Hi Hot.
I am new to your sight but enjoy watching beautiful women. I also enjoy learning jhings. So naturally I enjoy watching beautiful women while learning things. So that is why I am here.
I have a word request. This is actually a two word request that both mean the same thing. The words are deadbeat and freeloader. Often used to describe ones husband or boyfriend (and occasionally girlfriend). So, please, if you can get around to it give us the origin of these words.
Thanks, an adoring admirer,
Big Dave
Hi, I’m superfastfrog on youtube, and this is my word request:
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. I know it’s a really long word but it’s cool.
Marina, In my latest (ish) video. I asked people to ask me anything..I would include the answers in a follow up video. I would really like to include a question from you (or anyone else) here in the video too…
No what it means is our brain has the ability to orientate sight with the other senses to determine the position of objects around our current environment .
.. yes .. when light goes through the lens of the eye, it’s inverted .. so what hits the (if i remember correctly) rods’n'cones (the receptors at the back of the eye) is actually the “wrong” way up.
For me it’s the origin of ideas that really floats my boat.
Zipper, the word, certaintly comes from the sound it makes.
But what would cause a thought to create a zipper in the first place?
What caused the creative invention?
I paused at the patent picture, those folks back in the late 1800’s really has some smarts going.
Their design is exactly what it looks like today.
Kinda like “Milk”.
Where did that name come from?
And what rocketscientist figured out that he was going to drink whatever came out of those things?
Inventive Genisus.
I’d like to know the origin of the word “areyouacceptingapplicationsforloveslaves”. Other than that that, I wanted to mention that one of the zippers on my person is “TYT” though the other is “YKK”.
Many of us work with personal computers, but we sometimes hear about a “mainframe” computer… Just what is a “mainframe” and where does that word come from? Thanks so much!
Hi guy, thanks for the commits on “oleophilic” It does mean what I thought. But, is it a word made from industry terms, or does it have some origin from else where? I think that it is a word that was invented from industry or a scientific purpose.
Nice lesson on zipper! I just watched the lesson on irony and how much it is misused. I was hoping you could clarify a phrase which I feel is often misused: Lion’s share. Most use this incorrectly I feel to describe a majority portion. I do not believe this to be true. Ironic maybe, well actually no, just misinformed.
I live in the US and my name is Randy. I would like to know why the English use the word RANDY for meaning HORNY? As in, I’m feeling reather RANDY today.
I love the lessons!
And your beauty is icing on the cake
I was adding a comment suggesting “grand parents day” on what you should put on your calendar. Then I began to wonder where the word grandparent came from. Would you be so kind to investigate. Thanks
Speaking of clothes Jcr. When are we going to see a gravatar of something other than the lower part of your person. So many women get angry of us guys always looking down, and your encouraging it? heheh just kidding you Jcr! And don’t be funny and just show us your chest. There I go and done it. Now your going to give us a photo of the bottom of your shoe.
I’m shy. This one is better than my old one which was a…raccoon…for no earthly reason except that I took a photo of it in our yard. Plus, I had a certain admiration for it, after a repair person (who happened to be male, just by chance) didn’t listen to me about raccoons being in our crawl space and put his hand on a sleeping raccoon. It sounded like someone was being murdered. If you only knew the rest of THAT story. Imagine a woman creeping very slowly towards a crawl space, knives in hand, feeling ambivalent about rescuing a clueless repair guy who REFUSED to listen and was paying the consequences.
What the heck where you trying to rescue the repair guy? It was the raccoon that needed the rescuing. I would have ran to wal-mart and bought a shot gun and well after dragging the corps out of the craw space, I would have been apologizing to the raccoon profusely and tell it that it would never happen again.
You know what you should do? Send the company a box of Q-tip swabs. and a photo of a raccoon.
Actually, the raccoon was definitely winning that battle which was apparent as soon as the guy made it out of the crawl space. I looked down and could almost swear I saw a raccoon with a victorious grin on its face The repair guy was NOT happy and he didn’t fix our air conditioning or heat either. Oh, well….can’t win ‘em all, unless you are a sleeping raccoon taking on a clueless repair person. Lesson: do not touch sleeping raccoons.
Dear Marina, You have a very pretty name, same as my sister!. My paragliding buddies and I are wondering what is the meaning of “Dead as a door nail” and from where did it originate? You are the best, please choose our request!!!!
Hi rick716, Marina has already done the expression “break a leg”.
You can find that video in the Lessons list at the top left of the page
or you can click here: http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/02/21/break-a-leg/
Thanks animalntaz for pointing out that the YT video was flagged. I always send in a complaint to YT to get Marina’s video unflagged. The people that flag the video are either general haters or of a certain culture. Marina’s videos are very classic and I have never been offended by any of them.
request a word
Germany?
My question is not my question is not really germany, but why it goes by such varied names in other languages
english germany
german Deutschland
french allemagne
spanish alemania
italian germania
i seems like we would all call it Detschland or a derivative of the translation (example united states, estados unidos or japan japon
Hello mcb95x, I had also asked for that once or twice about two months ago. My guess is that Marina may not do the variations of Germany as it may not appeal to a large audience, and she would need to figure out a way to make the video very interesting. Don’t let that stop you from continuing to ask though as Marina has always surprised me and I’m always wrong on these kinds of predictions.
That particular question you ask is near and dear to me as I have done lots of research into that topic and which also touches on other countries such as Austria / Österreich for example. Here are two wiki pages that should tide you over until Marina does the video.
