GTW Game IX Answer
Here you go.. of course you all figured it out in about a minute!!! 
Also.. be sure to check out my live blogging from the PopSugar/TechCrunch event this Thursday.
Author: HotForWords
There are 155,508 comments on this site!
Recent Comments
- The Filmography listing at imdb needs up...
- Since the cat's out of the bag with your...
- aw those toes and soles are ok. i think ...
- You know, as a sole proprietor I once lo...
- WOW once again dear teacher you have out...
Forum
Greatest Potential on test (143)
Capman911 on What is up with the F word?? (214)
star magic on tales of horror (17)
mmmmm…..quince…..
Yes, i’ve tried! Many times, and quince jam also
This was a fun exercise. I did not know Mary, Queen of Scots (The Clan! Aye!!) was French.
random lesson—quince so, old song jelly jungle of orange marmalade
leonard, my froggy friend, why do u keep jumping around>>> stand still so i can feed u to the tadpoles.
tadpoles are baby frogs and rosiecheeks, you think I stop jumping around?…maybe
i love the game hot to see more of them. learning so much…. maybe more then i can retain. glad there all there to go back and look at. bye
Rain check… can you cash it?
Heya Marina!
Id like to request a word that has intrested me for many years now, And wherever I look it up I seem to get different answers.
Its the word “Phantasmagoria”.
Looking forward to your next lesson!
Big fan and subscriber
-Depression666
Hello my dear teacher;
Would you kindly give me the origin, history and the meaning of the word “edit”.
Your faithful HotForYou student.
Goodbye! XXX
Marina…
Why does the english language add unheard letters to words.
Examples would be:
1. Phrases
there isn’t an “F”.
2. Opossum.
i don’t hear an “O”
3. Gnome
to me, it looks like G-Nome
^_^ ChrisCoe
hey marina,
its burgundy
now i do have a saying and wondered where did it come from
PUSH THE ENVELOPE
i mean we all no what it means but where does it come from?????
answer and i will be forever in debt for hotforwords
thanks!!!
how come we say its the 21st century when its the 20th century
Hey Marina,
great website
I was wondering where ’spider’ came from. Was there a verb ‘to spid/ to spide’ is it related to German ‘die Spinner’?
Liz xx
word request:
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS
Another one “Suck it”
What does the term 86 mean
I want to know about the word Bard. I know what it means, and I’ve considered myself to be of Bardlike spirit for some time now. But from what I understand, it’s an old word, and I’d very much like to know it’s origin. Thanks in advance, oh lovely Marina.
Marina,
What a great job your doing, I have learned so much, Thank You. I do have a phrase that I hear but do not know of its origin and would like HotforWords to investigate. To go some place in a hurry, you would make a beeline for it. I don’t think that bees fly in a stright line?
AirBorne
Marina,
I have been searching and searching for a great word/term request, and I found one while sitting in class that my professor used.
What is the history of the phrase “shake a stick at”?
The word “Nous”?
hi,please i’d like to know the origin of the word “abs”
thanks
Can you tell me why the number 13 is considered superstitious.
Hey i was wondering where the word cadet came from. A cadet is someone under 18 that joins a group of a particular armed force. Thanks
Dear teacher
Now that you have me thinking about food, I’m curious as to the origins of the word “cakewalk”? If someone calls something a cakewalk, why does that mean that it’s an easy accomplishment?
Please help me out, Marina
WORD ORIGIN REQUEST:-
I was wondering if you could investigate the word JAM (as in fruit preserve) and why it is JAM in the UK, but JELLY in the US?
In the UK Jelly is Flavoured Gelatine or Jello and used in puddings like Triffle, Mmmmm..
A WOBBLY one to be sure
what is the root word for kinetic or the meaning!
Mariana,
I am looking for the possible word origin of “bourgeoisie”. I know that it is french. The two meanings I get is: it represents the middle class, or the capitalist class. If you could help me out, I would really appreciate it.
Your new student,
Joseph
Hi Marina,
Can you look at the word: happenstance?
Thanks!
How does one add their picture to their account???
It’s called a gravatar, Marina has a link here on the site in the help section that you go to & sign up & your pic is used wherever you comment, that supports the gravatar thing.
http://en.gravatar.com/ is the link
Just going to try a little experiment tag thing, sorry to make you the guinee pig. Nothing personal.
get your picture here
Lets try that, thank aLx if it works.
nlsmafia2008, I talk about it in my help section.. just upload a picture with the same email account you signed up with on this website and the little picture will show on this site as well as other sites with a similar system.
http://www.hotforwords.com/help
Marina,
You covered cute but there are expressions in English using the word cute such as “cute as a button” or “cute as a bug’s ear”. What is cute about a button and do bugs have ears anyway? I cannot find the origin of these phrases and would like to know where they came from.
DavidO
i was just thinking about the word undulate i know what it means but i looked and there is no “dulate” only “undulate” its a weird word in my opinion and wanted to know were it came from becuase i use it a lot in different areas.
HOW TO MAKE LOVE
Ingredients:
4 Laughing eyes
4 Well-shaped legs
4 Loving arms
2 Firm milk containers
2 Nuts
1 Fur-lined mixing bowl
1 Firm banana
Directions:
1. Look into laughing eyes.
2. Spread well-shaped legs with loving arms.
3. Squeeze and massage milk containers very gently.
4 Gently add firm banana to mixing bowl, working in and out until
well creamed. For best results. Continue to knead milk containers.
5. As heat rises, plunge banana deep into mixing bowl and cover
with nuts, leave to soak (preferably NOT overnight).
6. The cake is done when banana is soft. If banana does not soften,
repeat 4 steps 3-5 or change mixing bowls.
Notes:
1. If you are in an unfamiliar kitchen, wash utensils carefully
before and after use.
2. Do not lick mixing bowl after use.
3. If cake rises, leave town.
ENJOY and have a great day KISSES
enjoy my sweet teacher
KISSES
i would like to know how the word sneakers became used for walking shoes. it would be much appreciated
Hi Marina!
I request “glimpse”. I’m not a native english speaker, and i believe it is a very beautiful word.
Thanks. Ciaociao..
hello, ms. hotforwords~
so, i want to ask for two words which are:
confident + confidential
they seem to originate from the same root, but how come they have totally different meanings?
hope u can choose these two words for the upcoming video.
and thanks for making all the videos, they are really good~
hotforwords
I was wondering were the expression “hits the spot” comes from. that would make an interesting video. By the way your videos have been better than ever now and they just keep getting better, keep it up i love it. thanks
Will
Hey Teach! As i was ending a post on your youtube site, I ended my answer with “Ma’am to be polite. So why you we call respectable people “Sir”, “Ma’am”, “Mr”, or Mrs.”?
Check previous lessons for Mr or Mrs
As for Sir /ma’am thats just a polite greeting
You would definately call a Gorilla with a machine gun, Sir !!!
where di the expression “open sesame” come from
and how did it gets its translation
whatd going on here
hello, I’m Your student from poland
i just use the pen and think hmm
can You investigate of word “PEN”??
i use my own oxfrod wordpower and i find
:
pen – is: an instrument that you use for writing in ink.
or
pen – is: s small piece of ground with a fence around it that is used for keeping animals in.
so is interesting how that “item” what we use to writing can be a some place for animals
Maxima enim patientia virtus ^^
so I will w8 for respond from YOu ;]
Your faithfully
Where does the word ~amo~ come from? And what does it mean? Not amor or amorous, just amo.
cheerio blondie
Marina
Could you look up the word Cavitation?
Thank You
MARIN MY MAIDEN,COULD YOU TELL,
THE ORIGIN OF LADYBIRD PLEASE.
TIMBOB
I would like to know how the word “curse” became to refer to vulgar words such as fuck.
necking
O.k. – when? Where?
Hi
I have a word for you: Ska
Ska is jamaican dance-musik and very compatible with punk-rock.
But, where does the word come from?
Ska
Hey Marina!
I am curious about the word ‘Please’. This is most commonly used when you want to ask nicely for something. So ‘Pleasing’ someone is just being nice? And what about ‘Pleasent’? Why do we say these things? Doesnt the word originate from the word ‘Plea’? Where does it all come from?
