Yes, I thought the one about Chicago was true because there are at least 30 cities in the USA with higher average wind speeds than the Windy City's. I'm guessing they city got the name before massive westward expansion.
The movie _Boondock Saints_ has a very funny scene using the "Rule of Thumb" story. My favorite story, however, is: Manure was sold up and down the Mississippi River and if it got wet, it became a smelly, gross mess. So the boxes were marked "Ship High In Transit" so they would be stacked high to avoid getting soaked by the bilgewater. My favorite backronym is "Never Again Volunteer Yourself" because 1) I was in the U.S. Navy and 2) It reminds me to always read the contract before signing.
When I was younger I read that the origin of ‘waffle’ came from someone making pancakes in somewhere like Arizona when the batter fell onto a manhole cover (which was so hot it cooked it with the iconic waffle print), to which the person exclaimed “Oh, how awful!”, which someone overheard as “A waffle”… I believed this until I was about 15 when I told my friend and he pointed out how stupid it was, so we fact-checked it.
People love the false etymologies because they're a shortcut to sounding smart and interesting. Drop an intriguing etymology into a conversation, and suddenly you're worth listening to.
The irony being that they often sound smart because they’re dumb. These sorts of etymologies often being acronyms rather than a legitimate travel back in time through the evolution of our language makes them easier to understand and relate to for all people and no one feels alienated or stupid for not knowing Latin
I've noticed folk etymologies involving acronyms are very common, but actual words based on acronyms are very rare and frequently technological - laser, mase and scuba spring to mind.
Another joke etymology I’ve seen widely circulated on the Internet is that the word “politics” means “many blood-sucking creatures”. One of my friends repeated this in conversation with me, not realizing that it was a joke.
There is a mildly vulgar word for 'dick' (as in penis) in Polish - 'kutas'. Some years ago in my time in secondary school, an amusing story was spread around by the students: the original, historical meaning of kutas equated to something like "an elongated spindly decoration on the edges of a silk or woolen piece of clothing or fabric'. Most kids wouldn't believe it but still just told it on as a joke. One day, one of us class clowns decided to ask the history teacher about it, obviously just trying to wind him up, looking for trouble out of boredom. Turns out it was true all along. Most people I bring it up with try to dismiss the story as a folk etymology.
I mean, it's rather clear that it is not a folk etymology if you read some older Polish literature (for example it is used in that way in "Pan Tadeusz" by Adam Mickiewicz.
I remember as a kid being told (and doubting it) that the word NEWS came from relating to events concerning the North, East, West, and South; ie all over.
The biggest problem is that once someone comes up with such false name, most people just take it as a fact, because why not? Why would that person lie, right? I mean, who really has the time to google/fact check everything every time someone says something.
I have a local connection to your video. There is a college in my hometown, that developed a folk etymology about their football team. It was said that the football team had to change the abbreviation to the school after seeing the abbreviation on the end zone. The college used to be called Friends University of Central Kansas. Either fake or embellished, the name of the school ended up changing its name anyway. It is now simply Friends University.
@@kevinmcqueenie7420 That actually reminds me of Florida State University. I wouldn't be surprised if it got that name so it wouldn't be Florida University. I still like how Pepperdine University's initials are PU.
And it's so obviously false because related words appear in Germanic languages related to English, suggesting descent from an older word. For instance, the Dutch name "Fokker" means "animal breeder".
Some car names have indeed to change in certain countries. For example the "MR 2" in France (I think BMW?) In french that name woul be called like "merde", which is like an american car brand would be called "Shit".
Subaru Impreza means 'Party Subaru' in Polish. They didn't change it obviously. When I was little I always wondered why they would name a car with a random Polish word, being aware it wasn't a Polish brand..
The MR2 was Toyota (and a cracking car it was too!), they changed it to the M2 in France, but not before they had run it past BMW to make sure they were not stepping on their toes.
This reminds me of Eggcorns which focuses on trying to apply analogies but phrased it as it sounds. So eggcorn being from acorn. Minor difference. This linguistic phenomenon revolves around errors in phonetics. There are other groups listed in the Wikipedia such as: mondegreen, malapropism and most famous: the pun. Folk etymology is typically harmless but when elaborating on a topic it is important to confirm your terminology. I love using spanish and italian wordplays with my family and friends. It catches them off guard.
I never thought about the word news until I learned it in French. And I thought “nouvelles? Like new, pluralized? Cool. Wait. That’s what we call it!” I had never noticed before
The Backronym for the Ford Motor company seems to be an attempt to take down the high and mighty and their reliable vehicles. Ford was rumored to stand for Fix Often Repair Daily. 🤣
8:30 Perhaps, but Enco means "broken car" in Japanese so Enco actually did change its name, and they chose a name with a double X because no word in nay language spoken by humans was spelled with a double X, so they chose "Exxon" becoming the double cross company. Anyway, later the term "anti-vaxxer" was coined so now English has a real double cross word. Fitting, I think.
it reminded me of the most popular example of folk ethymology in poland - theres a city called częstochowa, and the folk ethymology is that the people are often hiding (często - often, chowa - hiding), in reality its from the name częstoch, and -owa part means that it was his city
For years Pemex in Mexico sold a grade of gasoline called "Nova". There was also "Nova Sin" (plomo), which was unleaded. Granted, they were a state-owned monopoly that didn't have to make a lot of effort towards marketing.
@@nlpnt Yeah, most Spanish speakers know about Latin words spelled with an "o" that are spelled with a "ue" in Spanish. I'm an Anglo and I know it, they must know it better.
