Soap Opera
Most of us know where the ’soap’ comes from in “Soap Opera”… but how about the ‘opera’ part?
Sorry.. had to repost this.. something messed up in the previus post and I lost about 140 comments.
Arrgghh! Such is life… sorry 
Most of us know where the ’soap’ comes from in “Soap Opera”… but how about the ‘opera’ part?
Sorry.. had to repost this.. something messed up in the previus post and I lost about 140 comments.
Arrgghh! Such is life… sorry
Again a nice one.
I like your shirt if I had a favorite color and my key chain that you are using for a necklace. I am still waiting for the next date and unfortunately I had to push my car seventeen miles home after the last date? I would have to say it was all pleasure!
& 
Привет, Marina! I am the first to say that you are beautiful, that the answer is Cliffhanger, and that “supercalafragelisticexpialadociously” is as much a word as “supercalafragelisticexpialadocious”!
(Please forgive my sarcasm!
)
Oh, and please do one on the word “sarcasm”! Thanks you!
Marina, also could you do a video on superschitzophrenicexpialodocious? I have it!!! It’s a rare chemical balance that is only caused by me not watching your funny, witty, and extremely sexy videos!!! lol jk I don’t have that, but I do like to watch your videos!!!
I am in love with this woman!
‘cliffhanger’? Bah! The technique is known as titilation.
Thank you, Marina!
You are in the top three of all my teachers, just after teacher of math.
“What method soap operas using to captivate their viewers?”
I believe this method is “fake marriage shoe”. As long as you get used to it, this marriage keep changing the shoe colors by faking it.
Cheers!
I would be in a soap opera with you any tin, hold on, gotta get the water hose, your so hot my pc is smoking.
Interestingly enough most soap operas today are in fact sponsored by Proctor and Gamble, which makes and owns many things, including soap lines, toothpaste, and Pringles.
And the term is cliffhanger
And the SAGA continues………………lol
Soap Operas use a technique called a Cliffhanger to get people to tune in for their next show the next day.
the answer to the followon question of “what is the word for the dramatic ending that leaves the watchers waiting for the next episode?” The answer is “cliffhanger”
Marina,
Word Request: Bandwagon, as in, relating to sports, “bandwagon fan.”
Marina,
A guess from out of left feild
infomercial = [sophisticated-witty-underestated-documentry program-interveiw] (1)
Gregory McBride
the soap in soap opera comes from the sponsors of soap opera programs - with many commercials about laundtry detergents, dish soap, etc……
I’d like to request the word “Pub Crawl”
Oh and if you’d say hi to the “Thirsty Swagman” (from thirstyswagman.com) while you’re giving the lesson, I would be honored!
That was an easy lesson, but mostly because we use the same words in swedish….. “cliffhanger”. Not that it´s in any way swedish words, but we tend to loan words from different language and use at home.
I´ll get back to you with the word yuletide sometime in december!
from your dear student / Swedehunter
Marina,
First off, I wanted to tell you that you’re absolutely stunning……..
The word I’m curious about is invalid, and by invalid, I mean a sick person. Where did that come from?
marina, what do I need to do to become teachers pet for the day?!
Marina,
I heard this word several times in the movie “Street Kings” recently. If you dare, what is the meaning of “exigent circumstance.”
Best,
JW
Hi Marina;
I really love your videos! If all my teachers had been as beautiful and interesting as you are, then I likely would’ve been a much better student.
Can you find out for me how the term ’sucks’ came to be used to describe something negative or unpleasant? e.g.; “it really sucks that I broke my leg before the dance tonight.” When did that term enter general usage, and what expression was used before it?
I recall when the word in that context was considered obscene (I still think it’s a bit vulgar), but it became so mainstream that sometimes even I catch myself using it. I would be grateful for any help you can give at all toward ending my perplexity.
Sincerely, your ever attentive student,
Huntan Peck
Huntanpeck,
“sucks” means what you think it means… it is vulgar…. it came into common use by kids who did not know what it really means (but they heard it used by adults alot who knew what it meant) and now you cannot convince the young ones what it means, which is: “that sucks the ‘big one’”
Thanks
, a nice lesson ,is the technic called ‘foreshadowing’ 
.