Hey Marina,
Quince!!!!! tut! of course……doh!
Great commercial video too. You could sell anything, so sell more products!! ::)
Serendipity!! Have a new ( I think ) word to look into. SAPIOSEXUAL…. may have made it up as could not find in dictionary. My logic thinking it could relate to someone who ls hot for wisdom, possibly…i dunno, cool word tho
Be well
To the loveliest teacher of all time, I really need to know about the word pair. Because it is a pluralized word in and of itself wouldn’t more than one pair be the same? As in two pair, ten pair, 100 pair? Instead of 100 “pairs”? And if you have to pluralize a pluralized word, why?
I think the two objects described by the word pairs describe those objects as one single unit.
So if you had multiple pairs of units, you would need to say pairs.
You may be better off giving him some simple Freudian advice… pair? What pair can we see in Marina’s lovely video? Clue: he has the word “boob” in his name… if he’s not asking about pairs for this reason intentionally, then we’ve just entered a strange new world of comedy psychoanalysis… this website is a case study…
I would but I’m not some kind of pervert.
Miss Marina
All my kids are talking with your accent!
You are doing a great job teacher,
Is “persnickity” even a word??
The word extraordinary is a word, I would like you to investigate.
It means something special, but ordinary means normal, dull, not-special, so if you just put extra- in front of it, wouldn’t it be extra normal??
Word Request: Actually more of a phrase. The phase is “To beat a dead horse” and often includes “And get the last stink out of it”.
Where and how, not to mention when, did this phase come into existence.
BRITISH IRONY WARNING: If confused, please refer to “Monty Python’s Quick Guide to Irony for Beginners” (1976) – $2.99, 8,678 pages – Amazon rating: 22,786,983…
Bad news, fellas… it seems Marina is very much in love with the talented comic actor Pauly Shore…
One crumb of comfort, however, this link dates from 2007, so it may no longer be the case… I thought she was saving herself for me!
presumined, it’s cute that you keep posting this.. but please don’t. I don’t know who Pauly Shore is. I was leaving a restaurant waiting for my car when they filmed that and I guess this Pauly guy told them to film me instead of him.. and I didn’t even know him… I didn’t even know what was going on.
So, don’t worry. I don’t know the guy and that was the extent of my meeting him.. while waiting for my car outside of a restaurant!
да… of course, I shall not post it again… and I have to confess, I was being a bit naughty
…trying to get responses from the other guys… it is very cool of you set the record straight in such a reasonable manner (the guys on here worship you to such an extent, you could be extremely mean to them and still they would come back! But it seems you don’t care to… 
) …please also see my reply to you on the “Understand” thread…
A little more groveliing is in order, I’m trying told hold back the mob outside your door. What really erks me is that I had to take a break from a little welding job, been working on an iron maiden for you,
Now behave
The real tragedy here (and again, irony) is that despite your infantile analogy – metaphorical though it is – it is unlikely you’ll ever meet anyone who has posted on this website. In fact, based on what you have just written, it appears to be unlikely you’ll ever leave your parents’ basement.
You have absolutely no right to tell me to “behave”. You’re just some guy. I never cease to be amazed that emotional retards like you believe that simply because you discovered this site a certain period of time before I did, you are allowed to become proprietorial and able to issue commands.
Oh, perhaps you are Marina’s husband? Perhaps you are her gallant lover? Her noble brother even? Or maybe you are just a sad little man masturbating in front of a computer screen.
Your shortcomings shall find you out however long you spend typing inane drivel into your keyboard. You are simply inadequate and always shall be.
Consider this: even if you were somehow to unite all those who post on this website against me, what difference would it make to my life? Absolutely none at all. (I shall never respond to you again.)
First of all you said you wanted to get a responses from the other guys. Take the “in” out of your tag name & I wouldn’t have to say anything else. I actually did what you seemed to be after, just to see your response.
Am I that offensive… don’t mean to be. Is it a tradgedy? or even an irony? My analogy might have been infantile , but I was really, in reality out of my parents basement, Welding racks & no not for you. My father is dead My mom has a teacher living in her basement & 2 of my three kids have moved out of my basement.
As far as my right to tell you to behave, again you gave that right by saying “I was being a bit naughty …trying to get responses from the other guys… ” cut that right out of your response to “Marina”
I’ve told Buzzword to behave, I had no right, and he’s an asshoole, (Spelled wrong on purpose) an honest one & I respect him.
Again hitting the personal stuff in your one paragraph weakens your point… Just checked sorry it was three paragraphs.
Since you promised to never respond to me again (sounds like something my wife said awhile ago) I’d like to see you post at this website but please remember we are invited guests here, not paying members. So if we can cut the ranting, be respectful to Marina & “be quiet in the back”…
Was looking for the primate discussion & got distracted. So this fits there as an alternate to the descended from primate thing. Descende from the lions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CAWNnMxQd4
BillyB,
live your life so you can look any man in the eye and tell them to go to hell. Your dead on, I can be an utter asshole. I appreciate you calling me out on it. This is a public dialogue and the same cultural forces that shape social behavior on the street are functioning here as well. You have every right to speak your mind. Call me an asshole and tell me to got to hell, I won’t whine about it, I’ll likely respect you more, throw a few your way perhaps. Live and learn, roll with the punches and all that bullshit. As for my actions, when you flip your hood down and everything goes black, you strike the rod to the metal and in the glare of that spark you guide liquid steel almost blind, with skill and faith that when your bead is done you’ve made something stronger, I try to do the same. Words and welding.
Marina, great gig! I love to see self starters succeed! I have a phrase for you that I think you will like to investigate:
“God Bless You”
I would like the maximum research possible on this phrase to see if it is still appropriate to use in this scientific era.
Also, I would LOVE for YOU (& your audience) to check out the NEW trailer for my independent movie “the PARALYZING AGENT” that hopefully, will be accepted into a film festival soon. I would really like for you to comment and let me know what YOU think. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swc6CZawQ7k
Also, I have just finished writing a screenplay for a movie that I think you might enjoy. On top of that, if you are interested, I have a character in the film that you may enjoy playing. Have considered doing more acting? I think you are a natural!
Please e-mail me if you are interested and let me know what you think of our movie, “the PARALYZING AGENT.”
g
mail@paralyzing.net
http://www.paralyzing.net
I’m starving,,,,, must find apples,,,,must find apples,,,,,or maybe a quince.
I have wondered the etymology of the idiom “lucked out.” Could you shed some light on this?
RJ
****HOMEWORK: Freeze the Balls off a Brass Monkey****
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem…how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a ‘Monkey’ with 16 round indentations.
However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make ‘Brass Monkeys.’ Few land lubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, ‘Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.
Apparently, that is a myth: http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp
hey maria….its xa4ek here. You’re doin a great job!
Well i wanted to know the origin of this really long word..here it is:
“hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia”…..the meaning of this word is “fear of long words”…and i only the origin of the last part…”phobia” which means “fear”…..So i would really appreciate it if you tell me how the word originated. thanks a lot i esho ti atkuda is rossii ya toje iz cccp ya iz azerbajana i esho pomagi mne ob`esnit` zna4eniya slova “xa4ek” spasiba
hippopoto is a changed form of hippopotamus. I have no idea why that was put there.
monstro means monster
sesquipedalio comes from sesquipedalian, naturally
The word is fine as just “sesquipedalophobia”
but apparently people felt the need to add hippos and monsters in
hey, how about the word “KYBOSH” ???? Where did this originate?
Hello Marina! How are you today?
I thought of a phrase I was curious to know the origin of:
“Skeletons in the Closet”
Thank you, Marina! Have a great day!
Quince Marmalade mmmm… I’ve got a quince plant to the left of my front door, beautiful Little flowers & ugly little fruity looking things that up ’till now, had no Idea what to do with, besides have little quice ball fights with. Although I’m in Canada , it rarely snows where I live, so snowball fights are a rare treat as well. Anyways I’ve had a 20 year battle with the Quince plant, cutting it back constantly to maintain access to the front door of the house, It seems to think that no one should ever cross our threshold so it keeps sproating out tenticle like branches to thwart the comings & goings to our domicile.
