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A deep knowledge of etymology, if nothing else, is useful for answering a 5 year old's infamous chain of "why?"s Disregarding potential inaccuracies, I love st
by hahahacorn 2y ago
A deep knowledge of etymology, if nothing else, is useful for answering a 5 year old's infamous chain of "why?"s
Disregarding potential inaccuracies, I love stories like these. Not particularly sure why, but I'm sure someone has a post somewhere about why we're so obsessed with the history of _our_ mundane.
- dylan604 2y agoI would posit it is less from native speakers but from those learning the language. When you grow up hearing/learning/using a word, you just use it. I don't really remember learning words and being told their etymology, but do remember learning some when taking a foreign language class in school. Could be completely wrong though
- hencq 2y agoI love them too. In a similar vein I learned just the other day that the verb 'escalate' only became in vogue after the invention of the escalator in the 1920s. I can't really pinpoint why either, but I think it has something to do with the surprisingly dumb or meme-y roots of such common words.
- fireflash38 2y agohttps://www.etymonline.com/word/escalate#etymonline_v_32438 https://www.etymonline.com/word/escalate#etymonline_v_32438 If anyone is curious. Used to be escalade, but after the formation of escalade+elevator=escalator, we never really looked back.