The Dutch often use a certain mock (everyone knows it's a joke) folk etymology that "Belg" ("Belgian person") is an acronym for "Ben Eerst Limburger Geweest" ("[I] Used to be a person from Limburg"), with Limburg being one of the three southernmost provinces of The Netherlands
Never heard the "Notable Events, Weather and Sports" acronym for News, but I did have a teacher in secondary school who said News is "an acronym for North, East, West, South, because News covers information from everywhere in all directions". And because that information came from a teacher, I believed it for many years, even telling it to people I knew; "um, actually it doesn't just mean 'new', I learned in school its North, East, West, South" and then learned years later that no, it is just because News reports are... new.
I'm reminded of the folk etymology behind the meaning of a raised middle finger. The story went something like archers captured in battle would be released but only after their middle finger was cut off, making it impossible to use a bow. Bows at the time being made with wood from the yew tree for its strength, and became synonymous with the weapon. When invaders would come, the defenders raised their middle finger as a sign of intimidation, showing they could still weild a bow, that is, they would be willing to 'pluck yew'. Of course it's all false.
I've heard that story for the backhand V sign, but never for the middle finger. Of course, it's unsubstantiated in that regard, too. Weirdly, the actual meaning of the middle finger is actually pretty straightforward: it's emblematic of the phallus.
In 1986 there was a joke that NASA stood for Need Another Seven Astronauts. which is odd, as the Challenger accident only killed 6 astronauts. One of the people aboard was not trained to be an astronaut, she was a school teacher.
Come on, golf isn't an acronym, everyone knows that! . . . . . It comes from a shortening of Golfimbul, a goblin from Mount Gram who was decapitated by Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took and his head went down a rabbit hole, ending the battle and creating the earliest version of the game of golf.
One time a history teacher of mine said a folk etymology, that the word "history" is a portmanteau of "his" and "story". It obviously isn't, it comes from an ancient Greek word which is also the origin of the word story. Interestingly, though, the French word "histoire" preserves the original meaning that lead to it becoming the word story, as it means a narrative or account more generally and not just what English speakers think of as history.
I have also heard that OK derives from an old US Presidential campaign slogan, used in regard to Martin Van Buren. Van Buren was from Old Kinderhook, NY and his political people came up with the slogan "Van Buren is O.K." as a double entendre (Oll Korrect / Old Kinderhook).
@@cosmoluc double entendre was lifted straight from 17th century French (it meant double meaning). So in this case "O.K." stood for "oll korrect" ("all correct" as we would spell it today) and "Old Kinderhook." Hope that clears things up.
@@xneapolisx Yes, so the acronym O.K. must have pre-existed this campaign slogan, else the readers would not have understood. I thought that the claim was that this is how the word O.K. was invented. I know it's probably not even a true story, but I would have thought it was funny if it contradicted itself. It would not be the only case of a made-up origin story that includes a "plot hole".
@@cosmoluc ah, yes, the 'OK' acronym existed at the time of Van Buren, correct. His wiley political advisors saw an opportunity to use said acronym and took it. Guess it worked, since Van Buren won. Then again, this entire story could be apocryphal, lol. Cheers!
I once looked up the meaning of a name, and stumbled upon a website that makes fake acronyms with those namel, i always questioned wha it was for, like who gains from this fake acronym
My favourite example from The Netherlands is 'dweilorkest', a small orchestra with just wind instruments. The very, VERY widespread belief is that it refers to the cleaning sessions ('dweil') between ice skating competitions, in which such orchestras would entertain the crowd until they were done cleaning the track. Oh, and yes, long track speed skating is the second most popular sport to watch in the Netherlands. The funny thing is that it isn't even really a thing that is said out loud very often. People just... assume it, because it makes sense. Probably, this belief even contributes to those bands being hired for skating competitions. Unfortunately, my father suddenly questioned it one day, and it turns out that 'dweil' refers to the walking motion of drunk people. In the south of the country, it was (or maybe is) apparently a tradition to crawl from pub to pub while playing songs on these wind instruments. Also, in hindsight, I feel pretty stupid for believing that 'bellen' (calling by phone) derives from Alexander Graham Bell's name. After all, the Dutch word for ringing, as in ringing a doorbell, is '(aan)bellen'. Actually, I still don't know whether the person who told me that it derives from Alexander meant it as a joke.
Very interesting! While the Nova story is fake, the Mitsubishi Pajero actually had to change its name in Latin America, because "pajero" means "wanker" in Spanish 😅
Not “wanker” - Pahero is little horse (Pony) (penis), and South Americans pronounce J as H… Pajero is act the location of Mitsubishi’s 4x4 production plant. Like Ford calling a car Detroit or Windsor (which they did).
@@benjaminprietop Also Southamerican (from Argentina), and can confirm pajero means wanker, creep, or sometimes lazy, depending on context. None of which are positive.
4:32 Here in Aotearoa white New Zealanders are often referred to as Pākehā, which racists often claim stems from Māori words for pig or sometimes even "bugger you", which is straight up a lie to make Pākehā feel justified in their hatred of Māori. In reality we don't 100% know where the word Pākehā comes from, but it's probably a reference to the Pakepakehā, mythical fairy-like creatures with pale skin and no tattoos
I had heard the origin of "Golf" was from the fact they were brainstorming names in the St. Andrews parking lot. Escort and Fiesta already had strong connotations, Astra had already been trademarked for a videogame and so Golf it was...
i just wanted to say I love this channel so much, I've always been fascinated by the origins of words and names and such and having an entire channel dedicated to it is just so fun! keep up the good work! :D
Kinda like my joke story of the origin of SOB. There was a pub owner in Kingstown, Ireland - NE of Galway and across the channel from the Isle of Turbot. His name was Samuel Fabich, and was a bit of a troublemaker and prankster, but he always managed to get the job done. Sam had four sons who all took after him. By the time of his grandsons, the reputation was such that when something troublesome, but ultimately manageable happened, the sons of Fabich made up most of the top suspects. Soon, calling someone a Son of Fabich meant that they were a troublesome jerk. It has always been a mild, sometimes friendly, insult and pejorative. The spelling morphed over time to the term used today.