Now now, don’t take it so hard. As you
know, being that you are an avid admirer
of Marina’s work, the TA’s have begun
a process for keeping track of words
requested, and by whom. This is a
recent change to the program and the
hoped for result is to collate all requests
made and list them for Marina to review
in a coherent manner. So many requests
are posted here, not to mention numerous
video requests received by Marina. It has
been the case where a request can be all
to easily lost in the shuffle. Your request
of Sept. 14 came in amongst a slew of new
requests, thus illustrating the need for a
vetting process. Please continue to make
your requests with the assurance that efforts
are underway to minimize the chance your
word request will fall through the cracks.
I couldn’t shake away the comparison of Marina’s incessant requests with the Jim Carrey character Bruce Almighty and his “You’ve Got Prayers” computer responding system. I’ll bet she needs the Power.
love your stuff. The word “smart” got me to thinking, so many different meanings, intelligent (like you, like me) , pain, looking good and insolence. Keep up the great work!
Can you explain how “to take” came to mean “to go for” as in “to take a walk”?
Bonus question: How did it come to be used in “to take a shit”? I would much rather imagine it as something I’m giving, not taking. But then, if you “give a shit”, it means you care about something, although it’s usually expressed in the negative, “I don’t give a shit.”
i would also like to know the origin of gridiron and touchdown too,ya know its football season here in the united states.would you dress up like a cheerleader with pom poms? oh speaking of pom poms,whats the origin of pom poms?
Marina, I enjoy your videos so much that I have started to post rellevant ones to my Fantasy Football League site. I’m trying to educate some of the guys. With this in mind could you do a video or two on either “gridiron” or “touchdown” or both? Intelligence IS sexy.
Not much the gambler anymore. After 15 years in the biz its cheaper to watch. If I do gamble its all for some fun. Fantasy Football is a hobby, not much to do a 3:00am when I get home from work.
That has puzzled me for years. I keep forgetting to look it up. In conversation I just nod my head as if I understood in hopes that later I can figure it out what it means.
There are a few trees in a garden. On one of them, a pear tree, there are pears (quite logical). But after a strong wind blew, there were neither pears on the tree nor on the ground.
How come?
Hi dalcon12, and welcome to the site. I see already you have met some of your fellow class mates. We try to have a lot of fun here and sometimes a game every now and then. So enjoy yourself and if you need any help at changing that monster Gravatar next to your name to a more personal picture let one of us know. You can also attach a web site to your name like your utube channel or a personal web site. When you do your name will turn blue like mine. Click on my name and it brings up my utube site. I have the directions for both of these procedures. I am one of the Teacher’s Assistants and Captain Jack is the other, but anyone here would be glad to help you if you need it.
Dear Marina, I hope you are a Christian, you don’t have to answer that, because, you affirm my Christianity, only a God, my God, could create such intelligence and beauty in one package.
Yeh … (i found the original after a struggle) .. they both have that Stephen King Crazed Christian touch about them.
Do you think they’re the same person? We get a lot of over-the-top adulation of M in here. And a lot of over-the-top wackos tend to be “christians”. .. in any case .. worth keeping an eye on.
I have a late announcement to make. Capman911 aka Mike, had a birthday yesterday. So lets wish him a belated birthday. Now he can have two great days in honor of his day.
Happy belated birthday Mike! Thanks for the many years you have saved peoples lives and property. Thank you for covering for me as a TA here on HTW site.
I cheated. I just copied and pasted someone else’s work. So it is either a reflection as you say or the number of candles on the cake. I think we should go with the number of candles. There was no way to fit all the required candles on such a large cake. Also the candle stick factory said it would take them all year to fill our order.
My zipper says YKK… Is this related to Year two thousand? I don’t know.
I have a word request that I hope you won’t dismiss as trivial… the word is “trivia” and I was reading a book that said that rhetoric was once referred to as trivium (there were seven sciences and arts in the middle ages, apparently this one was number three). Is trivia derived from trivium? If not, where is it from? Thanks
I have a new word that is used in my industry but no one can explian where it came from or if it is a real word. The word is “oilephilic” what is suppose to mean is a oil is attracted to a meterial like plastic and oil stick to the plastic. But this word is not in the dictiary or in spell checker.. Can you find something on this word?
The zipper of these pants say YKK my sleeping bags that i sleep on every night say coleman there really long zippers all this is fine untill the zippers screw up then you run into the problem of fixity. Its a proven fact zipper fixity is unworkable because of age and wear and tear on the zipper make it unusable then its a matter of use of the correct and proper zipper as the replacement for the throughly used an abused zipper. The rule is she breaks or abuses zipper beyond fixity she replaces zipper from her own manufactured kind. No substitutes allowed.
Oh god… You really think you are the first person to have ever asked this?? Come off it.. This is a blatant example of what I like to call “Marina abuse”
As an engineering student i studied communication as a technical subject. This involved a significant amount about protocols, “hand shaking”, etc to ensure information has been correctly identified and transferred.
Would that be true, too, in the human sense of the word communication”? (i.e. communication hasn’t occurred until both parties are confident each other has a common grasp of the information.)
Mijj, That’s one of my favorite words. Without communication our society breaks down. Many problems can be solved with good communication. Because with good communication, thought and ideas can be shared which improves understanding. I wonder why some people make an effort not to communicate and then blame society for the problems we have today?
I also would wish to request the word communication.
Welcome HFW, Thank you for Buzzword for requesting communications of the ‘word’.
*kicks the Buzzrobot*
Damn robots! They don’t build them like they used to!
Miss M. I we call English class here in the states English, what do you or Russians call the equivalent of the same class in Russia? Is it the same as I am going to Russian class? Inquiring minds want to know or at least I do.