Always enjoy hearing from your sister. I’m surprised she didn’t point out that soap operas began on radio and were carried over to TV. I think “The Guiding Light” is the last surviving carryover.
word request: Vicarious
Hiya! I was wondering if I could make a request for the origin of the word “Phenylalanine”. It was something that me and my best friend were making fun off because it was funny to say it. Haha, and also, great videos as always! Keep it up
Hi Marina,
Was just enjoying several of your lessons. I know you did “mischief” awhile back. I am curious about the frequent mispronunciation of the word “mischievous”, where the speaker says, “misscheeveeous”. It seems that people usually shorten a word when they pronounce it wrong, but in this case, a syllable is added that doesn’t seem to be there.
Hope you grab this one!
Thanks, TJ
It’s called anaptyxis.
Awww man! You lost my post? But I was the second poster and the first to say, “cliffhanger.” Oh well.
The ending to a Soap Opera episode is a “Cliff Hanger.”
Hi Marina,
I’m wondering if anyone has ever asked you to find the origin of the word - “Word” ??
The other thing I wanted to mention was have you ever thought of researching the reason why the sounds of words are what they are? i.e. “Word” is the sound for the word - “Word”, “One” is the sound for the number “1″, why is it “one” and not “woo” or “wa”?
So I did some quick searching for the origin of the word “rendezvous” and didn’t find a very interesting background. Think you know something that would spice up the story of the word?
What did you find, then?
I think the technique in a soap opera is called a tag, or its suspence, I’m not sure.
Hey, Marina I’ve been wondering what the origin for fornicate is. It’s sexy the way so say HOT for words
LOSE SOCCER!
HOW ABOUT COMMUNISM? People here in the US think this would be a good thing, Here. Any of Your own thoughts.
In theory , It looks good
In Practice , Deadly.
Dude, shut up about it. Back in the old days before it was ’soccer’ they had football associations to differentiate themselves from rugby football. They used the abbreviated ‘assoc’ which became just ’soc’ for association, thus people who played were called ’soccers’
While it isn’t a request for a particular word, per se, my question is what is your favorite english word with an origin in the russian language, and how did we come to adopt it? (i don’t think vodka counts, but god bless you for it)
I dig it! I dug it! I want some mo’ uvvit!
Why do they not call a “w” a “double ‘v’”?
I think this legitimate financial term might generate more views than “naked” and it is very topical, considering the price of gas.
What is the origin of the phrase “crack spread”?
In the oil industry and futures trading, the crack spread is the differential between the price of crude oil and petroleum products extracted from it; in other words, it is the profit margin that an oil refinery can expect to make by extracting other products from oil. In chemistry, to “crack” means to separate the component parts of a substance; in this case, the “cracking” of hydrocarbon chains. A refinery “cracks” the long-chain hydrocarbons found in crude oil into shorter-chain hydrocarbons that make up the useful petroleum products.
In the futures markets, the “crack spread” is a specific spread trade involving simultaneously buying and selling contracts in crude oil and one or more derivative products, typically gasoline and heating oil. Oil refineries may trade a crack spread to hedge the price risk of their operations, while speculators attempt to profit from a change in the oil/gasoline price differential.
I would appreciate it if you could tell me where the phrase catch 22 comes from?
From the 1961 Joseph Heller Novel. The “catch” is that a bomber pilot is insane if he flies combat missions without asking to be relieved from duty, and is thus eligible to be relieved from duty. But if he asks to be relieved from duty, that means he’s sane and has to keep flying.
Hi Marina,
Could you please tell me the origin of the word euphemism as it is not in your list. Thank you.
im with the dude below me, i wanna know where soccer comes from.
My dear teacher, I’m sorry to have to point this out, but your research didn’t go back far enough. First of all, the origin of “Soap Operas” did NOT start with television, as daytime Soaps were not around for many years after Television came on the scene. Most programming was only in the evenings. Daytime Soaps showed up much later, and long after all thought of a Horse Opera was a common occurance. However, RADIO soaps were extremely common through the late 30’s and aftewards. (Guiding Light being one of the first, and started in January, 1937 on radio, and transfering to Television when that was feasible.) Radio was around at the time silent westerns, or horse operas were, and that is where the phrase transfered from, stage to radio, to small screen.