i have a british friend who has assumed, more than once, that non-english words are english acronyms or have to come from english. the entitlement of english speakers is outstanding sometimes, I just don't know how to approach such a situation
I heard a different etymology for NEWS, but it was also an acronym: North, East, West, South. Meaning, it is information from elsewhere. In fact, I was told, the word new arrives later, when the origin of NEWS was lost and you had a single novelty, then you drop the s, and you have something new. 😅 If nothing else, this is also a good story
I heard a story inside the park that when the whites wanted to take over in the Yosemite Valley they rounded up the Native Americans living there and began to move them out. At one point one of the natives tried to escape and was shot and killed. One of the natives said "Yo sem ite" meaning "They are killers" but mistook this to be the name of the tribe. I doubt that is true. Why would someone hear something said by someone who just saw their friend shot down and think it's the name of their tribe. More likely it would be something like, "They just killed Kenny! Those bastards!"
My favorite folk etymology is for my surname, Kerruish. It is Manx in origin. The boring story is that it descends from 'son of Fergus.' The one I prefer has it come from 'kiare rooisht,' which is Manx for 'four naked,' and refers to four shipwrecked sailors who washed (or possibly swam) ashore without a stitch of clothing.
I am kind of guilty of this - AM and PM when it comes to time. In Elementary school, I rationalized it with "At Morning" and "Past Morning", when it instead is Ante Meridiem and Post Meridiem, both latin phrases for Before Noon and After Noon respectively.
My absolut favorite (and a harmless one) is the origin of the german term "Buchstaben lesen" (to read letters): To divine the future, the old druids threw sticks (Stäbe) of beech wood (Buche) on the ground and then picked some of them up (auflesen).
The only reason I would ever have to not like these kinds of fake etymologies is that language as it stands is already incredibly fascinating, at least to me. There are so many scenarios I can think of where being curious about language itself has caused me to re-evaluate how I look at the words I use, how they're created, or come to have different meanings. And it's always an interesting, fascinating, or just plain fun discovery. Like how the elements silver and gold derive their chemical symbols Ag and Au from their Latin names, "argentum" and "aurum". Or how LASER, SCUBA, SONAR, and RADAR are all acronyms! How about the word "meat" originally referring to any kind of food in general, like in "sweetmeat"(a piece of candy or confection)? Tell me how many times you used a word like "enjoy" or "resource", without ever considering they derived from the oh so painfully right-in-front-of-your-face words like "joy" and "source"? Language is such an integral part of our lives. It's with us since they day we're born, grows with and changes for and adapts along to us, as we adapt and grow and change along to it. You better believe it's got some genuinely incredible stories to tell.
I think my least favorite one I've ever heard is that the term "f*ck you" is actually derived from archers, who would pluck yew bows, or "pluck yew." It just sounds so stupid. No one has ever been confused about the origin of the "you" part of "eff you."
The Amerigo Vespucci thing is probably false too, and more likely to come from an Italian cartographer called Guiseppi Ameri,.who signed his early maps of the new world Ameri carte.
A lot of these likely started as jokes, only to be picked up by people who wanted to sound worldly and generally fascinating, and repeated as if they were gospel. I can easily imagine this happening, because in my many years of working in the same place, I have had the following experience numerous times: 1. A colleague sends a mass email about a new initiative that doesn't yet have a name and notes in paragraph 3 or 4 that they're open to suggestions on what to call it. 2. I reply only to the sender (because I'm not a monster who uses reply-all) and toss off a silly name for the thing, assuming they will have a good laugh about it. 3. A day or two later, another mass email using the joke name as the real name for the thing in perpetuity...sometimes thanking me for the suggestion, sometimes not, and I'm never sure which is worse.
Wait, the part where you talk about OK was not clear. You say that it does come from a fad of making up strange abbreviations, which I had heard of. But then you talk about oll korrect as if that aspect was wrong. Does OK not come from oll korrect? Or are you saying that the idea that it came from Andrew Jackson is the wrong part? So does OK come from oll korrect as I have always been told or is that aspect wrong and if so what does it stand for if anything?
There once was a type of laptop extension modules called PCMCIA. but is was soon renamed PC Card as they realized people can't memorize computer industry acronyms.... PCMCIA...
And the ongoing issue that people decided "PC" means "it's not made by Apple" rather than "personal computer"... (and Apple themselves certainly didn't help with their "I'm a PC" ad campagins)
There’s a trivia game I played about entomology that listed the entomology of “news” as “north east west south,” referring to all the directions you’re getting information from.