Not bad for a garage band of 12YOs I guess. They could use a few weeks with Jimmy Page and/or Eric Clapton tho! Page to teach them hard rock and Clapton to teach them to play with feelin. I woulda said Ted Nugent too but they might not live thru him!
Aloha My Hot For Words Teacher, you make words so interesting to learn and Love. My request is not so much as a single word but a saying and of course I would like to know the real origin. The saying is” Freeze the Balls Off a Brass Monkey.”
I can help you here. I even have a book that has Monkey standing next to cannon balls on the front cover. “With a Pinch of Salt, as interpreted by Captain Nick Bates’. A few of his findings are false. Maybe he will do a rewrite.
I use to live in Hawaii… TWICE! First time was during 1st-3rd grade, where I use to live in Pearl City. Second time I was finishing up high school at Moanalua, while living in Honolulu. My dad had a career in the navy, and I honestly didn’t care much for living there.
Hi, a word/action that has tremendous impact and is an action used by all. Most use this tactic as humor, but it is anything but that to the victim, it is very hurtful in a relationship. The people that use this action/tactic often do not realize why they do it. It stems from their anger, and this is why the origins of the word are so important for people to understand and therefore they will look within themselves to confront their reasons for their anger. Instead of hurting others over their own inability to work through their issues. The word “Sarcasm.”
Hello vernon olson, that was a great introduction to set up the request for the word “Sarcasm”. I second that request, and I would like to have Marina touch on the cultural basis if possible.
I believe sarcasm is used indiscriminately more so in some countries than others and I think that it is only the very few that either understand or can pull off a true sarcasm, and what happens in most cases is that which you described in your paragraph.
Hi Pedantickarl, thank you for you 2nd. As I understand, the word is from the Greek word “Sacazim” which means to tear the flesh, how appropriate because that is the effect and intent in many cases. I am illiterate to a “True sarcasm” as you state and I look forward to learning that. I know the word sarcasm very intimately, and did not grow as a functioning person until I understood my sarcasm. I strive to be a better person through education.
Hello mijj,
I have this installed on my computer- it was free w/encyclopedia.
It’s a “linking brain” it helps with keeping thoughts sorted out for easy access.
I have always relied on notes. Now notes and links on one of my computers. But I’ve just started usng this and it can be a very flexible tool.
Here’s an example.
Hey! .. that’s an amazing coincidence .. i used that (Brain) some time ago .. but i found that having the same look about the structures (when you move through the data) made it difficult to get a sense of where you are.
However .. i found 2 (in my opinion) better alternatives (both free) …
this one’s heavy duty: [Compendium]
(they havent made use of the full potential of Compenium in the example – they’re being accademic.)
this is better for quickly getting a handle on something:
(it’s quicker to set up relationships and prettier, but not much use for general purpose or very broad stuff)
The examples on the website look dull, but there’s lots of prettyfying stuff they dont use. [Cmap Tools]
Hey mijj, The y2k analogy was one of the thoughts that comes to my thinking mind, only because when i was driving a truck, there was a fellow at a truck stop in Arizona, (at a Flying J truck stop) that i was having a conversation with whom seemed to be really concerened with the so called Y2k bug that was supposedly going to affect all those satelites the DOD has up. This was in 2002, two years after the soposedly win2k bug was going to cause havok with those satelites. I told him that the DOD had alredy taken care of that problem as every day life in 2002 was still functioning normally as far as I could tell. He seemed fairly concerned about it, like he was living life in the years before Y2k was going to occur. Strang huh?
Marina, just a little feedback on your show. I like the words that you take all the way back to their roots. The word origins often say so much about us. I also prefer your candid pictures to your professional shots. The pics with you in the pink top and the big dog look familiar; can you say where I would have seen them before? One more question; are your eyes really that blue? I dated a girl with eyes like that a looooooong time ago, I got lost everytime I looked in those eyes. Keep up the great work
Hey Sparky! Im moving back to Seattle in about a week or two for the winter. Lets meet up at Peats Coffee, my treat. I have yet to meet a person on this site.
Marina: what is the origin of the word “hopefully’? When you were on the Factor last night, you told Bill, “I’ll see you soon again, hopefully.” “Hopefully” is used nowadays to mean “I hope”, but I don’t think that’s what it originally meant. I think HotForWords should investigate!
(BTW, i checked several zippers and they all say “YKK”. They must have a monopoly.)
Are all the school kids now going to run around checking the brand of their zippers.
Here’s a mental image: High School Cheer Leaders grabbing the zippers on your jeans to check the brand. Jocks grabbing the zippers on the Cheer Leaders sweaters to check out the brand.
A new greeting, poo poo on the hand shake, let me see your zipper.
Designer zippers vs us poor slobs in the YKK brand.
Where did the origination of the word “Earth” come from? It will not be as easy as you think. Hint: you will have to break free from the populist mindset.
If you get it wrong you will have to marry me or at least consider it seriously
Since Wall Street is taking it on the chin lately with the sub-prime loan stuff. I know a bear market results when the bears sell (or short) more than the bulls buy (or long) and vice versa. The only way I do not confuse the two is remembering that a bull strikes up with its horns, and a bear strikes down with its claws, but would love to see you do a vid with their real origins. BTW there are lots of animals on wall street…Bulls drive the market up, Bears drive it down, Sheep just follow the crowd, and Pigs get slaughtered (some of them must be Buddhist pigs, because they are transformed into Lame Ducks – which term I see you’ve already done).
What kind of birds you have? I use to work at pet stores, and had to take care of many of them. They can do some crazy things. I found a macaw that could pick a Master Lock™ in about 5 to 10 mins. We decided that we could market his services as a lock smith to pay for his upkeep.