Thanks Marina for another great Lesson, 2 part. I have ideas now for the annoying Quince. As I looked at it today, it seemed to sence that I had designs on making it useful, My wife loves Marmalade, so the mighty quince may score me some brownie points yet.
.http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/bljelly33.htm for the recipe collectors, my wife is one.
Another interesting use for the Quince, a dress?
http://www.danheller.com/images/LatinAmerica/Cuba/People/QuinceAnos/quince-anos-dress-1-big.jpg
Oops Recipe Link
http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/bljelly33.htm
Drunk typing lmaom with two fingers, even.
Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! Oh please pick meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Ummmmmm uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhc couls you please give a the definition, and origin of a recently coined word, McJob?
What is Tarnation? A native American tribe?
Marina,
What is the original of the word lollipop?
Love the show… keep it coming!
yelvis
Sadly, I am allergic to apples
.
Anyway, I was wondering where a few phrases come from.
Three that instantly come to mind are:
Quite the pickle (How did a pickle come to be associated with a problem?)
Catch 22
and
Cut the Mustard (Mustard isn’t even solid, it’s like a paste, so this totally confuses me…)
The fear of, (Phobia) & it’s been a theme here before, Pickles can be a problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSCotdOh5WY
The second clip is nearly unwatchable, so cut the mustard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfLcauJfbOg
Somebody’s got to help me with this HTML tag thingy I’m afraid of messin up. I guess thats a phobia too.
“Catch-22″. Great Book. Ok Movie.
On Flying Combat Missions or rather trying to avoid it…In the book, this is explained thus:
Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach. “Is Orr crazy?”
“He sure is,” Doc Daneeka said.
“Can you ground him?”
“I sure can. But first he has to ask me to. That’s part of the rule.”
“Then why doesn’t he ask you to?”
“Because he’s crazy,” Doc Daneeka said. “He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he’s had. Sure, I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to.”
“That’s all he has to do to be grounded?”
“That’s all. Let him ask me.”
“And then you can ground him?” Yossarian asked.
“No. Then I can’t ground him.”
“You mean there’s a catch?”
“Sure there’s a catch,” Doc Daneeka replied. “Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy.”
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
“That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he observed.
“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.
The phrase is now often misapplied to any problematic or unwelcome situation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzcDi9Cw3zo
I know I’d rather see marina do the these too, so can someone get her a chair.
just go to another site that uses html, not hard, and post until you get it right, over and over again, until they start bitching at you for being a pain in the ass. i should do a site for html practice posts. call it htmhell.
billy,
<a href="http://www.thesitelink.com">text you want to appear in your post</a>
I don’t really know why you posted those links to the people with the phobias… An attempt at humour perhaps? In any case, phobia’s aren’t funny, they’re sad and debilitating. I myself have severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to the point where I developed agoraphobia (fear of leaving a safe place/fear of public places/crowded places/open spaces) and I don’t go outside, so I don’t think any phobia, no matter how weird it is, is ever funny.
xmorpheus3000
I feel sorry for your plight. But, everything has some serious angle as well as a humorous angle. Depending upon the perspective. I don’t believe anyone is arguing that phobias are not horrible. The sad fact that you cannot imagine any aspect of a phobia as potentially humorous is an indication of the debilitating nature of your fears. I hope that you can find relief or recover from this torment you endure. Being able to laugh about a certain subject may only indicate the time or distance one has from the subject. I honestly hope that you may enjoy that same distance and time from your suffering and perhaps smile a little, it often indicates healing.
Thanks for the reply, I sometimes wonder if anybody reads what I write. I never intended to offend, so my apolgies. Peception is a strange thing, I know that when something is written, 10 different readers will probably end up with 5 different “takes” on what is written. The phobia thing was carried on by some other “Students” a bit ago & I just carried it on too far, perhaps. Anyways I’m not a doctor or anything so I’m not going to tell you to confront your disorder or anything like the TV show stuff, just want to say I hope you get appropriate help, as I hope to, for my many disorders. My wife is trying to balance her need for meds. with her ability to deal with the stress of living with me for 25+ years.
dude, stay strong, marriage and family can be so beautifully gratifying and tormenting. I wish you both strength.
I have a word I would like to know the history of. the word is Apathy. I am new with this website and I would just like thou to know Marina, I love you and your videos. Keep it coming.
love
TheDragon
hey mis marina i have a question…
im a latin informatic, and we use the word bit, to said a quantity on the computer…
but there are the expretion “we’ll be back in a bit”, and i have a question what’s the real meaning of de word “bit”
bye bye
Diego…
Hey Marina,
I’ve always been curious about the origin of the english word ‘gore’. I study Sanskrit a bit, its an ancient Indian liturgical language. There is a word in Sanskrit ‘ghora’ which means, loosely, ‘non-frightening’. In Sanskrit ‘a’ usually means not. So I wonder if our english word ‘gore’ could be related to ‘ghora’ or ‘ghor’. What do you think? Would it be strange for English to have roots in an Indian language? Isn’t English mostly composed of the European romance languages?
Thanks for your attention!
David
Hey Marina!
I’d like to request the origin of the word: Boxing.
My guess is that it’s because two guys fight in this little square canvas that is shaped like a box. But I wouldn’t be too sure hahaha.
hey marina, i’d like to request the knowledge of the origin of the word: misanthropist.
I know it means a person who could be described as a recluse, deliberatley shying away from social interaction, but the origin remains a mystery.
JBx
the word I would like to know about is homework how was it made up when did it start
Could you find out about “chock full” ??
Hey HotForWords!
what is up with “vest” when in reference to clothes?
A VEST is an article of clothing,
VESTido means dress in spanish,
and a transVESTite is someone who wears the clothes of the opposite sex.
word request: tomfoolery
What is the origin of the word “restroom”?
I’ve searched and cannot find when it started to be commonly used but haven’t had much luck.
Josh
(www.youtube.com/silvermoonrays)
how come people say something is a “piece of cake” when its easy? what does a dessert have to do with something being easy???
Hello Marina,
I am currently writing a research paper for my women’s studies class about the history of dominatrices. I was wondering if you could help me out by informing me of the origin of the word ‘dominatrix.’ Thanks!
Sincerely,
Nina
Hey HotForWords,
I just wanted to know the meaning and origin of the phrase “Cloud 9.”
Thanks for the awesome lessons,
SteveWesthead
Theres that number nine again, I second that suggestion professor.
- suleiman
One of my favorite words is “voluptuous.”
You should so do that one.
& Thanks for the lessons, they’re awesome!
HI MARINA,
I HAVE A REQUEST. I WANT TO KNOW SINCE WHEN THE PHRASE “OH MY GOD” IT’S BEEN USED. AND WHAT RELIGION OR CULTURE FIRST USE THIS PHRASE TO DESCRIBE THAT SOMETHING IS OR WAS IMPRESSIVE, AND WHATEVER ELSE IT’S USED FOR.
THANK YOU MARINA.
First recorded use was at Christ’s crucifixion.
They had strict linguists in those times too.
Ever the contrarian…. let me point out that Ezra coined the phrase “O my God” in his book Ezra, chapter 9, verse 6. He was upset about the detestable practices of the foreigners, and the Israelites intermarriages with those foreigners. Jesus must have been quoting Ezra.
Here’s a relatively simple, but interesting (in my opinion) word: trivia.
I mean, trivia is a word so commonly used to refer to those general cultural information bits, but it’s not a usual and very English-sounding phonetic sound, is it? Trivia… Well, I don’t know, maybe it’s just me being weird, but I think it’s an interesting word that could be looked into.
All in all, Marina, you’re doing a great job and keep up the good work.
And yes, apples are my favorite fruit too. 
Word Request: Trivia
I have a word request:
Where does the word “bonanza” come from?
Thank you!
Hello Marina,
I just joined your website and thought of a word/phrase that doesn’t appear on your list:
I read somewhere that the phrase came from a drinking game played in the 1700’s, but that’s about all I know. I’m not even sure what would be the correct spelling; I’ve seen everything from “hijinx” to “hi-jinks” to “high jinx” used.