I was probably influenced by the fact that this is a video about folk etymology but the opening sounded like a bit to simple of an origin for such an (at least I assume) old word
Ryan George has a lot of folk origin stories I’ll make up one for country names North America: United States: “Okay, to start off, this country is broken up into a bunch of states” “Well those states seem pretty United” “How about the United States” Canada: “Alright now what about our own country that we live in” “Well we certainly CAN live in this country” “Not creative enough” “CAN…A DA” Mexico: “Alright, this country looks like a total mess, don’t you think” “More like a Mex” “NO, it’s not” “MexiCO it is” Guatemala: “We need to really equate with this country”*interprets as Guate* “How about Mala…” “We’re not naming a country after Malaria. But we can compromise and call it Guatemala” Belize: “I really believe that this country” “You mean you Belize in this country” *laughs* Cuba: “Alright, let’s move on to some island nations. What about this one” “How about Cuba” “It looks nothing like a Cube” “Sorry, I just love my Rubix cube so much” Haiti: “I really hate this country. Let’s move on” *changes the spelling so it doesn’t look like hate speech* Dominica: Dominique, now this one “Dominica” “Sounds different enough. Now how about this one” “Dominican republic” “Sounds pretty Republican to me, but I’ll go with it”. The Bahamas: “What about this archipelago” “Bahamas” “You’re wearing a T-shirt of Tommy Bahama” “Oh ****” “How about these archipelagoes” “St Vincent and the Grenadines” “What are you a war veteran” “Maybe” “This island” “Grenada” “Stop piggybacking off of my country. Mine is so much more sophisticated” “Okay we gotta move on. How about this one” El Salvador: “This country look like my Savior” “It’s just a weird shape” “Whatever, let’s call it the Savior please” “Writing that down” *writes it in Spanish* Honduras: “I got a HONdred of these cookies. I can really enDURE to eat all of them in one sitting” Nicaragua: “I really NEEd to CARry A GUAtemala flag everywhere. I’m from there. “You said that pretty weird. I’ll just take the things you put emphasis on” Costa Rica: This looks like a pretty delicious coast. I’ll eat the sand for lunch. “Writing down Delicious coast, but in Spanish” “Finally for North America, and then we can take a break, what about this one” “Pan” “You can’t just name one after a Pan” “Pan…NAMA” Writing it down
I rather enjoy folk etymologies. They're fun. Humans have been making stuff up since the dawn of humanity. I think people who try to stamp out are rather unpleasant. Yes, there should always be true information, but there's no reason for them to be thought lesser of for the everyday joe or for people who use them to be thought less of.
One that my dad would come up with is that Portuguese seemingly influenced Japanese when it came to say "thanks/thank you". I don't remember the setting of the story, probably war, but he'd say that they didn't have a word for saying thanks in Japanese yet (arigatō) so they have "borrowed" it from the portuguese word "obrigado" (possibly the brazilian pronunciation, to be specific), becoming "obirigatō", then shortened to "arigatō". I actually believed that for some time...
His version of the "OK" origin was also war-related and that... some soldier wrote on the dirt "0 K." meaning "zero killed" as a message to another soldier... very silly
That's actually funny to hear, because the English "thank you" has been borrowed into the Japanese language as a more casual way of expressing thanks (サンキュー "sankyuu")
Had you heard any of these folk etymologies before and thought they were true?
Not fully watched it yet, early here..
I'm disappointed. I thought this would be about the etymologies of fake words.
Yes, I thought the one about Chicago was true because there are at least 30 cities in the USA with higher average wind speeds than the Windy City's. I'm guessing they city got the name before massive westward expansion.
The movie _Boondock Saints_ has a very funny scene using the "Rule of Thumb" story.
My favorite story, however, is: Manure was sold up and down the Mississippi River and if it got wet, it became a smelly, gross mess. So the boxes were marked "Ship High In Transit" so they would be stacked high to avoid getting soaked by the bilgewater.
My favorite backronym is "Never Again Volunteer Yourself" because 1) I was in the U.S. Navy and 2) It reminds me to always read the contract before signing.
When I was younger I read that the origin of ‘waffle’ came from someone making pancakes in somewhere like Arizona when the batter fell onto a manhole cover (which was so hot it cooked it with the iconic waffle print), to which the person exclaimed “Oh, how awful!”, which someone overheard as “A waffle”…
I believed this until I was about 15 when I told my friend and he pointed out how stupid it was, so we fact-checked it.
People love the false etymologies because they're a shortcut to sounding smart and interesting. Drop an intriguing etymology into a conversation, and suddenly you're worth listening to.
The irony being that they often sound smart because they’re dumb. These sorts of etymologies often being acronyms rather than a legitimate travel back in time through the evolution of our language makes them easier to understand and relate to for all people and no one feels alienated or stupid for not knowing Latin
@@BD-yl5mh It's not even like you have to sound like a smarty-pants because a word comes from Latin. You can choose to, or, you can choose not to.
This is totally me
I think this would have the reverse effect on me.
I've noticed folk etymologies involving acronyms are very common, but actual words based on acronyms are very rare and frequently technological - laser, mase and scuba spring to mind.
also, SONAR.
I've never actually seen people writing xerox, laser or scuba in capital letters so it's not even acknowledged as an acronym these days.
@@satyakisil4289 xerox is a brand name so it depend on how they officially use it
Mase? In which meaning
* *
I'm convinced "bae" being an acronym for "before all else" has to be a bacronym. There's no way it's not just someone shortening the word "babe"
It is. I've known the word bae for a solid decade and never encountered that acronym ever
I heard that origin over a decade ago. Well I heard it as “before anyone else.” But I always thought the shortening of babe made way more sense.
It's also apparently Danish for poop. I don't think anyone wants to be called poop.
Most of the time, stupid acronyms are just fake. Except for OK.
Same for a gaming "meta". Suposedly it stands for "most effective tactic available". But i am quite sure its just the greek version of the word.
Another joke etymology I’ve seen widely circulated on the Internet is that the word “politics” means “many blood-sucking creatures”. One of my friends repeated this in conversation with me, not realizing that it was a joke.
There is a mildly vulgar word for 'dick' (as in penis) in Polish - 'kutas'.
Some years ago in my time in secondary school, an amusing story was spread around by the students: the original, historical meaning of kutas equated to something like "an elongated spindly decoration on the edges of a silk or woolen piece of clothing or fabric'.
Most kids wouldn't believe it but still just told it on as a joke. One day, one of us class clowns decided to ask the history teacher about it, obviously just trying to wind him up, looking for trouble out of boredom.
Turns out it was true all along.
Most people I bring it up with try to dismiss the story as a folk etymology.
I mean, it's rather clear that it is not a folk etymology if you read some older Polish literature (for example it is used in that way in "Pan Tadeusz" by Adam Mickiewicz.