Oh, and most serials, as they are also known, ended in a cliffhanger, to induce one to tune in for the next episode.
She said television since most of her listeners are either not old enough to remember radio operas, or not asinine enough to dredge it up. Regardless, her etymological explanation holds up. Your counter is simply a well researched ploy for attention. Thumbs up.
Thank you Kwirl. Though you characterize it as a ploy for attention, I appreciate your comments nonetheless. The fact is, however, Marina is a serious etymologist, and as such, does not stop her research at a point that most connects with her audience. She find the true root and then brings it to us. In this case, I think she fell a little short, is all. And if you are at all interested, I found an interesting history of soap opera on the web, it does not explain the “opera” part very well, but it goes into the history of radio serials, starting in 1930, and onward to television. I don’t know if you can place links here, so I’ll not do that now, but I googled “First radio soap opera” and it was the first link there (with museum in the address)
jindai,
There’s really no need to open with an apology. Obviously, some people are bound to interpret it as condescension.
Just say what you think, everyone else does. You have every right; that’s what this place is for… I’m sure Marina appreciates it.
Your apology seems to have become an invitation for pseudo-analysis by someone who is transparently looking to invalidate your observations in order to usurp whatever consideration they merit. Your point is well made, not asinine. Kudos.
Pennsyltucky9,
Thanks. I was raised with sensabilities and manners that predate blogs and comments, so I tend to apologize prior to what might be perceived as a slight. (As opposed to an apology for being right.) I can see that that is seen as a weakness in the blog community, so I’ll heed your advice and not do that in the future, despite my instincts.
Thanks again, and have a great one.
I, too, have an overpoliteness tendency.
But if people have a problem with it: TOO BAD!
Can’t think of anything other than cliffhanger. And how about “hunky dory”? I have no idea where those otherwise meaningless words came from.
Hi Marina,
I was wondering if you could find the origin of the word “Hobo”.
Thank you so much!
- YeaIAmTheAwesomeness
What about “great” like… “Great grandmother”
What about the prefix, “pro-”? I know it’s like, “the best”, but what about “protect”, or even “prohibit”? So yeah. o:3
Hi Marina, could you please do a lesson on suffixes, such as “ian”, “ist”, “esque”, “en”, “ify”, “ous”, “ism” ? What is the root of these specific suffixes? (there are so many suffixes, so I only wanted to ask about a few)
Thanks
Dear Teacher,
Marina, I have a word for you that I would like to know more about. The word is “ARCANE”. If you could educate me on the word I’d appreciate it. Thanks!
Sometimes I need to say “my sister is an otorhinolaryngologist”. But no one has got what I said so far, if you would be so bold as to investigate, i have fun watching you try to pronouce this one, hehe, if you do, goodluck, you’ll need it
Oh my word is otorhinolaryngologist if you diden’t get it, sorry.
Why don’t you just call her an ear, nose, and throat doctor?
Why don’t you just call her a taxi?
Hi Marina, I just found your movies, AND I LOVE IT. I hope my mom doesn’t think this iz p0rn. Anyways, my teacher is making me do a speech on the origin of the word MAYOR, as in the mayor of a town. Think you can help me out?
Marina maybe u can explain me
what does mean
LOVE
good evening hot for words, a saying crossed my mind today. and i couldn,t help to think if anyone would know how this came to be. it would be you. well here goes, up the creek without a paddle , what do you think? well hope to hear from you on this one. i have some words, but i,ll send them to you another time. don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket.
theres another one. well hope to hear from you and keep up the good work. later challenger666
please explain the words
porch monkey
Teacher!
Another great lesson. . . but i had an interesting word I would love for you to help me with.
“Anonymous”
and if u do phrases. . .Where in the world did the phrase
“More than one way to skin a cat.” come from.?
Thank you dear teacher!