What was the name of the game? Where did it originate? How was it played? Has the meaning of “high jinks” changed much since it’s creation?
Thank you for your consideration,
Giuseppe
Hello Marina.
I would like to know why the insect “Earwig” is called that. That name seems totally unrelated to the bug.
hey marina, i was wondering where the origin of the word “pneumatic” came from. I also would like to know why it is spelled with a silent “p”
Hello Marina! How are you today?
I have a word request. My word is “parallax.” Thank you for investigating!
you recently explained the origin of the ‘&’ symbol… what about the ‘Rx’ used to abbreviate prescriptions?
It’s the Greek shorthand for “Up rope!”
Okay, just kidding. Keep your chalk dry.
Marina, my dear, I have a word/phrase request: why would anyone say, “Pretty please …, with sugar on top.”?
tongue in cheek if u may seek..my request;))
i actually chose this one because it’s a very commnly used expression, not just a word, and it’s kind of intriguing as well. thank you and i hope to find myself one day with an answer from you marina because it would be much more interesting to watch you explain it:cool:
Ran across this word -
“Penwoman” – meaning a female writer or an “authoress.”
Strange word. The word “penman” means someone who writes, or someone that is gifted in penmanship. Did we once have penmanship and penwomanship? Odd.
I’ve never heard writers called “penman” and “penwomen.”
In the 1970s, and early 80s it was still accepted usage to have different words for male and female professions: policeman, police woman, etc. In just the last 25 years, it has gone from accepted usage, to completely unacceptable to use such gender-biased words. Interesting.
Marina – maybe this is something you can do a video or a talk on – i.e. the transition from different words applying to men and women to a more androgynous language.
Hi Marina. Once again I like how you look with pigtails. I may have already requested this, but could you do the word zombie please?
It came from the West Indian word “Jumbie” meaning ghost.
It may also be a Kongo word nzambi meaning “spirit of a dead person
It may also be Creole zonbi which is a person who has died and brought back to life without speech or free will
This is the etymology in Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
It may also be Kimbundu work nzumbe which also means ghost.
actually nevermind.. that’s a bad word idea..
Hello Marina.
I suggest the word “kidnap” or “kidnapped” to me explored.
-Jake the Drummer
I request PENULTIMATE!
Thanks Marina!
Good one.
Penult
Penultima
Penultimate
These all seem to be synonyms…. hmmm…
Hey marina, as a new member of you’re channel, I’d just like to say you’re great. Also, I’d like to know where the unit of measure miles came form, thanks!
Is that miles runneth, or miles standish?
how about the word “goober” I’m kind of guessing one meaning of the word derived from “lugubrious” but I’m curious as to how it came to be a slang insult.
Marina: word request for “halogen” as in the type of bulb used for lighting
Halogen came from the Greek “hals” which means salt. “Gen” means forming. A scientist working with halogens discovered they formed salt in reactions. Hence “halogen”
Marina,
Since the Olimpic torch is coming to San Francisco this day, and there is so much rancor about, what is the origin of the word rights?
Thanks again for such great work. Your show are one of the highlights of my day. Nice class.
+5 for you.
You recently did a lesson on “dressed to the nines”. That made me wonder where the term “dressed to kill” comes from. It’s seems an odd way of telling someone they look good. Keep up the great lessons!
it must have something to do with the femme fatale term, lol
…might have something to do with the idiom “knock ‘em dead.”
Michael Caine can give you a few pointers. Just be sure to stay off the elevators!
you said i could suggest a game, so how about some sort of scrabble? i don’t know… maybe you could show us the board and the letters and ask for word suggestions… and whoever suggests the most valuable word wins! or something like that… i know that i, at least, would be interested… it’s because i love solving anagrams! and, of course, i love scrabble! \o/
bye!
or boggle! it’s cool too!
I’ve been enjoying a late development called Super-Scrabble. You get to use 2 whole sets of letters, and the board is much bigger, with quadruple word and letter scores available in the outer quadrants. Really cool, but it can take days to play it if you don’t set a time limit. There’s just so many more word choices to make once it gets well underway…
I’ve enjoyed using as many creative ways to use socially unacceptable words and piss people off. Trying for the shortest time it takes somebody to beat the shit out of me. It’s like a combination of spoken word, vocabulary test and fight club.
Marina
Once again great guess the word game and you look drop-dead gorgeous as usual.
Where did the term “drop-dead” come from? Such a nasty words can compliment someone in a beautiful way.
I had a suggestion for games. Crosswords and Fill-ins. I think it would be appropriate due to your profession
I would like to know the origin of Bat, in how it is known as an animal and a sporting equipment.
Thanks.
If Eve were like you, is it any wonder that Adam took a bite of that apple??? lol…..
Great video (as always….)
-ERF
If Eve looked liked Marina, it wouldn’t be an apple he’d want to taste…it would be those luscious lips.
You can tell from my gravatar that I am an atheist (my gravatar is one of the newer symbols of atheism going around now). However, if there was any evidence for God that I’ve seen lately, it is Marina. She surely is divinely inspired.
…hope you don’t mind me saying so, Marina….
I wondered what that was, and thought maybe it was a stylized compass. As for those luscious lips, were you thinking of lip-o-suction?
Hey man I’m an atheist too, but if ever there was an argument for inteligent design, I’m pretty sure it’s our teacher
Thought this might interest you atheist guys. Into my arms Nick Cave is awesome. If you like it, try Nick Cave & PJ Harvey doing Henry Lee
I used to be an atheist, once – but I’ve since admitted that I cannot prove that there is no God. So I’m an agnost, now.
Man, lots of atheists (and agnostics) here. As for me, I believe that Jesus saves me. I wonder what Marina believes.
there is also apatheism.
Nighteye – I can’t prove there is no Zeus, or no invisible/undetectable giant fruit bat circling the globe watching everything we do, but I see no reason to believe in them. One way to look at it is that everyone is anl atheist when it comes to every religion that ever was, with the exception of the one they believe in – all Christians/Muslims/Jews etc. deny Zeus, Odin, Hindu pantheon, Jupiter, American Indian gods and goddesses, etc. etc. etc – true atheists deny all those same gods….and just go one god further!
hotforhfw – Muslims believe just as strongly that he doesn’t, and that you are committing a grave sin by believing that about Jesus. Yet, you lose no sleep over your non-belief in Muslim dogma. That is precisely why I lose no sleep over not believing yours.
Two things that no one can ever agree on: Politics and Religion.
eseverson – yep, you are correct. Clarification – I was just explaining my position – not expecting (or caring) if anyone agrees or disagrees. Everyone is entitled to their opinion or belief.
I’m an atheist too, thank God!
Actually, I follow the Buddhist path…
prospero811, I thought your gravitar was the Star Trek logo… and that’s not meant to be a disparaging comment…
…hey, maybe you’re being ironic now? 
Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
Prospero, atheism is a belief, too – believing there is no god takes just as much faith as believing that there is a god. Being an agnostic doesn’t involve believing in any god – it’s just admitting that you do not know whether or not any deity exists – and most agnostics do not care, either.
Nighteye – atheism can be viewed in a couple of different ways. First, it can be viewed as not being a belief at all, since it is simply a recognition that there is no reason to believe in God. I.e. it takes no faith to believe that Zeus does not exist, there is simply no reason to believe that he exists.
Or, it can be viewed as the affirmative belief that there is no God. However, that too is not a faith-based view. That is a “reason” based view. It’s a conclusion that there is no “reason” to be believe in God and that the evidence demonstrates the extreme unlikelihood that there is a God (Zeus, Odin, God, Allah, whatever).
Agnosticism is sort of like atheism, except that an agnostic acknowledges merely doubt, rather than lack of belief.
Great quote by one of the best writers ever, Douglas Adams: “Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
Ponder that for a while.
No, the only reason-based view is agnosticism. When there is no evidence in favour of or against something, the reasonable conclusion would be that the matter is inconclusive, that you do not know, that both are possible.
The assumption that something does not exist until proven contrary is not reason, but a belief.
