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| Here is a book by Linda Verville… |
nThisnmade-up holiday celebrates the creative word-makers and phrase-makersnof the world. We usually don’t know who started us saying particularnphrases (although William Shakespearenis credited with coining many), but we can still tip our hat to thennameless unsung heroes who have added to our language.n
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| …and another by Ellen Stoll Walsh. |
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nThenphrase “for Pete’s sake,” which some people say when they arenfrustrated, was apparently created to be a substitute for similarnphrases that many consider to “take the Lord’s name in vain.” WhynPetenis anyone’s guess—although a nice one-syllable name with a poppingnfirst sound was surely more likely to catch on with frustrated peoplenthan something like, “Oh, for Jennifer’s sake!”
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nThenOxford English Dictionary tells us that the phrase was first recordednin 1903. Other similar uses of Peteninclude “for the love of Pete” (first recorded in 1906) and “innthe name of Pete” (1942). n
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nPerhapsnyou can celebrate this holiday by trying to get your own name ornnickname into a catchy phrase. (Good luck if your name is Jennifer,nthough!)
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nBynthe way…
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nAsnI typed the last sentence, I got to wondering how the word nicknamencame to be. Does it have anything to do with the name Nick?nTurns out, no, it doesn’t. The word nicknamencomes from the Old English “an ekename,” which means “annadditional name.” Sloppy pronunciation and copying resulted in “annekename,” which has over the years evolved to our current wordnnickname.
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nCelebratenwordsmiths and phrase-makers.
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| “Etymology” is the study of the origins of words. |
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- ReadnFrindle,nthe story of a boy who tries to create a new word.
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- Quiz yourselfnon word origins in order to learn more about them. You can play this quiz game over and over again, always with new words, to learn even more!
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- Ifnyou want to look up the origin of a word or word part, you could trynOnline Etymology Dictionary.nRemember, it is not explaining definitions of words, but where andnwhen the words came from.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAuthor Victor Hugo’s birthday
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Blue-jeansninventor Levi Strauss’s birthday
Blue-jeansninventor Levi Strauss’s birthdayn
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nWesternnshowman Buffalo Bill Cody’s birthday
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nAnniversarynof a patent for a glass-blowing machine
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