@@vladprus4019 Or just type it into google;) But this was in the days before any gimnazjum kid had a phone with internet
Huh
Never knew that’s where “early” came from. I’m going to tell all my friends.
lmfao
I remember as a kid being told (and doubting it) that the word NEWS came from relating to events concerning the North, East, West, and South; ie all over.
Another backronym for "F***" that I heard a lot back in the day was, "Filed Under Carnal Knowledge." I am not aware of its origin.
I heard "for unlawful carnal knowledge". Seems like there's quite a few for that word.
The biggest problem is that once someone comes up with such false name, most people just take it as a fact, because why not? Why would that person lie, right? I mean, who really has the time to google/fact check everything every time someone says something.
I have a local connection to your video. There is a college in my hometown, that developed a folk etymology about their football team. It was said that the football team had to change the abbreviation to the school after seeing the abbreviation on the end zone. The college used to be called Friends University of Central Kansas. Either fake or embellished, the name of the school ended up changing its name anyway. It is now simply Friends University.
The abbreviation would still be FU though! ;)
@@kevinmcqueenie7420 I know, but at least the football team was smart enough to not put it in big letters on the end zones....lol
There was a proposed Juan de Fuca University in Washington State.
@@kevinmcqueenie7420 That actually reminds me of Florida State University. I wouldn't be surprised if it got that name so it wouldn't be Florida University. I still like how Pepperdine University's initials are PU.
That’s like the Central University Northern Territory we have here in Australia.
And I heard the F word came from people who were put in stocks under a sign reading “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”.
I heard that one as well!
And it's so obviously false because related words appear in Germanic languages related to English, suggesting descent from an older word. For instance, the Dutch name "Fokker" means "animal breeder".
@@Bacopa68 And how about the Fokker Triplane of World War I.
@@snardflukThe company was founded by a guy named Fokker.
@@Bacopa68 Yes, I figured that, probably German.
Some car names have indeed to change in certain countries. For example the "MR 2" in France (I think BMW?) In french that name woul be called like "merde", which is like an american car brand would be called "Shit".
Subaru Impreza means 'Party Subaru' in Polish. They didn't change it obviously. When I was little I always wondered why they would name a car with a random Polish word, being aware it wasn't a Polish brand..
The MR2 was Toyota (and a cracking car it was too!), they changed it to the M2 in France, but not before they had run it past BMW to make sure they were not stepping on their toes.
IIRC, folk-etymology stories nicely illustrate the principle that the likelihood of a story being true is inversely proportionate to how cute it is.
This reminds me of Eggcorns which focuses on trying to apply analogies but phrased it as it sounds. So eggcorn being from acorn. Minor difference. This linguistic phenomenon revolves around errors in phonetics. There are other groups listed in the Wikipedia such as: mondegreen, malapropism and most famous: the pun. Folk etymology is typically harmless but when elaborating on a topic it is important to confirm your terminology.
I love using spanish and italian wordplays with my family and friends. It catches them off guard.
I never thought about the word news until I learned it in French. And I thought “nouvelles? Like new, pluralized? Cool. Wait. That’s what we call it!” I had never noticed before
Spanish has "novedades"
The Backronym for the Ford Motor company seems to be an attempt to take down the high and mighty and their reliable vehicles. Ford was rumored to stand for Fix Often Repair Daily. 🤣
Fiat - Fix It Again, Tony. Saab - So, Another Alternator Blew.
Found on rubbish dump…
Unfortunately, someone forgot to fix or repair Henry Ford and he ended up being a nazi
8:30 Perhaps, but Enco means "broken car" in Japanese so Enco actually did change its name, and they chose a name with a double X because no word in nay language spoken by humans was spelled with a double X, so they chose "Exxon" becoming the double cross company.
Anyway, later the term "anti-vaxxer" was coined so now English has a real double cross word. Fitting, I think.
Except Exxon used to be Esso (for Standard Oil)…
it reminded me of the most popular example of folk ethymology in poland - theres a city called częstochowa, and the folk ethymology is that the people are often hiding (często - often, chowa - hiding), in reality its from the name częstoch, and -owa part means that it was his city
In the seventies we knew the "No Va" story was false because the Chevy Nova was fairly popular with Mexican Americans.
For years Pemex in Mexico sold a grade of gasoline called "Nova". There was also "Nova Sin" (plomo), which was unleaded. Granted, they were a state-owned monopoly that didn't have to make a lot of effort towards marketing.
@@nlpnt Yeah, most Spanish speakers know about Latin words spelled with an "o" that are spelled with a "ue" in Spanish. I'm an Anglo and I know it, they must know it better.
I find the topic very interesting
Windy City origin is not because Chicago is particularly windy
The Dutch often use a certain mock (everyone knows it's a joke) folk etymology that "Belg" ("Belgian person") is an acronym for "Ben Eerst Limburger Geweest" ("[I] Used to be a person from Limburg"), with Limburg being one of the three southernmost provinces of The Netherlands
So they say Belgians are actually all from the Netherlands
@@goose93, yes
@@goose93 yes #belgiansdontdeserverights
Never heard the "Notable Events, Weather and Sports" acronym for News, but I did have a teacher in secondary school who said News is "an acronym for North, East, West, South, because News covers information from everywhere in all directions". And because that information came from a teacher, I believed it for many years, even telling it to people I knew; "um, actually it doesn't just mean 'new', I learned in school its North, East, West, South" and then learned years later that no, it is just because News reports are... new.
I'm reminded of the folk etymology behind the meaning of a raised middle finger. The story went something like archers captured in battle would be released but only after their middle finger was cut off, making it impossible to use a bow. Bows at the time being made with wood from the yew tree for its strength, and became synonymous with the weapon. When invaders would come, the defenders raised their middle finger as a sign of intimidation, showing they could still weild a bow, that is, they would be willing to 'pluck yew'.