Consides 2 hypotheses:
1. There is a God
2. There is no God
Atheism rejects hypothesis 1, but accepts hypothesis 2 – without evidence.
Agnosticism rejects both hypotheses, since both lack evidence.
Nighteye – I must disagree with your implication that “there is no evidence in favour or against” the proposition that there is no God. First, there is no evidence in favor of there being a God, that is true. There is certainly plenty of faith in God (faith being belief without reason or proof).
Second, the proposition that “there is a God” requires evidence before it is to be believed. If there is no evidence, then it is not to be believed. Thus it is not an affirmative assertion to say “there is no God.” To say, there is no God is the same as saying “there is no evidence for the existence of God.”
Expanding on that point – there is no evidence that there is an invisible/undetectable spaceship floating above the Earth watching everything we do and everything we say. So, it is rational to conclude that since there is no evidence of that spaceship that the spaceship does not exist. Right?
If, however, we apply your logic, we would be forced to be agnostic about the spaceship. Because I cannot present evidence to show “there is not an invisible/undetectable spaceship floating above the Earth.” Right?
Stated another way:
Consider 2 hypotheses:
1. There is an invisible/undetectable spaceship.
2. There is no invisible/undetectable spaceship.
A-spaceship-ism rejects hypothesis 1, but accepts hypothesis 2. Agnospaceshipism rejects both hypotheses, since both lack evidence.
Clearly, the rational conclusion here is that there is no invisible/undetectable spaceship, right? We are not rational by concluding that either option is just as likely. Right?
The same goes for the God Osiris, right?
1. There is Osiris.
2. There is no Osiris.
Are we forced to be agnostic about Osiris? Or can we not conclude, based on lack of evidence for the AFFIRMATIVE proposition that “there is Osiris” that Osiris does not exist?
And in conclusion – unicorns? Are you agnostic on the existence of unicorns? If not, why not?
nighteye – I’m not sure how well read you are in this area – but for a good summary of the CLASSIC literature on the subject from Lucretius and Democritus all the way up through Mark Twain, Emma Goldman, Spinoza, Paine, Ibn Warraq (whose writings refuting Islam are fantastic), and even some blurbs from Dennett, Harris and Dawkins, all in one volume, see a book called “The Portable Atheist.”
I don’t mean to imply that you have not read up on the subject. Merely throwing out a recommendation – and the various writers collected in that compilation address precisely your question, including many others including complexity, perfection, and other arguments from/for design.
I also highly recommend the books “Letter to a Christian Nation,” by Harris, “God is Not Great” by Hitchens, “The God Delusion” by Dawkins, “End of Faith” by Harris, and “Age of Unreason” by Susan Jacoby.
Anyway cheers to all. It’s all good.
To say, “there is no God” is not the same as saying “there is no evidence for the existence of God.” To say “there is no God” is a definite statement, while to say “there is no evidence for the existence of God.” is an indefinite statement.
Also, you mix up evidence with probability. To acknowledge that you do not know for certain whether or not something exists, doesn’t necessarily mean a 50% chance of it existing, as you imply.
There is no evidence that there is an invisible/undetectable spaceship floating above the Earth watching everything we do and everything we say. So, it is rational to conclude that since there is no evidence that the spaceship exists, we cannot claim with any certainty that the spaceship exists. However, since there is no evidence that the spaceship does not exist, neither can we claim with any certainty that the spaceship does not exist. However, given that there is no evidence of it’s existence, that also means that if it does exist, it has no measurable effect – so, it is reasonable to conclude that, while the spaceship may or may not exist, it does not matter.
God is no different – and that is agnosticism.
I’ve read a few of your examples, though far from all of them. From my side, I recommend Nietzsche’s work “Thus spake Zarathustra”.
So do you guys believe that we are nothing more than a product of a bunch of random, chaotic interactions governed by the laws of physics? If so, then why does it seem that we have the ability to make choices? Choices (essentially nondeterminism) can’t exist if this world is governed by no more than physics, evolution, etc., which are all deterministic. The fact (or illusion if it is not a fact) that we exhibit the ability to choose is one of the things that makes me believe in God.
The ability to choose only requires life, possibly spirit – not necessarily God. It is quite possible to have a metaphysical reality without any supreme being ruling over it all. I would not equate the existence of the metaphysical with the existence of God.
I, myself, choose to believe that I do have a spirit, that enables me to make choices. But I know I could be wrong, so it remains a chosen belief, rather than a certain knowledge. I think it’s wise to distinguish between what you know, and what you choose to believe about that which you do not know. To believe anything should always be a choice, made voluntarily.
Yeah, so my point is that the ability to choose requires that the metaphysical exist. And by metaphysical I really mean something that allows for nondeterminism. This is not just something that I “believe”; it’s something that I’m pretty sure must be true. I agree with you though that it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a god that created all of it. I do choose to believe that though. I guess this is partly because I don’t see how life could have meaning without a Creator. It seems to me like without God life has no meaning, even if the metaphysical does exist. What do you think it is that give life meaning (assuming you don’t think that life is meaningless–I don’t know if it’s even possible to think that and continue living a normal life)?
The metaphysical existence without a god is an interesting and uncommon concept, although buddhism is close. I disagree on freewill, its determinism for me. I’d change my mind but I can’t.
Yeah, metaphysical existence without a god does seem kinda like Buddhism. So do you really not even believe in free will, or were you just being funny? (And don’t say that you were being funny because your determinism made you funny.
There’s no such thing as humor or any emotion for that matter without free will and nondeterminism. Or is there?)
hotforhfw,
What do you mean by “meaning”?
If it is “purpose”, then a biologist would say that the purpose of life is to reproduce its genes. That is why, for example, a male lion will eat another lion’s cubs so that their mother will come into oestrous and he can then mate with her and have her bear his own genes.
If, however, you say that meaning means “a higher purpose” then you are presupposing that there is a higher being to have determined that higher purpose.
Is this a case of observer bias?
Another question that has always puzzled me is, if you need to have a “higher being” in order to explain the “meaning of our lives”, then what about the meaning of the “higher being’s” life? Does that require an even higher being to explain? Is there a whole pantheon of higher beings with their own higher being above them, and if so, how high does the pyramid go?
Does there have to be a purpose? Sometimes you do things simply because they’re fun to do, even if the activities are completely useless in every other way. Not everything needs to have a purpose – that’d be taking life way too seriously.
Just loosen up and have fun living, have fun experiencing life – which may very well be the purpose of life, to experience what it is to live and to have fun doing so. But do so responsibly, so the world will still be a fun place when we reincarnate here again.
nighteye – I fear I am unable to adequately – completely address your last claim in response to mine, which was basically, “However, since there is no evidence that the spaceship (God/fairies/unicorns) does not exist, neither can we claim with any certainty that the spaceship does not exist.”
You can say, with a high degree of certainty, that those things do not exist. While you can always “say” – I can never “disprove” that the universe is held up by the strong arms of Atlas, or rides around on the back of a turtle (and it’s turtles all the way down….), once can certainly show that it is so extremely unlikely as crash through the border of ridiculousness. Science, at its heart, never makes a claim greater than that.
Certainly, if a miraculous, rather than natural, creation of the universe occurred, then it would have to be a violation of the laws of the universe (by definition, that’s what a miracle is). If that’s the case – i.e. if there was a non-natural creation then the cosmological data should either show evidence for one or more violations of well-established laws of nature or the models developed to describe those data would require some causal ingredient that cannot be understood, and be probably not understandable in purely material and natural terms.
Can we find any evidence of any such non-natural processes? Any non-natural events? Any violations of natural laws?
I suggest, strongly, you take a look at Victor Stenger’s “God, the Failed Hypothesis.” It is very clear, through principles of physics (newtonian, Einsteinian, and quantum) that everything has happened…since as far back as the smallest unit of Planck time that all has behaved according to natural laws. All the arguments of creationists concerning conservation of energy and matter, entropy etc., have been left behind nearly 100 years ago. If God created the universe, then he left no imprint whatsoever.