Wow! That was a quick response…Thanks. BTW… I saw that your pic is from the web, mine will be from my computer…in case there is a difference in the method
ok, so it doesn’t truncate after the “.com”….I wonder what I did wrong with my attempt at “Kiss” link word request under “Codswaddle” lesson…looks like we did something similar.. I cut-and-paste both times, so iam pretty sure to have spelled it correctly, even tried it in the practice page, still couldn’t make it work…
Thank you very much, Mijj! I appreciate your effort!
instead of there, it linked to current most recent video posted, I went to the practice area, failed to get it to behave properly, and just pasted the URL, as that had always worked before for me, presuming the link method somehow was disregarding everything following the “.com” in the URL.
I love the link so much, I made my name take you there as well.
Perhaps the second most beautiful thing on the internet.. (:wink: @ Marina)
I made several posts in recent vids to things I like, mostly for you all to enjoy, hopefully, as much as I do. Check them out…AFTER you do your homework assignment, of course.
I don’t know how he did it, but can only suggest the technique I think I first saw used on an MTV video. They made Xerox copies of prints of each frame, treated each with colored pencils, then used an animator’s camera as if each frame was an animated cell.
Thanks again for the HTML lesson, I think I finally got it!
I love your work, and apparently so does my girlfriend.
I don’t have a specific word I want to know the origin of but rather two sayings. I want to know the origins of “Tickled Pink” and Green With Envy”. How did we come to associate these colors with these feelings?
Hello,
My zipper says “NE”. Love your facts on interesting words.
I am wondering what “That’s Some Bad Hat Harry” phrase means. I see it at the closing of some tv shows, like a production company logo.
But what does it mean? and where does it come from?
Thanks so much,
Neophyte30
B.F. Goodrich . . . the company without a blimp. I had several relatives work at Goodrich during its tire making hay-day in Akron. My grandfather had rubber boots with a zipper running up the front made by Goodrich. I believe this was one of the first applications of the zipper. The University of Akron, has a mascot called Zippy, a kangaroo some engineering student must have imagined putting a zipper on its pouch.
The symbol for Mercury represents the head and winged cap of Mercury, god of commerce and communication, surmounting his caduceus (staff).
From me:
“Fianchetto” from the Italian, means “by the side” or “by the flank” (where a sidearm or sword is carried), in modern useage, refers to a position in chess where the (usually) king’s bishop is between the advanced king’s knight’s pawn and the castled king to form a formidable defensive position, while still allowing the bishop to exert control diagonally across the center of the board by being handy for hit-and-fade attacks against unsupported opposing pieces who may attempt to establish a central attack. In the diagram on Wikipedia, after 1.Nf3 … 2 O-O … one achieves the position I describe.
Pshh… what zipper? Haha Kobe dragging shoe! Is the zipper stuck on his hair?
I consider this a FULL definition where the origin is the most interesting…
A little editing and Dictionary Girl has another word for the Dictionary, if she wants to keep the identities and messages separate.
viewed and appreciated.
Aww, cute dog.
new vid is up
I am new to your sight but enjoy watching beautiful women. I also enjoy learning jhings. So naturally I enjoy watching beautiful women while learning things.
I have a word request. This is actually a two word request that both mean the same thing. The words are deadbeat and freeloader. Often used to describe ones husband or boyfriend (and occasionally girlfriend). So, please, if you can get around to it give us the origin of these words.
Thanks, an adoring admirer,
Big Dave
Hi, I’m superfastfrog on youtube, and this is my word request:
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. I know it’s a really long word but it’s cool.
Hello getsmart,
Marina answered that in a comment in April. Here is the link to that
question and Marina’s comment.
i have always wanted to no how the word st patrick’s day got its name
Marina, In my latest (ish) video. I asked people to ask me anything..I would include the answers in a follow up video. I would really like to include a question from you (or anyone else) here in the video too…
ok .. i’ve got a question for you .. (putting the question here’s ok, i assume) …
… ok .. you know how your eyes invert what you see .. so .. if that’s the case .. which way is up?
They invert what what we see?? Does that mean really we live upside down
No what it means is our brain has the ability to orientate sight with the other senses to determine the position of objects around our current environment .
nice answer, stokes .. i think that’d be a good one for james to do.
Or should say determine the position that is called up.
oh .. i’d assumed you’d be familiar with that …
.. yes .. when light goes through the lens of the eye, it’s inverted .. so what hits the (if i remember correctly) rods’n'cones (the receptors at the back of the eye) is actually the “wrong” way up.
… hence, my question : which way is up?
{..i’ll see if i can hunt down a diagram..}
umm, i thought it’s flipped horizontally, not vertically.
well, it inverts in all directions .. i just asked about up/down.
A question about left/right would be just as valid – but not as dramatic.
Perhaps this diagram can clear things up, fellas….
hey! … you’re the Answer Man .. i shouldn’t be doing the work!
{ … folds arms .. keeps schtum … }
For me it’s the origin of ideas that really floats my boat.
Zipper, the word, certaintly comes from the sound it makes.
But what would cause a thought to create a zipper in the first place?
What caused the creative invention?
I paused at the patent picture, those folks back in the late 1800’s really has some smarts going.
Their design is exactly what it looks like today.
Kinda like “Milk”.
Where did that name come from?
And what rocketscientist figured out that he was going to drink whatever came out of those things?
Inventive Genisus.
This has got to be embarassing.
Slow day on YouTube.
And your video is behind a video on Monkey pictures.
And the logic is ……….???
I’d like to know the origin of the word “areyouacceptingapplicationsforloveslaves”.