-Zach
Im kinda curious to know what the origin of the phrase “calling the kettle black” Thanks
-Yost_112
Marina can you make out the origins of all those words or are you limited to just a few
I love your russian accent. what if you can do an entire show in russian to tease our vocabulary. . keep up the great work
I thought of others that need to be unearthed: CURVE,
Heya
I want to know the meaning of word BODOM and what is means by “children of bodom”
luv
ci
The band took their name from the Lake Bodom murders of 1960 in Finland.
Marina: (My favorite teacher)
Since you are Russian, I have a word for you. The word is: Patronymic.
I know what it means but I would like to know the origin and why Russia, which to my knowledge, is the primary country that does this. Are they the only country? If not, what others use this? And, where did it get started?
I am looking forward to our next beautiful lesson.
Bill
What other countries use patronymics?
Scotland and Ireland - McXXX and MacXXX
Denmark, Norway and Sweden - XXXson and XXXsen
Iceland goes even further using XXXson for males and XXXdottir for females
to name but a few
Arab countries. With bin/ben, etc.
Two Words: Procrastination and the phrase G-spot
G-spot comes from “Graffenberg spot” named after the Dr. that actually “discovered” it. I won’t get into detail here but, he found it and named it after himself. It must have been fun research.
Bill
Ernst Gräfenberg!!!! Get it right, people!
Thanks its just a strange word and can mean lots of things
Something funky is happenning… my first attempt to post this didn’t take…
Anyway… what is the origin of the word G-Spot… and what does “G” stand for anyway?
I’m not trying to be cute… some women were discussing this today, and I think it would make a killer lesson.
Sorry this is redundant. I see now the most recent comments are on top. I must have missed the memo.
Yes it is widely known as a perverted phrase but can’t stop imagining it during the first stages of romance with the opposite sex. Also seems to have made a name for it’s self as being a local hang out.
Graffenberg
Gräfenberg
Okay Marina… I’m not trying to be cute here, but some women at the office were talking about this today, and no one seemed to know where it came from, so this is a serious word request.
Where did the expression “G-Spot” come from and what does “G” stand for anyway?
I’ll bet you can do a lot with this one!
The term G-spot comes from the name of the doctor that discovered it. I can remember his exact name but it started with a G.
Ernst Gräfenberg.
Why are words like “funner” and “funnest” not correct?
Answer: “fun” was originally a noun, and later it became used as an adjective. “We had fun” was original, “this is a fun game” is a more recent usage.
Other nouns that are used as adjectives follow the same rule. “Cherry” is a noun, but it can be used as an adjective, like “dude look at that cherry 1967 Mustang, it’s in flawless condition.” But you would not say one 1967 Mustang is “cherrier” than another, or that Jay Leno has the “cherriest” 1967 Mustang of all. Those would be wrong. Instead, say “more cherry” or “most cherry.”
FYI, the “fun” point was covered by A Way With Words.
Hello Marina,
I wanted to know where the word Yahoo originated(ok I already know),Thought it would be a good lesson .Thanks, bye
Marina do numbers and other words origins relate
This posting has been replaced in danielthelawmans request for 23
ok before eveyone shouts at me for being obscene, this is a serious request, albeit kinda rude. I am actually genuinely interested in the history behind the word ‘masturbate’, i mean how did the words ‘mast’ and ‘bate’ come together to make the meaning that we know?
teacher, please investigate! (see what i did there with the rhyming?…)
masturbation
1766, from Mod.L. masturbationem, from L. masturbatus, pp. of masturbari, altered (probably by influence of turbare “to stir up”) from *manstuprare, from manu, abl. of manus “hand” (see manual) + stuprare “defile” (oneself), from stuprum “defilement, dishonor,” related to stupere “to be stunned, stupefied” (see stupid). Earlier Onanism (q.v.). The verb masturbate is first recorded 1857.
online etymology
musically explained by billy idol
SHH! dont tell them. This would be a buetifull lesson
pests
buzzword, why must you respond to text with videos?
And now, Marina can’t masturbate—that is, she can’t teach us all about the word “masturbate” because YOU told us! Waaaa!
Still, I wouldn’t mind if she did a video for it anyways…
can you tell us what nigger means?
You mean… you don’t know?