I’ve thought of it in a metaphorical way – picture how the universe looked to mankind 10,000 years ago (the earth was vast, and the universe was small – and governed by Gods everywhere – moon, sun, stars, weather, rocks…all filled with Gods)… over time… these Gods have all been pushed farther and farther away, and consolidated into one God. We now know that there is no thunder-God causing the weather to act up. We now know that hell is not deep underground (ancient greeks, romans, and later Christians/muslims believed that). We now know that the stars are like our sun, and our sun is thousands of times bigger than the earth. We know there are no crystal spheres, and we know heaven is not just high up in the sky…or far out into space.
We know Gods don’t hold the planets in space, or turtles for that matter. What’s reasonable? To say that God keeps hiding on us? Backing away to the farthest recesses of the universe? We’ve been looking under every metaphorical rock, and every new one we pick up we find natural, rational explanations for what’s under there.
Nighteye – by the way Nietzsche was an atheist.
hotforhfw: You said “I guess this is partly because I don’t see how life could have meaning without a Creator.”
There are a few ways to look at this question. First, it’s conceivable that life has no meaning beyond what an individual chooses to imprint upon it. In other words, one person’s meaning in life might be happiness, another hedonism, another altruism, another luxury, another money, another experimentation, or even combinations of those and others. When we look around us, that is what we see in people – one guy is a workaholic, the next guy is a layabout. Why? If the Creator imposes meaning, what meaning does he impose? And why do so many people seem to have such self-chosen meanings in their lives? Does it look like the BTK killer, for example, had a meaning/purpose given to him by a Creator? What about Hitler? The Grand Inquisitor? The head of the Salem Witch Trials? The Grand dragon of the KKK? All their meanings of life are different, and look suspiciously like they made them up as they went along.
Also, think about this for a second – you say life can have no meaning without a Creator. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that is true. So, we have a Creator that gives life meaning. What meaning has he given it? Are you referring to a meaning/purpose that is different for everyone? Are you referring to a purpose/meaning that we know of or one that we have search for and figure out?
If it’s a meaning/purpose that we know of, then what is it? I missed the memo, so to speak. Also, if it’s one to search for, then how is that any different than figuring out meaning/purpose on our own.
All we’re doing when we say that God is necessary for purpose/meaning is creating a fiction that there as known/knowable meaning/purpose in life that the Creator/God has handed down. It allows us to assign to God the purpose/meaning that we have figured out or assumed all on our own. We then get the imprimatur of it being correct, because it was handed down by God.
Ah, but if you understand science so, why call yourself an atheist? There is no absolute certainty in science, only degrees of likelyhood – which are always backed by evidence. Without that evidence, you cannot say how likely something is or not.
Which raises another question: what constitutes evidence of the existence or non-existence of God? Do we even know what evidence to search for? The proof could be right under our noses, known by everyone, but never recognised as proof.
As for the creation of the universe, wouldn’t it be logical that the laws of the universe came into being at the same time as the universe itself? And if the universe was created by God, then maybe the universe itself IS the imprint. It’s all possible, even reasonable when considered under the hypothesis of the existence of a God that created the universe. Logical models of reality can be constructed both with and without the existence of God.
Sure, we can explain everything by reason and we have not recognised any evidence of the existence of God – but we may well have already seen all the evidence we need, if only we knew what constituted evidence.
And consider this: if God exist and is truly the creator of the universe, we’d be like bacteria trying to find evidence of the existence of humans – evidence that can only be found on a scale and level of complexity that we cannot imagine, are not even able to understand. Much as you may not like it, we humans have only a limited capability to understand and there are limitations to our ability to reason. It is possible that any evidence of the existance of God lies outside those bounds hardwired into our being.
prospero811 replied on April 11th, 2008 6:08 am:
Nighteye – by the way Nietzsche was an atheist.
Really? I heard he put the fear of God into many offensive players……
Nighteye – you say “There is no absolute certainty in science,..” – and yes, that’s technically true. But there are still things that are so certain that we accept them as true, like E=mc2, F=MA, and pi=3.14159…..(unless you read the Bible, in which case it is just “3″). Someone might come along and prove relativity wrong, but we don’t call ourselves “agnostarelativists.”
And you say, “The proof [of God, gods, Zeus, Odin, Osiris] could be right under our noses, known by everyone, but never recognised as proof.” Well, if anything can be proof of anything then that just about vitiates the idea of proof, science and reason, which is what religion does. What you’re talking about is at its heart “faith” – i.e. “belief without proof or reason.” Faith is fine. But it’s not proof, and it’s no reason to believe in a theory of the origin of the universe.
“….then maybe the universe itself IS the imprint.” – again – that just says that God must be because we can’t see another way than to subscribe a magical or miraculous origin to the universe than that God did it. It’s no different than saying that the universe itself is the imprint of the Allfather of Norse mythology or the Brahma of Hindu mythology. As Doug Adams put so eloquently, “Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?” That’s what you’re doing. The universe is a beautiful garden, and you are adding a fairy to the bottom of it. Occam’s Razor would eliminate the fairy.
nighteye – Chris Hitchens can argue this much better than I can. Sit back. Crack open a soda or your favorite beverage, and which this fantastic debate between Hitchens and Alistair McGrath. http://fora.tv/2007/10/11/Christopher_Hitchens_Debates_Alister_McGrath
The link is fine – it’s fora.tv – a respected and awesome site.
Of course after I posted, I realized that not all of the people here are from the US and may not be football fans….
Nietzsche (the philosopher) vs. Nitschke (the Green Bay Packer middle linebacker)
Ah, but for relativity we have evidence, observations that prove the likelyhood that those are true – so they can be accepted as truth out of convenience.
It is not the same situation as looking for proof of God – where we do not even know what kind of proof to expect, what kind of proof to look for.
And I’m outlining possibilities, not claiming that anything is proof of anything – just that it’s possible.
As for the garden, there may or may not be a fairy beneath it, it’s beautiful regardless. Occam’s Razor is a simplification, a rule of thumb that cannot be relied upon. At most, you can state that because you know no evidence, it is unlikely that there is a fairy beneath the garden. You cannot claim that there certainly is no fairy beneath the garden, unless you looked beneath the garden with a proven means of detecting fairies.
Anyway, it may be best to end the discussion here, before we start repeating ourselves. I’ll go take a look at that debate – It’s been a nice discussion with you ^_^
Well, one final comment: Christopher Hitchens is an agnost. At around 1:35:00, he acknowledges that it’s possible that God exists – that he really doesn’t know. It’s theists he so vehemently disagrees with, not deists.
Nighteye – believe me – Hitchens is an atheist through and through. He wrote a book called, “God is Not Great: how religion poisons everything,” and put together and edited “The Portable Atheist.” He has called himself an atheist and makes no bones about it. In his book God is Not Great he explains why he is an atheist and not an agnostic.
He doesn’t have as much revulsion for deists, because deism is watered down theism, to the point that it is not recognizable. The God of deism is a “prime mover” who has nothing else whatever to do with the universe, and does not intervene, watch, punish, or condemn. He clearly aims his guns more at theists because their metaphysical claims are so ludicrous.
You said, “Ah, but for relativity we have evidence…” Exactly. For God we don’t. Game. Set. Match.
As for proof of God you repeat; “…where we do not even know what kind of proof to expect…” this is not true. So as not to belabor this argument and get Marina mad at us….I will say read Stenger’s “God, the Failed Hypothesis” and Dawkins, “The God Delusion.” They explain in great scientific detail what kind of proof we would expect to find if there was a god creator.
“And I’m outlining possibilities, not claiming that anything is proof of anything – just that it’s possible.” — I’ll point you to another quote from the great Doug Adams, in Hitchhiker’s Guide….”It’s not impossible. Just extremely improbable.” Think about it.
Again – it’s certainly “possible” – just like it’s “possible’ that God created the universe 6,000 years ago, complete with light on its way from distant stars, and dinosaur fossils buried in the ground. However, to give that argument any credence is to give credence to the absurd.
You are right. This argument should stop here. I think I’ve already just managed to repeat myself. So, that’s that.