Many of us work with personal computers, but we sometimes hear about a “mainframe” computer… Just what is a “mainframe” and where does that word come from? Thanks so much!
one big computer that can be used by multiple people at the same time…
The zipper on my Wrangler Jeans doesn’t have a brand name on the pull, just a little icon in the shape of a boot, so I reckon it’s a Wrangler zipper.
When is your birthday everyone?
why? wanna send me a gift?
D
Why yes…
or present or whatever the hell it is.
september 7th
only 11,something more months 
lol ur 18.. OMG thats really old… Nursing home calls… LOL
February 19th
lol! how do you think so do a video for where coming the name ofs the week like sartuday!
FLAK. We wear FLAK Jackets and you can give people FLAK, but very few know where the term originates.
This is very odd..
Honours for my most recent video.
#7 – Most Discussed (Today) – Travel & Events
#99 – Most Discussed (Today) – Travel & Events – Global
#79 – Most Discussed (This Week) – Travel & Events
#72 – Most Viewed (Today) – Travel & Events
#81 – Most Viewed (Today) – Travel & Events – India
#19 – Most Viewed (Today) – Travel & Events – New Zealand
#62 – Most Viewed (Today) – Travel & Events – Israel
#100 – Most Viewed (Today) – Travel & Events – Global
#89 – Most Viewed (Today) – Travel & Events – South Korea
#41 – Most Viewed (This Month) – Travel & Events
#41 – Top Favorited (Today) – Travel & Events
#7 – Top Rated (Today) – Travel & Events
#97 – Top Rated (This Week) – Travel & Events
India, New Zealand, Israel, South Korea??
That is very odd…
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!
Kudos, I’m interested in the word kudos.
NO YOU ARE NOT!!
Hey! i would like to know the word fornication comes from?
Thanks!!
WORD REQUEST:
Sexy.
Internet.
Secret.
Thanks be waiting for the answers
Heyy! Where does the word “O’clock” come from? You know, like when someone says “It’s two o’clock”.
Thanks!
I’d like to know the history of the word “Legacy”
Hi guy, thanks for the commits on “oleophilic” It does mean what I thought. But, is it a word made from industry terms, or does it have some origin from else where? I think that it is a word that was invented from industry or a scientific purpose.
Hey Marina my friend told me a masturbation joke and i was wonderin wear the word masturbation came from think you can find out?
Request for the phrase “double-cross”
Check This Out!
Here’s a BLAST from the PAST!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRX_PzPE17M
I’ve seen this recently.
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=4-3EyMPzMoo
This dog is really smart.
That may be because it is a beagle. They are notorious for climbing fences. I didn’t know they were smart, though.
Critter Word Requests
Scorpion
Skunk-PHEW!!!!
Lobster
Escargot-Snail Yummy!
yea i’ve heard people say the expression “lion’s share” before. could you investigate please?
spaciba
Nice lesson on zipper! I just watched the lesson on irony and how much it is misused. I was hoping you could clarify a phrase which I feel is often misused: Lion’s share. Most use this incorrectly I feel to describe a majority portion. I do not believe this to be true. Ironic maybe, well actually no, just misinformed.
I live in the US and my name is Randy. I would like to know why the English use the word RANDY for meaning HORNY? As in, I’m feeling reather RANDY today.
I bet you like watching Austin Powers movies.
How about “blog”?
time for a music break:
[Robert Fripp String Quintet]
I love the lessons!
And your beauty is icing on the cake
I was adding a comment suggesting “grand parents day” on what you should put on your calendar. Then I began to wonder where the word grandparent came from. Would you be so kind to investigate. Thanks
P.S. I don’t have any clothes with zippers on them today, jogging suit.
Speaking of clothes Jcr. When are we going to see a gravatar of something other than the lower part of your person. So many women get angry of us guys always looking down, and your encouraging it? heheh just kidding you Jcr! And don’t be funny and just show us your chest. There I go and done it. Now your going to give us a photo of the bottom of your shoe.
I don’t jog. I only run when chased.
I’m shy. This one is better than my old one which was a…raccoon…for no earthly reason except that I took a photo of it in our yard. Plus, I had a certain admiration for it, after a repair person (who happened to be male, just by chance) didn’t listen to me about raccoons being in our crawl space and put his hand on a sleeping raccoon. It sounded like someone was being murdered. If you only knew the rest of THAT story. Imagine a woman creeping very slowly towards a crawl space, knives in hand, feeling ambivalent about rescuing a clueless repair guy who REFUSED to listen and was paying the consequences.
What the heck where you trying to rescue the repair guy?
It was the raccoon that needed the rescuing. I would have ran to wal-mart and bought a shot gun and well after dragging the corps out of the craw space, I would have been apologizing to the raccoon profusely and tell it that it would never happen again. 
You know what you should do? Send the company a box of Q-tip swabs. and a photo of a raccoon.
Actually, the raccoon was definitely winning that battle which was apparent as soon as the guy made it out of the crawl space. I looked down and could almost swear I saw a raccoon with a victorious grin on its face
The repair guy was NOT happy and he didn’t fix our air conditioning or heat either. Oh, well….can’t win ‘em all, unless you are a sleeping raccoon taking on a clueless repair person. Lesson: do not touch sleeping raccoons.
I ones put my hand in to a hole that had a badger in it…. ended up with 4 stitches orso 2 injections and a dead badger…..
That is the cutest dog! He wouldn’t let go of the shoe string while going after that tennis ball, so playful!
hello, i had no idea a tire company started that name. something knew to tell my friends…lol thanks
as you are always giving us your students homework i want to know the origin of the word homework
this sounds perverted… but the origin of the word masturbation
Masturbation is perfectly normal, everyone does it…..
