British colonists in North America, though.

by Matthew Wills, Betty Fussell via JSTOR Daily on November 22, 2023

President Nixon at the Orlando, Fla. question-and-answer session where he uttered ‘I am not a crook.’

‘Crook’: When Nixon Said He Wasn’t One, There Was Still a Twist to Come

A president’s infamous protestation 50 years ago during Watergate relied on an Old Norse term for things that take a turn.

by Ben Zimmer via The Wall Street Journal on November 17, 2023

A painting of an American landscape with green hills and a river.

The Early Days of American English

How English words evolved on a foreign continent.

by Rosemarie Ostler via Lapham’s Quarterly on September 15, 2023

A feminine paper doll surrounded by girl-coded outfits.

How “Gender” Went Rogue

Debating the meaning of gender is hardly new, but the clinical origin of the word may come as a surprise.

by Sandra Eder via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 24, 2023

Google's word occurences tool shows the word "teenager" appear around 1940, with an exponential increase in occurences up through the 2000s.

Teenagers Didn't Always Exist

So where were those angsty kids?

by Chris Dalla Riva via Can't Get Much Higher on March 16, 2023

Picture of a Black Lives Matter Protest on June 6, 2020.

The Lexicon Origins of People of Color

The modern misunderstanding of the term "people of color" and the racial categories associated.

by Warren Milteer Jr. via Black Perspectives on September 27, 2022

Weird Al Yankovic, Lizzo, and Beyonce with their mouths covered by black bars indicating censorship.

The Surprising History of the Slur Beyoncé and Lizzo Both Cut From Their New Albums

How did the controversial term go from middle-school slang to verboten? The answer lies on the other side of the Atlantic.

by Ben Zimmer via Slate on August 3, 2022

Every New Disease Triggers a Search for Someone to Blame

Focusing on a virus’s origins encourages individualized shame while ignoring the broader societal factors that contribute to a disease’s transmission.

by Steven Thrasher via The Atlantic on July 31, 2022

screenshot of primary source archive with "slut" in search browser and primacy source results listed below

Sluts and the Founders

Understanding the meaning of the word "slut" in the Founders' vocabulary.

by Alexis Coe via Study Marry Kill on January 26, 2022

A protester holds their hands up in front of a police car in Ferguson, Missouri, on November 25, 2014.

How Being “Woke” Lost Its Meaning

How a Black activist watchword got co-opted in the culture war.

by Aja Romano via Vox on October 9, 2020

“Taking a Knee”: Simple Phrase, Powerful—and Changing—Meaning

Used in military and football slang, the phrase dates back to at least 1960.

by John Kelly via Mashed Radish on September 25, 2017

Noah Webster and his dictionary.

How Noah Webster Invented the Word Immigration

Noah Webster, author of An American Dictionary of the English Language published in 1828, invented the word "immigration."

by Neil Larry Shumsky, Matthew Wills via JSTOR Daily on May 25, 2017

How 'OK' Took Over the World

It crops up in our speech dozens of times every day, although it apparently means little. So how did "OK" conquer the world?

by Allan Metcalf via BBC News on February 18, 2011

A raccoon leaning against wood.

The Fascinating History of Raccoons in North American Culture, From Symbols to Pets to Dinner

In the relationship between humans and raccoons, the black-masked mammals have played many roles.

by Samuel Zeveloff via Smithsonian on May 29, 2025

Donald Trump speaking at a rally

Witch Hunt Nation: The Endurance of a Metaphor That Burned

A brief look at the usage of "witch hunt" in American politics through the centuries.

by Alexis Coe via Study Marry Kill on May 28, 2025

Person sitting on the ground, head in hands.

Still Pursuing Happiness

The United States fares badly on the World Happiness Report. Who cares?

by Reuven Brenner via Law & Liberty on April 22, 2025

Two arrows pointing in different directions. One pointing at a red circle, the other pointing to the right.

The Culture War Doesn’t Distract Us From the Class War; It Directs Us To It

On William Safire and the "nattering nabobs of negativism."

by Corey Robin via Corey Robin Blog on March 4, 2025

A padlock around the Pentagon.

The Left-Wing Origins of ‘Deep State’ Theory

Those who wish to restore democratic rule, regardless of political orientation, must take it seriously.

by Christian Parenti via Compact on February 28, 2025

Painting by Mary Cassatt titled "Mother and Child (Goodnight Hug)".

Beyond “Baby Blues”

“Postpartum depression” encompasses various debilitating changes in mood that can occur after giving birth. How did that language come to be?

by Rachel Louise Moran, Jess McAllen via The Baffler on September 30, 2024

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain wears a shirt reading ‘Trump is a Scab’ at the Democratic National Convention.

How Organized Labor Shames Its Traitors − The Story of the ‘Scab’

It’s important to understand why some workers might be motivated to weather scorn, rejection and even violence from their peers.

by Ian Afflerbach via The Conversation on August 23, 2024

A drawing of a crowd watching a baseball game in 1886.

Before ‘Fans,’ There Were ‘Kranks,’ ‘Longhairs,’ and ‘Lions’

How do fandoms gain their names?

by Elizabeth Minkel via Atlas Obscura on May 30, 2024

A Modest Proposal

More importantly, our misappropriation of “puritan” has allowed scholars to ignore and the public to misunderstand religion.

by Carla Gardina Pestana via Commonplace on May 21, 2024

A drawing of Noah Webster over drawings of the Webster dictionary, his notes, and a quill and ink.

Webster’s Dictionary 1828: Annotated

Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language declared Americans free from the tyranny of British institutions and their vocabularies.

by Noah Webster, Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on April 19, 2024

Coral polyps.

Will the Sun Ever Set on the Colony?

Tracking the history of a curious scientific term.

by Whitney Barlow Robles via HNN on February 13, 2024

A crowd at an American Nazi Party rally raising their hands for the Nazi salute.

What Is the History of Fascism in the United States?

Bruce Kuklick traces the meaning of the term “fascist” from its origins to the present day and how it has, over the years, gradually lost its coherence.

by Richard J. Evans via The Nation on January 17, 2024

Two protestors holding a Palestinian flag with "stop genocide" written on it, surrounded by red handprints.

The War in Gaza Has Exposed the Limits of the Word “Genocide”

The term is 80 years old. Everyone is still fighting over its meaning.

by David Faris via Slate on December 13, 2023

The shrouded bodies of people killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

“Genocide” Is the Wrong Word

We reach for the term when we want to condemn the worst crimes, but the UN’s Genocide Convention excuses more perpetrators of mass murder than it condemns.

by James Robins via The New Republic on November 21, 2023

Pastoral scene of a family in their yard.

The Strange Death of Private Life

In the early 1970s, the idea that private life meant a right to be left alone – an idea forged over centuries – began to disappear. We should mourn its absence.

by Tiffany Jenkins via Engelsberg Ideas on November 21, 2023

A photograph of the back of a woman's head, superimposed over a photograph of a body of water as if looking out over it.

What if Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be?

As our faith in the future plummets and the present blends with the past, we feel certain that we’ve reached the point where history has fallen apart.

by Thomas Mallon via The New Yorker on November 20, 2023

A warehouse of canned salmon

How Canned Food Went From Military Rations to Fancy Appetizers

This simple technology changed the world.

by Anne Ewbank via Atlas Obscura on November 13, 2023

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