Well, let me add one final reply to that: I do not believe that any current religion worships an existing God, simply because if God exists, God would have to be beyond human understanding. Which leaves only deism as a possibility besides atheism.
And Stengers and Dawkins are only human.
hotforhfw,
Yea, I’m leaning toward determinism. I was swayed in philosophy class. But I also happily admit that I am for the most part one incredibly ignorant ape. I have considered some metaphysical possibilities, hard for to fit a god in there though. But again, could be wrong. I see no harm in religious belief but certain destruction in waging wars over it. Violence has less to do with religion and more to do with human nature. Removing religion won’t solve that problem, I would argue, humanists are just wrong on that point.
“I got thrown out of college for cheating on a metaphysics exam, I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.” woody allen
nighteye,
If you don’t see me in heaven please find a qualified lawyer and speak on my behalf. If you get me into heaven or at least a work release program I’ll enthusiastically agree with your argument.
I’ve always had the fear that I’ll die and appear in front of a giant vegetable god “Oh fuck!” I’ll say. The vegetable god is really pissed off and is sending everyone to hell and I’m pleading, “I didn’t know, I didn’t know, I woulda’ but I didn’t know!”
prospero811,
the whole creation out of nothing is still a rather miraculous or at least paradoxical. I’ve read about quantum probability, multiple universes and other theories but still. Something, a force, a probability, this something from nothing or in spite of or without beginning or end filling the void? I don’t require a meaning or purpose for said event just a satisfying explanation. Even when it is explained as mere mathematical probability that implies a math. A logic, a reasoning. How?
buzzword – I grant that nobody knows what started the universe, if it indeed had a start (a la, Stephen Hawking). One interesting factoid I came across through Hawking is that the sum total of energy in the universe, adding all the pluses and minuses, is currently thought to be zero. That’s an interesting thing to mull over. Zero. Add that to the paradoxes of quantum mechanics (are all possibilities existent? Are all possibilities possible until observed? who is the observer?).
However, the fact that we don’t know, or are too ignorant (presently) to know how the universe came to be is no reason to assign it the nomenclature “God.” We’ve been doing that for thousands of years now. God was pushed from rocks, rivers, thunderclouds and lightning bolts to the clouds.. .then to outside the atmosphere and the spheres… then to the edge of the galaxy and the universe….now the only place he can be found in anybody’s argument is somewhere in the first unit of Planck time “after” (for lack of a better term) the so-called “big bang” or outside the universe altogether (and thereby conveniently undetectable.
We didn’t know how thunder came about – so a god did it. We figured out how thunder came about, now nobody things god does it. Nobody know how animals developed on the planet – we now know that natural selection provides the answer – and, except for a very vocal and vehement group, nobody says god does it anymore.
We’re down to just a couple of things – what caused the spark of life from non-life? And what caused the universe to begin, assuming it began? But everything that we now view as natural was once the province of the Gods. Perhaps we ought to understand that just because we do not understand that we do not thereby have a “reason” to ascribe it to God.
You do have a point, we really don’t have a reason to ascribe any of it to God. But what a fucking opportunity! And I get to pick from all these really cool Gods or make up my very own! I could become a cult leader, yea, you know being an atheist is damn boring.
Ha! You are right.
My favorite is John Frum. Check it out. It’s hilarious, and the sad part about it is…. it’s all too true. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frum
Buzzword, I can only do that IF there is a heaven and IF I get in. And that remains to be seen.
IF is rather uncertain. You got cash, I can sell you some indulgences. Who can pass up a ticket to heaven?
presumined,
the buddhist path, to boldly go where no one has gone before…
Somehow I found the Atheism/agnostic/theistic discussion. Does anybody remember the primate discussion & could they direct me to it. …got lost here. BTW it wasn’t an apple for Adam.
I know..but I just used it since it is a common reference.
Hi Billy B,
I think that might have been one of mine. Misdirected, though as I recall. I had gotten a mistaken impression of one of the members’ postings. Then I took off on a wild tangent relating to the nature of male and female primate motivations. It’s about 1000 words, probably.
Is that the one you’re referring to?
It’s in with the ‘First Seed’ comments.
Wow. I had no idea it generated any responses!
hard to keep track of some of these discussions, I’ve started to take notes on what is where. Turning into a diverse and lively community. Got to go visit the seeds of evolution thread.
I don’t think thats the one. But I’m all confused now.
I just say a few things & my email is full, thanks for the responses even feel special now. Ya’ll could be elligable for 10% discount on your next tune up, athiests, only on parts, because we take extra time to explain our procedures.
Call me ignorant but what is the Mrgreen guy for 
did I just offend somebody… so, sorry in advance.
The invention of a period of time between childhood and adulthood is fairly recent. . .
So, where and when did the term ‘TEENAGE’ come from?
Thank you kindly,
Yr obdt’ srvt,
Edward
thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen
salutations Marina,
i have seen a few of your vids that researched common phrases, so in keeping with the food theme, how did the term “put some jam in it” (refering to extra effort) come about? also, how does ‘barbecue’ tie into cooking over coals, why is a pancake called a ‘flapjack’, and finally, which came first.. ‘relish’ the condiment or ‘relish’ the verb?
thanks alot for doing your show, you’re as intelligent as you are charismatic
Re: Barbecue, my guess is that any guy who cooks over hot coals for a living has to keep his hair and beard trimmed for obvious safety reasons.
If I recall correctly from high school, in the French language beard is ‘barbe,’ and the word for short is ‘court’ with, of course, the “t” being silent. If you don’t trim your beard, the fire will do it for you, so either way, you’d be a beard short (barbe-court). Hence barbecue? Seems plausible….
Wild speculation on my part. Let’s ask Marina.
I also want to know at what time did it become acceptable to spell barbecue with a Q as in “barbeque?” To me, this spelling is just wrong.
i love apples too…
bytes
Levi
La femme aux pommes…
The woman with apples?
Is that a French idiom that makes you put the blushing face there? What does that signify? A temptress or something?
The woman of the apples… he refers to Marina’s breasts, je crois…
in Norwegian, “kvinnen med det epler.”
I posted a link to a big apple logo because I enjoyed the idea of it popping up on pc s all over the world.
popped up on my mac haha
oh sorry buzzword didn’t see your link
sorry… presumined, that’s the translation of La femme aux pommes?
my translator widget translates it as, “the woman with apples.” Convenient apple widget to have for this site.
L’une ou l’autre manière que je crois qu’il se réfère à ses seins magnifiques…
Oh, usted habla español! La frase es, “la mujer con manzanas.” Traducido di me widget de la manzana. Es bueno?
oh que bien!
es buena traduccion 
buenos manzanas!
you are talking spanish so formal….
hablen mas relajados y sin tanta formalidad
hitman,
I’m not so formal, but my computer is. My computer did the translating.
Hey beautyful
Fist I want to say, nice show you’r running! It’s fun and entertaning, well I guess educationel to
But I’ve finally got a word to request…
Hehe..
I would like to know where the word “Request” comes from?? Is it a Frence word?? You know.. Requ-(est) ??!
Looking forward to seeing you again on the screen!!
Hey beautiful
First I want to say, nice show you’re running! It’s fun and entertaining, well I guess educational too
But I’ve finally got a word to request…
Hehe…
I would like to know where the word “Request” came from?? Is it a French word?? You know.. Requ-(est) ??!
Looking forward to seeing you again on the screen!!
word of advice, if you start correcting grammar and spelling you are going to be really busy and really unpopular. Unless the post is completely unintelligible and you require clarification I’d let it slide. Its cool if you are acquainted with the person and it’s in good fun. I’ve inadvertently pissed off a few people. I thought to say something before someone really unloaded on you. I usually pause to read your posts, hope you stick around.
What does the phrase, “When In Rome…” mean? And how was it formed?
i think it means that in the given situation, even if it’s one where you wouldn’t want to be, you should act like the situation asks you to. like… you’re walking on the beach and suddenly realize that everyone around you is naked, then they say that it’s a nude beach. though you didn’t want, initially, to be in a nude beach, you say “when in rome…” and take your clothes off! if it means the same thing as it means in my country, it is the short version of the phrase “when in rome, do it like the romans”
if you’re already in a place where they do it, you might as well do it too…
but i don’t know the origin…
If only more people in the world followed that common courtesy of “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Nowadays we seem to have great portions of the population who say, “When in Rome, try to force the Romans to do as I do.”