FELLATIO on the other hand… that may be too perverted to ask Marina.
where did we get the football phrase “taking it to the barn”?
Dear Marina, You have a very pretty name, same as my sister!. My paragliding buddies and I are wondering what is the meaning of “Dead as a door nail” and from where did it originate? You are the best, please choose our request!!!!
And check out paragliding on the web….
Cheers,
-Mark
HI, i wanted to see if you could investigate the phrase “break a leg” where did that come from???? see your next clip
Hi rick716, Marina has already done the expression “break a leg”.
You can find that video in the Lessons list at the top left of the page
or you can click here:
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/02/21/break-a-leg/
Why has this video been flagged on YouTube? Were some viewers offended by Marina’s cleavage or something? Because I didn’t see anything wrong with it.
Thanks animalntaz for pointing out that the YT video was flagged. I always send in a complaint to YT to get Marina’s video unflagged. The people that flag the video are either general haters or of a certain culture. Marina’s videos are very classic and I have never been offended by any of them.
I would really like to know more about the word “loquacious” and was wondering if hotforwords could investigate
That sounds good..
Could you investigate Denali?
Hello Marina, I was wondering where the phrase ‘For pete’s sake’ comes from.
request a word
Germany?
My question is not my question is not really germany, but why it goes by such varied names in other languages
english germany
german Deutschland
french allemagne
spanish alemania
italian germania
i seems like we would all call it Detschland or a derivative of the translation (example united states, estados unidos or japan japon
Hello mcb95x, I had also asked for that once or twice about two months ago. My guess is that Marina may not do the variations of Germany as it may not appeal to a large audience, and she would need to figure out a way to make the video very interesting. Don’t let that stop you from continuing to ask though as Marina has always surprised me and I’m always wrong on these kinds of predictions.
That particular question you ask is near and dear to me as I have done lots of research into that topic and which also touches on other countries such as Austria / Österreich for example. Here are two wiki pages that should tide you over until Marina does the video.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_Germany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Various_terms_used_for_Germans
More commonly simply called “zip” in the UK I think.
Marina, I’m hurt! I asked you the same question about zipper on September 14th, 2008 at 3:58 am!
Hey sniper, how did you get hurt? Did you get it stuck in the zipper? Ouch, that must really hurt.
Now now, don’t take it so hard. As you
know, being that you are an avid admirer
of Marina’s work, the TA’s have begun
a process for keeping track of words
requested, and by whom. This is a
recent change to the program and the
hoped for result is to collate all requests
made and list them for Marina to review
in a coherent manner. So many requests
are posted here, not to mention numerous
video requests received by Marina. It has
been the case where a request can be all
to easily lost in the shuffle. Your request
of Sept. 14 came in amongst a slew of new
requests, thus illustrating the need for a
vetting process. Please continue to make
your requests with the assurance that efforts
are underway to minimize the chance your
word request will fall through the cracks.
ChaCha,
I couldn’t shake away the comparison of Marina’s incessant requests with the Jim Carrey character Bruce Almighty and his “You’ve Got Prayers” computer responding system. I’ll bet she needs the Power.
i started a company called metroproper, and proper has so many meanings that i love.. where does the word “proper” come from?
philcoextra
Me too! I think YKK has cornered the market on zippers!
Actually, Marina: I wonder if you could find out where the expression “cornered the market” came from. Hmmmmm….
It’s YKK on mine, too!
I was wearing shorts with a string tie, but early today I had pants on and the the letters “YKK” are on the tongue.
Haggar – City Casuals…
and Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah…
Try out this optical Illusion. See how long you can take it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g90wRxAjOtM&feature=related
that is a nice optical illusion you can only have some of that on your birthday you are one day late
lol
tsk .. you americans and your fascination for giant inflated weaponised boobs! {.. is that overgeneralising? .. most brits seem to be as bad}
i prefer [this look]
I also belong to th ‘More-than-a-mouthful-is-wasted” club, but there is still that remnant Neanderthal DNA, which would love to unwrap a great big ‘Playstation II’ on Christmas/Hannukah/Ramadan/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice/Anniversary/Birthday/weekend/other special occasion/no reason at all!
List intentionally truncated as to be not quite as exhaustive as the collective nouns request of recent memory.
Ciao,
Fianchetto
I see spots!
those aren’t spots, they’re nipples, man!
Hello Marina,
love your stuff. The word “smart” got me to thinking, so many different meanings, intelligent (like you, like me) , pain, looking good and insolence. Keep up the great work!
Darnko
Can you explain how “to take” came to mean “to go for” as in “to take a walk”?
Bonus question: How did it come to be used in “to take a shit”? I would much rather imagine it as something I’m giving, not taking. But then, if you “give a shit”, it means you care about something, although it’s usually expressed in the negative, “I don’t give a shit.”
So, do you care enough to investigate?
Levis or Wranglers
Zipper or Buttons
High Pockets or Low Rider
Cowboys or Bikers
Mine says,,mmmmm,oooohhh,aahhhh,that feels good!
Actually it says “YKK”.so ummmm,what does YKK stand for?
tryant
yoshida kogyo kabushiki kaisha a Japanese company
Thanx Man,I had already found it tho. Mighty kind of ya!
When Marina 1st said the name on hers I thought she said “Waikiki”.With her good fashion sense I had thought she bought some high-dollar garment!
tryant
tryant
Hi, can you please tell me what “Jig” is in “The Jig is up”
i would also like to know the origin of gridiron and touchdown too,ya know its football season here in the united states.would you dress up like a cheerleader with pom poms? oh speaking of pom poms,whats the origin of pom poms?
Word REQUEST: The most important words in the English language:
5 most important words: “I am proud of you.”