Of course it's all false.
My socials teacher said that something similar is the reason why, in the UK, the backwards peace sign is considered rude
I've heard that story for the backhand V sign, but never for the middle finger. Of course, it's unsubstantiated in that regard, too.
Weirdly, the actual meaning of the middle finger is actually pretty straightforward: it's emblematic of the phallus.
I read from somewhere that flipping the bird originated in Ancient Greece, shown to attractive ladies to mimic erection.
Ford, Fix Often, Rarely Drive.
In 1986 there was a joke that NASA stood for Need Another Seven Astronauts. which is odd, as the Challenger accident only killed 6 astronauts. One of the people aboard was not trained to be an astronaut, she was a school teacher.
Backronyms
Why would you even think of "What's the etymology of news?" it's literally right there.
Come on, golf isn't an acronym, everyone knows that!
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It comes from a shortening of Golfimbul, a goblin from Mount Gram who was decapitated by Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took and his head went down a rabbit hole, ending the battle and creating the earliest version of the game of golf.
I was always told NEWS came from the points of the compass: North, East, West and South.
It is interesting that folk etymologies tend to be four letter words.
Thanks for doing this! Folk etymologies are so much fun to explore. Especially finding out how they come about compared to the real etymologies.
One time a history teacher of mine said a folk etymology, that the word "history" is a portmanteau of "his" and "story". It obviously isn't, it comes from an ancient Greek word which is also the origin of the word story. Interestingly, though, the French word "histoire" preserves the original meaning that lead to it becoming the word story, as it means a narrative or account more generally and not just what English speakers think of as history.
I have also heard that OK derives from an old US Presidential campaign slogan, used in regard to Martin Van Buren. Van Buren was from Old Kinderhook, NY and his political people came up with the slogan "Van Buren is O.K." as a double entendre (Oll Korrect / Old Kinderhook).
Wait, but... How could it be a double entendre if O.K. didn't mean what it now means yet? Or do I misunderstand?
@@cosmoluc double entendre was lifted straight from 17th century French (it meant double meaning).
So in this case "O.K." stood for "oll korrect" ("all correct" as we would spell it today) and "Old Kinderhook." Hope that clears things up.
@@xneapolisx Yes, so the acronym O.K. must have pre-existed this campaign slogan, else the readers would not have understood. I thought that the claim was that this is how the word O.K. was invented.
I know it's probably not even a true story, but I would have thought it was funny if it contradicted itself. It would not be the only case of a made-up origin story that includes a "plot hole".
@@cosmoluc ah, yes, the 'OK' acronym existed at the time of Van Buren, correct. His wiley political advisors saw an opportunity to use said acronym and took it. Guess it worked, since Van Buren won. Then again, this entire story could be apocryphal, lol. Cheers!
I once looked up the meaning of a name, and stumbled upon a website that makes fake acronyms with those namel, i always questioned wha it was for, like who gains from this fake acronym
Very interesting video, but it's really distracting how you add an extra syllable to the end of almost every sentence.
My favourite example from The Netherlands is 'dweilorkest', a small orchestra with just wind instruments. The very, VERY widespread belief is that it refers to the cleaning sessions ('dweil') between ice skating competitions, in which such orchestras would entertain the crowd until they were done cleaning the track. Oh, and yes, long track speed skating is the second most popular sport to watch in the Netherlands. The funny thing is that it isn't even really a thing that is said out loud very often. People just... assume it, because it makes sense. Probably, this belief even contributes to those bands being hired for skating competitions.
Unfortunately, my father suddenly questioned it one day, and it turns out that 'dweil' refers to the walking motion of drunk people. In the south of the country, it was (or maybe is) apparently a tradition to crawl from pub to pub while playing songs on these wind instruments.
Also, in hindsight, I feel pretty stupid for believing that 'bellen' (calling by phone) derives from Alexander Graham Bell's name. After all, the Dutch word for ringing, as in ringing a doorbell, is '(aan)bellen'. Actually, I still don't know whether the person who told me that it derives from Alexander meant it as a joke.
God I hope I never encounter drunk people playing instruments of any kind
Very interesting! While the Nova story is fake, the Mitsubishi Pajero actually had to change its name in Latin America, because "pajero" means "wanker" in Spanish 😅
Not “wanker” - Pahero is little horse (Pony) (penis), and South Americans pronounce J as H…
Pajero is act the location of Mitsubishi’s 4x4 production plant. Like Ford calling a car Detroit or Windsor (which they did).
@@allangibson8494 dude, I'm literally from South America and I speak Spanish, I know what i'm talking about xd
@@benjaminprietop Also Southamerican (from Argentina), and can confirm pajero means wanker, creep, or sometimes lazy, depending on context. None of which are positive.
4:32 Here in Aotearoa white New Zealanders are often referred to as Pākehā, which racists often claim stems from Māori words for pig or sometimes even "bugger you", which is straight up a lie to make Pākehā feel justified in their hatred of Māori. In reality we don't 100% know where the word Pākehā comes from, but it's probably a reference to the Pakepakehā, mythical fairy-like creatures with pale skin and no tattoos
I had heard the origin of "Golf" was from the fact they were brainstorming names in the St. Andrews parking lot. Escort and Fiesta already had strong connotations, Astra had already been trademarked for a videogame and so Golf it was...
When the real origin was VW were using wind names for car names - and misspelled “Gulf”…
@@allangibson8494 Not misspelled, just German.
Golf means gulf, the hole you hit the ball over. Early Modern English.
7:15 Come on everyone knows golf is named after Golfimbul the orc who was beheaded by Bandobras Took when he tried to invade The Shire
i just wanted to say I love this channel so much, I've always been fascinated by the origins of words and names and such and having an entire channel dedicated to it is just so fun! keep up the good work! :D
Kinda like my joke story of the origin of SOB.