Dear Teacher,
Can you tell us about the word “Hope”
Thankss
xxxxoooxxxx
(since my name is Hope i want to see where it came from)
to hop, as in leap in expectation
AWWWWW that’s too bad.
My post is gone
But still, let me replace it
Great lesson.
Two lessons in one day? I am so lucky.
Anyway, please upload and I would like to request
Vice- as in bad things like gambling and alcohol. and also a title prefix like vice-president. And also a clamp.
Why are dumbbells called that? What’s the dumb for?
toysjoe,
I believe the clamp your thinking of is actually a vise (pronounced like vize).
TEACH, W AS A VOWEL
ANOTHER ONE IS, CWM ; A STEEP VALLEY.
hey marina i was wondering if you could figure out the origin of the number 23 and i do believe the answer is a cliffhanger thanks
ditto the answer.
I thought this would be an import request since there so many odd occurances of “23″ cramped by cosmic nature (I guess we could say that this is some type of “slang”?) what’s the origin of slang…
23? Why 23?
Well i guess itz better then 69 
Depends on who with.
I guess someone flipped a switch
..the native color spectrum.. & by the way the hot for words site is one of the best. seems though it turns into a battle royale.
MISOGYNIST, Not to You though. Any stories of your own
HI Marina,
The word you’re looking for is “cliffhanger”.
In the southern hemisphere they call the same thing “hingclaffer!”…
or was hangcliffer… nope… hiffclinger… hmmm?!
Cheers!
Harv
Cliffhanger of course.
Cwm (from the Gaelic).
“cwm” is from the Welsh, a Brythonic language, not a Gaelic (or Goidelic) one.
Appalled where does this word come from?!?
Hi,you were great as ususal!
I was wondering if you could bring up the ord “Warlock”
Thank you for your attention!
Keep up the good work!
the soap opreas used a technique called a “teaser” or “cliffhanger” (where you would tune in the next day to see if the heroine had “fallen off the cliff” or had been rescued.
nice post, me like
Hi Marina,
I believe that in old times only the word “hound” was used.
Can you explain where the word “DOG” comes from and when did one started to use this
Waiting anxious for another Hot for Words episode.
Love from ,
EYEOPENER
So I was wondering where the word ‘hyper’ came from and how it relates to ‘hyperbole’
Thanks for the fun education =p
Marina, I will try again and see if this word is worthy of your time.
I just acquired one of these. It is a Baidarka.What does the word mean?
Also a thought for you. Since you are such a popular teacher now and Van Halen is currently on tour you should get in touch with them and do a redo of their song and video [Hot For Teacher].
Hot For Words! Hot For Teacher!!! All the best, Scotthorn
where’s waldo?
It’s a cliffhanger that is at the end of every soap opera episode. And where did the word cliffhanger derive from anyway?
Ms. Marina
A quick word(s) request. I have been interested in the English words “thee, thy, and thou”. I understand them to be “informal” like “ti’ is to Bbi in Russian. Is that correct? What is each word’s characteristic and how did English lose that Dynamic?
Dear fellow student,
I’m really sorry: you certainly waited for our teacher to answer but if you really want to know…. and as she cannot answer to each of us….
Thou, thy… are old forms of pronouns that do not exist anymore in english. These old pronouns were way to adress someone with familiarity. These kinds of pronouns still exist in other langages like german( du) , spanish (tu), french (tu) (and perhaps russian as you propose). Each form is a grammar case : subject, accusative or dative form (well, it is about the fonction of the word in the sentence). These old english forms were used during the middle ages and until the time of Shakespear and then they faded in the pages of history. Nowadays, as you surely know, they can only be found in the Bible.
The origin is the german langage that was spoken by angle and saxon in the area called “Saxe” in germany.
Amicalement
A fellow student who just want to help,
Don Felipe
Thanks, That is exactly what I thought but I wasn’t sure.
Which leads perfectly into my question…Why did this happen?
Help me out here, I’m guessing that:
Thou = Nominative
Thee = Accusative
Thy = Genitive
? = Dative
? = Locative
I speak Latvian and Russian and both those languages have a Formal and Informal form which make the languages much richer and better in many ways (in my opinion at least, and I’m an American)
So Marina, why were these words lost? or is this too complex for a single lesson? (please, don’t let me down)
forshais, what is your native language?