4 most important words: “What is your opinion?”
3 most important words: “I love you.”
2 most important words: “Thank you.”
1 most important word: “You.”
Ciao,
Fianchetto
marina,my zipper say YKK too.
Marina, I enjoy your videos so much that I have started to post rellevant ones to my Fantasy Football League site. I’m trying to educate some of the guys. With this in mind could you do a video or two on either “gridiron” or “touchdown” or both? Intelligence IS sexy.
So your a the gambler, I don,t play fantasy football.
Not much the gambler anymore. After 15 years in the biz its cheaper to watch. If I do gamble its all for some fun. Fantasy Football is a hobby, not much to do a 3:00am when I get home from work.
Hey mine says YKK too
Marina, could you do the origin of the terms Left WIng and RIght wing
as in liberal and conservative?
That has puzzled me for years. I keep forgetting to look it up. In conversation I just nod my head as if I understood in hopes that later I can figure it out what it means.
Maybe the wings(additions)of a building in Washington DC had Libs in one and Cons in the other.Just a guess.
left and right sides of parliament.
oh .. apparently to do with the seating in the french parliament about the time of the french revolution (not UK as i’d thought)
Riddle me this.
Pears
There are a few trees in a garden. On one of them, a pear tree, there are pears (quite logical). But after a strong wind blew, there were neither pears on the tree nor on the ground.
How come?
one fell on the ground so now there were no pear (pair) on ground or tree
only two on tree to start with
Did you know the riddle all ready
bleaughh..
that was awful.. you should be ashamed!
Hi Marina. I would like to know what the heck “Cool Beans” really means. Why are beans cool?
cool beans = hummus
I don’t know, I make hummus out of warm beans, but that is just me!
I’ll try it warm, if you try it cool
Deal! He he!
Thank you, dalcon12, for your WORD REQUEST: “Cool beans”
Since you mentioned hummus, I think a belly dancing outfit would be really cool!
I agree 100%. Marina in a belly-dancer’s outfit would be absolutely hot…for words!
Marina, will you be my belly dancing chick pea
Blush!!! This site is fun! I am glad I signed up today!
Copy cat
Hi dalcon12, and welcome to the site. I see already you have met some of your fellow class mates. We try to have a lot of fun here and sometimes a game every now and then. So enjoy yourself and if you need any help at changing that monster Gravatar next to your name to a more personal picture let one of us know. You can also attach a web site to your name like your utube channel or a personal web site. When you do your name will turn blue like mine. Click on my name and it brings up my utube site. I have the directions for both of these procedures. I am one of the Teacher’s Assistants and Captain Jack is the other, but anyone here would be glad to help you if you need it.
TA Mike
I have a request for a word:) Awkward…this word has always seemed a bit awkward to me would love to hear abuot the story behind it. Love the vids
Dear Marina, I hope you are a Christian, you don’t have to answer that, because, you affirm my Christianity, only a God, my God, could create such intelligence and beauty in one package.
wrong!
it was the Cyber Masters of Alpha-Xentos 6 who created that package.
Dear mijj,
By your comment, you are apparently, a fool!
mijj, this sounds really familiar, read on…
roadrunrnch replied on June 21st, 2008 8:02 pm:
Really , [ atheist miracles.] Do you really think a Woman like Marina was just cosmic dust smashing about in outer space? Or something that crawled out of a swamp 1,000,000,000 years ago? Look in to Her EYES and tell me You don’t see GOD.
disclaimer: actually an attempt to avoid this whole discussion again rather than start anew.
Yeh … (i found the original after a struggle) .. they both have that Stephen King Crazed Christian touch about them.
Do you think they’re the same person? We get a lot of over-the-top adulation of M in here. And a lot of over-the-top wackos tend to be “christians”. .. in any case .. worth keeping an eye on.
duly noted
thank you.
Here you go Mijj. I know how much you like animals.
In the Jungle
lol .. nice song.
I have a late announcement to make. Capman911 aka Mike, had a birthday yesterday. So lets wish him a belated birthday. Now he can have two great days in honor of his day.
Happy belated birthday Mike! Thanks for the many years you have saved peoples lives and property. Thank you for covering for me as a TA here on HTW site.
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_______0______HAppY BIRTHDAY
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________0_____HAppy BIRTHDAY
__________________________________000000
____________________0____________00000000
____________0______000____0_____0000000000
___________00_____000_____00____0000000000
___________000_____I_____000_____00000000
____________I_____000_____I_______000000
___________000____000____000_________0
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cool. congratulations, mike.
You too, aLx
Happy Birthday
nonononono, it’s not my birthday yet.
We’ll find out yours. Just wait and see.
Ok, in case I forget, here’s a
smiley face birthday song
It didn’t work
It was supposed to make you laugh, if it didn’t- sorry
Thanks Captain Jack I really appreciate it. {sob sob }
It means a lot to me.
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday Mike and many more to come!!!
<— candles, make a wish
Best wishes…
PK
[ditto]
Happy Birthday, Capman!
And Thank You for warmly welcoming me to the site.
iiiii
[___]
So the secret’s out!
Happy Birth
dayweek.What every guy wants on his B-day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFS7GRiM5-E
Hey Mike
Happy Birthday
Oops, I didn’t look at the name
Happy Birthday Mike
Thanks Warren for the nice card.
Happy Birthday Mike
Wow, how did they know that it was your
Birthday
yeah, happy birthday. cake, i want cake.
I’m always late, happy firstround birthday. Still fast @ 55?
Happy B-Day! Mike
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!