There was a pub owner in Kingstown, Ireland - NE of Galway and across the channel from the Isle of Turbot. His name was Samuel Fabich, and was a bit of a troublemaker and prankster, but he always managed to get the job done. Sam had four sons who all took after him. By the time of his grandsons, the reputation was such that when something troublesome, but ultimately manageable happened, the sons of Fabich made up most of the top suspects. Soon, calling someone a Son of Fabich meant that they were a troublesome jerk. It has always been a mild, sometimes friendly, insult and pejorative. The spelling morphed over time to the term used today.
that's pretty funny ngl
Hilarious...
i have a british friend who has assumed, more than once, that non-english words are english acronyms or have to come from english. the entitlement of english speakers is outstanding sometimes, I just don't know how to approach such a situation
I heard a different etymology for NEWS, but it was also an acronym: North, East, West, South. Meaning, it is information from elsewhere. In fact, I was told, the word new arrives later, when the origin of NEWS was lost and you had a single novelty, then you drop the s, and you have something new. 😅 If nothing else, this is also a good story
I heard a story inside the park that when the whites wanted to take over in the Yosemite Valley they rounded up the Native Americans living there and began to move them out.
At one point one of the natives tried to escape and was shot and killed.
One of the natives said "Yo sem ite" meaning "They are killers" but mistook this to be the name of the tribe.
I doubt that is true. Why would someone hear something said by someone who just saw their friend shot down and think it's the name of their tribe.
More likely it would be something like, "They just killed Kenny! Those bastards!"
Ok
My favorite folk etymology is for my surname, Kerruish. It is Manx in origin. The boring story is that it descends from 'son of Fergus.' The one I prefer has it come from 'kiare rooisht,' which is Manx for 'four naked,' and refers to four shipwrecked sailors who washed (or possibly swam) ashore without a stitch of clothing.
Video idea 1: origin of all English Countys. Video idea 2: orign of alcoholic drinks
I am kind of guilty of this - AM and PM when it comes to time. In Elementary school, I rationalized it with "At Morning" and "Past Morning", when it instead is Ante Meridiem and Post Meridiem, both latin phrases for Before Noon and After Noon respectively.
My absolut favorite (and a harmless one) is the origin of the german term "Buchstaben lesen" (to read letters): To divine the future, the old druids threw sticks (Stäbe) of beech wood (Buche) on the ground and then picked some of them up (auflesen).
Wow, I actually just unironically used lol, I’m surprised with myself
The only reason I would ever have to not like these kinds of fake etymologies is that language as it stands is already incredibly fascinating, at least to me. There are so many scenarios I can think of where being curious about language itself has caused me to re-evaluate how I look at the words I use, how they're created, or come to have different meanings. And it's always an interesting, fascinating, or just plain fun discovery.
Like how the elements silver and gold derive their chemical symbols Ag and Au from their Latin names, "argentum" and "aurum".
Or how LASER, SCUBA, SONAR, and RADAR are all acronyms!
How about the word "meat" originally referring to any kind of food in general, like in "sweetmeat"(a piece of candy or confection)?
Tell me how many times you used a word like "enjoy" or "resource", without ever considering they derived from the oh so painfully right-in-front-of-your-face words like "joy" and "source"?
Language is such an integral part of our lives. It's with us since they day we're born, grows with and changes for and adapts along to us, as we adapt and grow and change along to it. You better believe it's got some genuinely incredible stories to tell.
I think my least favorite one I've ever heard is that the term "f*ck you" is actually derived from archers, who would pluck yew bows, or "pluck yew." It just sounds so stupid. No one has ever been confused about the origin of the "you" part of "eff you."
The Amerigo Vespucci thing is probably false too, and more likely to come from an Italian cartographer called Guiseppi Ameri,.who signed his early maps of the new world Ameri carte.
That bacon taped to the bathroom wall in Gummo seems ironically funny now instead of just weird.
I'm surprised that this video didn't include the infamous "ship high in transit" backcronym
In French Putin is called poutine, because putin would be pronounced exactly the same as putain, which is French for prostitute. Horses for courses!
The fake origin for NEWS was *news* to me! But you didn't mention TIPS (To Ensure Prompt Service).
A lot of these likely started as jokes, only to be picked up by people who wanted to sound worldly and generally fascinating, and repeated as if they were gospel. I can easily imagine this happening, because in my many years of working in the same place, I have had the following experience numerous times: 1. A colleague sends a mass email about a new initiative that doesn't yet have a name and notes in paragraph 3 or 4 that they're open to suggestions on what to call it. 2. I reply only to the sender (because I'm not a monster who uses reply-all) and toss off a silly name for the thing, assuming they will have a good laugh about it. 3. A day or two later, another mass email using the joke name as the real name for the thing in perpetuity...sometimes thanking me for the suggestion, sometimes not, and I'm never sure which is worse.
As someone from the Chicagoland area the reason why it’s called “The Windy City” is because the politicians are full of hot wind.
Where I come from, news is supposedly "North, East, West and South".
Wait, the part where you talk about OK was not clear.
You say that it does come from a fad of making up strange abbreviations, which I had heard of. But then you talk about oll korrect as if that aspect was wrong. Does OK not come from oll korrect? Or are you saying that the idea that it came from Andrew Jackson is the wrong part? So does OK come from oll korrect as I have always been told or is that aspect wrong and if so what does it stand for if anything?
There once was a type of laptop extension modules called PCMCIA. but is was soon renamed PC Card as they realized people can't memorize computer industry acronyms.... PCMCIA...
Pulse Code Modulation
Central Intelligence Agency?
@@angeldude101 No, Personal Computer Memory Card Interface Architecture...