Cliffhanger
Your video is entertaining and sexy, those big blue eyes! I especially enjoy it when you end with bloopers 
Way cool 
Please marina do the word hacker as a video
hi marina i was wondering were the word paradox cpmes from? if you get the chance please answer, keep up the great work
yes, i would like to send 2 word requests, the words are: agoraphobia and claustrophobia. thank you very much
Hey teach: I don’t know if you were able to see my response your response to me, so I will repeat. I agree that it would be tedious to define each word in a phrase, that’s why I suggested a different section for phrases. You probably don’t have time for that, but I think it would be great. Twice as much hot for words.
As I had posted before
. Word request: Splendiferous, added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1843
Noah Webster=Tres intelligent
Привет Марина
A Cliffhanger! (Do I get extra credit for doing the homework anyway?)
‘Stuff’ happens, deleted or lost is better than dismissed–when it comes to comments. Hope nobody is messing with your site, it was threatened by dude who needs 2 B _________(fill in blank).
Party=YES! this site should always be a celebration of words etc…
Most likely word is “ignored” to fill in the blank, say no more. I did my homework, honest..ahh I can’t lie, but don’t have to now. Can’t wait to see what music people would argue to be best at the party though. Seems like a few good folks with good taste around so I’d probably enjoy. Anyways in keeping with the quote of the day by Warren Zevon “I’ll sleep when I’m Dead” with a weird twist in the vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPlMmwOq7U8
Not really party music though eh, Well I would pay large $$$ to bring Taimane to my party, luau http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVf40uwsTQg if people didn’t enjoy at least they’d be impressed. I wrongly thought a uke’ was a starter instrument. Cheers
Nice word & I agree. It’s not my business, if it were I’d consider a word like ‘checked’ with all of it’s implications; but, I still stand behind the blank ________ for others to fill in.
2nd Agree: there do seem 2 B some ‘good folks…’ here!
Congratulations BillyB,
with envy.
I’m envious;
And I’m jealous with jelly…
ne’ermind…
Nice job! And ah, in comes the sister.
I would like to know the origin of the word ‘blaze.’
i think you should descuss lingerie..no perv..
Dear teacher,
I take a little time to write between two hard moments with young and horrible discipuli.
I must confess I’m really happy to write my first comment on this lesson
The lesson was, as usual, (hope you re not tired to read that) very interesting. Thank you.
Don Felipe
Dear teacher,
Yes I did, with a great pleasure! It is always pleasant for us (your devoted student to see that you take care!
Oh! by the way, what is your sister’s name?
Hopefully we will fine again. I’ll make up for it.. no homework tonight! In fact.. let’s party!
Doing homework is like partying. xD
NOOOOOOO!
Be comforted that your extant body of work stands as a beacon on a hill for those whose erudition founders in the fetid miasma of cut-rate, one-size-fits-all public miseducation…
That said, let’s party!
Dude! Please. Hope she was impressed and all that brain powe didn’t go to waste.
tigerking,
Yeah, thank you & you’re welcome I’m sure. Did you think I had to pick those words out of a dictionary or something? Hope you didn’t rupture a cortex trying to read my comment.
One man’s cup is another man’s thimble, apparently.
What went to waste was all the stuff we wrote here yesterday, or weren’t you paying attention? Dude.
Yeah, how ’bout the word “dude”, dudette?
(Or I won’t call you “dudette” if you don’t want me to.)
pennsyltucky9, you didn’t get those words from a dictionary? Holy shit, did you make them up, then? Wow!
Teach me how to do that… 
Also, Marina, you can do “deez nuts”. Dat’s a funny one, I like it it suonds fnuny! Ah huh-huh-huh!
I hope no bad people show up.
“So this is the little lady who started this great war.” — Abraham Lincoln to Harriet Beecher Stowe.
“Your words at the beginning of the book were a clarion call to everyone.” — SomeReallyImportantDude to Marina.
“Thanks, Marina.”— mergatroidal
“buzzword, here’s two tickets. I gotta go. You two have fun.” — mergatroidal