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Jeremy Butterfield Editorial

Jeremy Butterfield Editorial

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Category: Folk etymology

Posted on June 30, 2020September 28, 2020

Fizzogs and visages. Folk etymology (2)

Fizzog and its other spellings (phisog, physog, phyzog in the OED, phizzog, not), as you probably already know, mean “face” or “facial expression.” The question…

Continue reading → Fizzogs and visages. Folk etymology (2)

Posted on June 17, 2020September 29, 2020

Cabin fever. What is it? And what kind of cabin?

During lockdown, people chatting on social media about how they were feeling often mentioned cabin fever.  Google Trends registers numbers of lookups on Google of…

Continue reading → Cabin fever. What is it? And what kind of cabin?

Posted on June 10, 2020September 29, 2020

Round robins and folk etymology

  5-minute read You know the drill. Come the season-to-be-jolly- (Fa, la, la … repeat ad nauseam) you are sure to receive a missive –…

Continue reading → Round robins and folk etymology

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