Hello my favorite teacher,
I have a word request for you since the league just got going. Where and when did the term “soccer” come from and break away from football?
Thanks,
NValline
Also the word league is interesting, becasue there are many defitions for it?
Soccer is a shortening of “Association Football” which we still play rather a lot here in the UK… as they do in other parts of the world… yes, football was OUR idea
Don’t know exactly when it was first used, but we have teams here that date from the 1860s, I think… maybe it was first used when football (as in Gridiron) became popular in the US?
I love this game.
I’m Scottish! We hate England
Not really… and I have a Germany 5 England 1 shirt… very useful for distracting curio vendors from the hard sell in African countries…
1-5
I should proof-read these things…
Doesn’t it strike you as weird that soccer is the “shortening of Association Football?”
What other word is shortened by taking three letters from the MIDDLE of the modifying word, and then adding three random letters. I mean, typically one would think that shortening “Association Football” would become something like “Assofoo” or the like (combining the first part of both words). What in the world brought about just taking “soc” from the middle of Association and skipping the “football” part altogether and just adding “cer” to the end, for no apparent reason????
Well, I believe I found the answer. I won’t type it here, as I noted below. It’s fairly interesting though and I was wondering if anyone else knew why. At a minimum, doesn’t it strike anyone as odd that Association Football was shortened to “soccer” – doesn’t make much sense does it?
I’m correct – football is our national game here so we know a bit about it – and I don’t think you should really care this much about it for the sake of your mental health
(…also you might want to have a go at some lateral thinking… your thought process verges on autistic… no offence…)
presumined wrote that football became popular in the U.S, it isn’t popular, it is a business matter, in the U.S, Russia, and countries from Oceania and Asia, the player play for the money and nothing else; In the other hand in Europe and South-Central America the players play for the honor and for the shirt they are wearing (of course they want money)
Talking about matches against England…
I saw a match, a famous match of football, in which a player Maradona score a goal for Argentina against England,the goal was illegal because he used his hand to score but the referee didn’t notice it, and the play was called “Hand of God”
the most popular sport in the u.s. is capitalism.
Hitman, dude… I wrote that “football (as in Gridiron)” became popular in the US. Gridiron is “American Football”, y’know: the NFL… I believe that’s quite popular in the US. I was making the point that people in America began to use the word “soccer” to differentiate it from “football”, which was now the word they used for Gridiron…
The “Hand of God” is spoken about here to this day… Diego Maradona also scored one of the greatest goals in World Cup history in that match. As a football fan, I acknowledge this… but, of course, I wish my country had won…
I saw Pele play in the Los Angeles Coliseum back in the ’60’s when I was a teenager. It was billed, if I remember correctly as a championship game, but that can’t be right….probably a promotion of some type.
Pele was a standout player far & away dominant and marvelous to watch, yet there was a forward on his team who made even more spectacular plays in that game. Forgot his name long ago.
Yes, they use soccer to differentiate it from football; but they called football to a game played with hands….
hitman,
you gonna watch the game tonight? st. petersburg is gonna kick leverkusen’s ass. at least I hope so. hehe. they won over here so it shouldn’t be so hard for them to win at home.
I’ll be cheering for the russians.
I always support Russian teams but my favorite is CSKA Moskva
I expect a easy victory for Zenit because they have an advantage of 4-1 (four outside goals)
Darn right, Hitman… in Europe we don’t say “soccer” for that exact reason… it is funny to hear David Beckham interviewed in the US after his move to the LA Galaxy; he keeps saying “football” instead of “soccer”…
(Meanwhile, my team, Ipswich Town, plays badly in the English second-tier league, The Championship, as we try to get promoted to the Premiership… 
)
Best soccer goals – awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH3wNqCyphA
Diego Maradona, Pele, Crespo…awesome…
Best American football plays — awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlIqKh2eTHg
Two great sports. There is no reason for fans of one to mock the other sport. I’m an American and I love both games.
Ya, Mr Muggins… can’t think what that match would’ve been about… Pele wasn’t playing for New York Cosmos at that stage… maybe it was a Brazil team playing a friendly match… that would explain the other skillful player you saw that night!
Hitman… my team beat Torpedo Moscow in the UEFA Cup at Luzhniki Stadium in that city in 2001… I was there… great fun… what is your country/team?
Cool contribution, prospero811… thanks
Answer for presumined
My country: Russia
I support Russian Teams but I prefer CSKA Moskva
Да… spasiba… I think Marina is Russian too, Да?
Yes, Marina is Russian but she must answer it not me….
Ha!
I see others have been chiming in. So at the risk of being lambasted for providing input on the solution to this problem, I will add a bit to this. I was thinking about this Association Football thing for a while, and it just didn’t sit right for some reason. How is “soccer” a shortened form of “Association Football?” I mean, They take 3 letters out of the middle of the word Association, and nothing else, and then ad “cer.” That is about the oddest “abbreviation” I’ve ever seen. It’s like abbreviating National Football League (in U.S. football) to “Tioner” and saying that instead of calling US football “football” we’ll call it “Tioner.” It’s weird.
But I have discovered a possible solution. I don’t want Marina to get mad at me again, for posting responses, so I’ll just leave it at what I’ve posted.
Check it out, Marina – you might want to do a video on the word soccer.
As Goldie Hawn used to say on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, “Soccer to me! Soccer to me!”
I am old enough to remember my parents watching laugh-in back in the day…when it was on regular t.v. – I was a young lad of 6 or 7 I think… and I recall being mesmerized by Goldie Hawn… I didn’t realize why at the time, but I was transfixed.
for those that are not familiar with goldie hawn & laugh in
Question: is marmalade really a “jam?:
I have the definition of marmalade as “a jellylike preserve in which small pieces of fruit and fruit rind, as of oranges or lemons, are suspended.” It’s a jellylike preserve. A “preserve” is “fruit, vegetables, etc., prepared by cooking with sugar, to make them last.”
Now, “jam” is a subset of “preserves.” “Jam” means “a preserve of whole fruit, slightly crushed, boiled with sugar:” So, all jams are preserves, but not all preserves are jams. Another kind of preserve is “jelly” which is not the same as jam because jelly is “A soft, semisolid food substance with a resilient consistency, made by the setting of a liquid containing pectin or gelatin or by the addition of gelatin to a liquid, especially such a substance made of fruit juice containing pectin boiled with sugar.” So, we can see that jam and jelly refer to two different kinds of preserves.
We know from the definition of “marmalade” that it is not “jelly” but it is “jellylike” (meaning “thick, like gelatin”).
So, is marmalade a kind of jam, or is it a kind of preserve, that is also different from jam and jelly?
…clearly, I am the only person who found this minutiae at all interesting….
…I am a nerd. Officially.
Not true prospero811, I’m a marmalade fan, sort of, and it’s history goes back to a European Queen (Portugal if I recollect correctly) who loved the stuff. She put some kind of royal officialness to the stuff. I can’t remember more.
I went about reading comments first cause the video wasn’t playing, ’cause it was still downloading or something, and now after watching our Marina, she confirmed my sketchy bit of info about marmalade. Howdy do!
Maybe so, but you have to be one of the most well-read nerds I’ve ever seen.
Btw, isn’t “nerd” defined as the cut-off end of a lamb’s tail after it’s been bobbed? or something like that. Australian slang, I believe…
As a matter of fact, yes I am too lazy to look it up!
I like apples too!
What is your favourite apple?
As a devoted Marina fan, mine would have to be “Pink Lady”.
However, i would like to know if a Grapple would be a Globally recognised apple
Isn’t a grapple just an apple soaked in grape flavouring?
good for apples and quince
Damn. Second again.
hmm Quince… *wiki’s it*
Hey Marina……got a phrase to request. Where did the great and popular “April Fools” come from???
Hey Marina….I have a question I am curious about Where did the word vampire or sometimes spelled vampyre come from