And “PC Card” isn’t actually compatible with “PCMCIA”…
And the ongoing issue that people decided "PC" means "it's not made by Apple" rather than "personal computer"... (and Apple themselves certainly didn't help with their "I'm a PC" ad campagins)
There’s a trivia game I played about entomology that listed the entomology of “news” as “north east west south,” referring to all the directions you’re getting information from.
7:14 i thought they were gonna reference the Inbetweeners where Jay says it stands for "Gay Outdoor Lifestyle for Fellas" 😂
Did you know that the work SAD comes from
Seasonal anxiety disorder?
Wait people don’t realize news stands for Not Even Wearable Socks?
I literally thought that America was from americana, I thought it was a play or something lol
I was probably influenced by the fact that this is a video about folk etymology but the opening sounded like a bit to simple of an origin for such an (at least I assume) old word
I once heard news came from north,east,west,south.I hate golf, thanks to my father
When I was in high school some of the other students used to say the F word had been a legal term that meant "for unlawful carnal knowledge".
In recent notable events, renowned educational RUclipsr Name Explain publishes a video filled with lies.
because it gives stupid people the feeling that they're not stupid 🤷
Good backronym is Ship High In Transit
i got taught news stood for north east west south because the news happeneds everywhere 💀
What, it's not "och aye"? That's what I always assumed.
Bc they’re more interesting than them not being true, next question
Here is another reason:
The etymology is not known
Cromulent is one of my fave fictional words
If i knew how to edit shit and had the means to do so, that earl story 😂😂😂
I thought News was the new stories, the NEWs
Don’t forget to stack high in transport
I was taught in school that news = north east west south
Ryan George has a lot of folk origin stories
I’ll make up one for country names
North America:
United States: “Okay, to start off, this country is broken up into a bunch of states”
“Well those states seem pretty United”
“How about the United States”
Canada: “Alright now what about our own country that we live in”
“Well we certainly CAN live in this country”
“Not creative enough”
“CAN…A DA”
Mexico:
“Alright, this country looks like a total mess, don’t you think”
“More like a Mex”
“NO, it’s not”
“MexiCO it is”
Guatemala: “We need to really equate with this country”*interprets as Guate*
“How about Mala…”
“We’re not naming a country after Malaria. But we can compromise and call it Guatemala”
Belize: “I really believe that this country”
“You mean you Belize in this country” *laughs*
Cuba: “Alright, let’s move on to some island nations. What about this one”
“How about Cuba”
“It looks nothing like a Cube”
“Sorry, I just love my Rubix cube so much”
Haiti: “I really hate this country. Let’s move on” *changes the spelling so it doesn’t look like hate speech*
Dominica: Dominique, now this one
“Dominica”
“Sounds different enough. Now how about this one”
“Dominican republic”
“Sounds pretty Republican to me, but I’ll go with it”.
The Bahamas: “What about this archipelago”
“Bahamas”
“You’re wearing a T-shirt of Tommy Bahama”
“Oh ****”
“How about these archipelagoes”
“St Vincent and the Grenadines”
“What are you a war veteran”
“Maybe”
“This island”
“Grenada”
“Stop piggybacking off of my country. Mine is so much more sophisticated”
“Okay we gotta move on. How about this one”
El Salvador: “This country look like my Savior”
“It’s just a weird shape”
“Whatever, let’s call it the Savior please”
“Writing that down” *writes it in Spanish*
Honduras: “I got a HONdred of these cookies. I can really enDURE to eat all of them in one sitting”
Nicaragua: “I really NEEd to CARry A GUAtemala flag everywhere. I’m from there.
“You said that pretty weird. I’ll just take the things you put emphasis on”
Costa Rica: This looks like a pretty delicious coast. I’ll eat the sand for lunch.
“Writing down Delicious coast, but in Spanish”
“Finally for North America, and then we can take a break, what about this one”
“Pan”
“You can’t just name one after a Pan”
“Pan…NAMA”
Writing it down
I've heard asparagus comes from sparrow grass. Also I've heard For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.
North
East
West
South
NEWS
I rather enjoy folk etymologies. They're fun. Humans have been making stuff up since the dawn of humanity. I think people who try to stamp out are rather unpleasant. Yes, there should always be true information, but there's no reason for them to be thought lesser of for the everyday joe or for people who use them to be thought less of.
Hobbits invented golf. Come on everybody knows that. Bandobras Took invented it when he slew the goblin king and went 100 yards into a rabbit hole
I read theory which says that English soldiers from Hundred year war use OK for 0 killed in battle.
God these drive me nuts!
These are 'just so' stories
It’s never an acronym
You could say this is Folked-Up! ;-)
I'll get me coat...
My least favorite is "etc" stands for end of thinking capacity. It bothers me more than I can reason
words
I always heard that NEWS was an acronym for North East West South.
Is the etymology of pumpernickel true? That Napoleon's horse, Nicol, got bread while the soldiers only gruel. They'd say, "pain pour Nicol".
Of course not. There is, for a start, no French name Nicol. It’s Nicolas, like the president.
One that my dad would come up with is that Portuguese seemingly influenced Japanese when it came to say "thanks/thank you". I don't remember the setting of the story, probably war, but he'd say that they didn't have a word for saying thanks in Japanese yet (arigatō) so they have "borrowed" it from the portuguese word "obrigado" (possibly the brazilian pronunciation, to be specific), becoming "obirigatō", then shortened to "arigatō". I actually believed that for some time...
His version of the "OK" origin was also war-related and that... some soldier wrote on the dirt "0 K." meaning "zero killed" as a message to another soldier... very silly
That's actually funny to hear, because the English "thank you" has been borrowed into the Japanese language as a more casual way of expressing thanks (サンキュー "sankyuu")