Didja get shit-hammered(drunk)? Was just aking cause of the artful pic captainjack drew with the 0s. Thought maybe Ya woofed Yer cookies or somethin.
tryant
Happy Birthday. I hope you enjoyed the day.
seesixcm6
I know this is on Jack’s site, but thank all of you guys for the happy birthdays.
Mike
CAKE AND BALLOONS!
Hey, why is there a number ‘14′ on one of the balloons? Is that suppose to be a light reflection?
I cheated. I just copied and pasted someone else’s work.
So it is either a reflection as you say or the number of candles on the cake. I think we should go with the number of candles. There was no way to fit all the required candles on such a large cake. Also the candle stick factory said it would take them all year to fill our order. 
My zipper says YKK… Is this related to Year two thousand? I don’t know.
I have a word request that I hope you won’t dismiss as trivial… the word is “trivia” and I was reading a book that said that rhetoric was once referred to as trivium (there were seven sciences and arts in the middle ages, apparently this one was number three). Is trivia derived from trivium? If not, where is it from? Thanks
Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha. Just found out.
Hi, I’m just wondering where the word ”puppet” comes from.
Puppet ? Like POUPÉE “doll” in French.
Certainly from the Latin PUPILUS “kid” ???
I have a new word that is used in my industry but no one can explian where it came from or if it is a real word. The word is “oilephilic” what is suppose to mean is a oil is attracted to a meterial like plastic and oil stick to the plastic. But this word is not in the dictiary or in spell checker.. Can you find something on this word?
Tim
you’re most likely looking for oleophilic.
I have seen it spelled both ways, I am sure one is correct and one is not, but which one?
oleophilic.
http://www.google.com/search?q=oilephilic&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Or
http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&client=pub-2590320453585040&cof=FORID%3A1%3BAH%3Aleft%3BCX%3AMeriam%2520Webster%2527s%2520Dictionary%2520Search%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fcoop%2Fintl%2Fen%2Fimages%2Fcustom_search_sm.gif%3BLH%3A65%3BLP%3A1%3BVLC%3A%23551a8b%3BGFNT%3A%23666666%3BDIV%3A%23cccccc%3B&adkw=AELymgU2pbpOVNV1hu0v6zjwPyUKbS6yKoGM2NCGdkI-UhA9uxQomCVF9xalfwA4melFrUAwD2kFfQryvQoBKJgKccey-euvUtSSAIjxV3JaPc37GiIW2as&q=oleophilic&btnG=Search&cx=!002139675427992011401%3Aimceyiayhfo
Awe, Capman spill his data all over HFW site.
CLEAN UP IN ISLE FIVE!!!!
AND MAKE IT SNAPPY!!
Sorry, sick at my birthday party, got I.
The zipper of these pants say YKK my sleeping bags that i sleep on every night say coleman there really long zippers all this is fine untill the zippers screw up then you run into the problem of fixity. Its a proven fact zipper fixity is unworkable because of age and wear and tear on the zipper make it unusable then its a matter of use of the correct and proper zipper as the replacement for the throughly used an abused zipper. The rule is she breaks or abuses zipper beyond fixity she replaces zipper from her own manufactured kind. No substitutes allowed.
Or in other words if you can’t fix it don’t fu*k it up or get someone whom can.
repair it that is
Quote- “If I can’t fix it I can fu*k it up so bad nobody else can either!” No,not Your zipper,fix that on your own! I don’t do *that* kind of work!
Quote #2- “Fu*k it up fast so Ya got time to fix it”
Word request!
I would like to know where the word ‘Masterbation’ came from.
Looks like you need a “hand” on the spelling…
Fine, “masturbation”.
Oh god… You really think you are the first person to have ever asked this?? Come off it.. This is a blatant example of what I like to call “Marina abuse”
I would like to request the word fucx.
I started masterbating at around the age of 4 or 5.
(Too much information? I really don’t care… we all need to learn how to “self-service” at some point in our lives.
)
word request : communication
As an engineering student i studied communication as a technical subject. This involved a significant amount about protocols, “hand shaking”, etc to ensure information has been correctly identified and transferred.
Would that be true, too, in the human sense of the word communication”? (i.e. communication hasn’t occurred until both parties are confident each other has a common grasp of the information.)
start watching at 2:10. communication?
lol .. yeh .. i know how that feels .. looks like an interesting movie.
Mijj, That’s one of my favorite words. Without communication our society breaks down. Many problems can be solved with good communication. Because with good communication, thought and ideas can be shared which improves understanding. I wonder why some people make an effort not to communicate and then blame society for the problems we have today?
I also would wish to request the word communication.
i guess that makes you a communist.
Or a communicationist
welcome to hfw, thank you for requesting the word “communication”
Welcome HFW, Thank you for Buzzword for requesting communications of the ‘word’.
They don’t build them like they used to! 
*kicks the Buzzrobot*
Damn robots!
what Cap’hJack said: is it true?
Are you a buzzbot?
your wondering who i am?
“your wondering who i am?”
it’s you are -> you’re
… <slap>
“you’re wondering who i am?”
is it true?
were your parts made in japan?
I’m not
Comfy pj pants, but for what it’s worth, it’s Coca-Cola pants 
Normally, though, I believe it’s the same brandname as yours, HotForWords 
Miss M. I we call English class here in the states English, what do you or Russians call the equivalent of the same class in Russia? Is it the same as I am going to Russian class? Inquiring minds want to know or at least I do.
Mike
Whats with the whole thank you thing?
it’s annoying as hell, that’s what it is.
FINALLY.! Something we (includes aLx, maybe not the rest of HFW) agree on!!!
Just being nice, maybe people are.
Maybe you could request fucx if it was a real word
It is a word it’s just slang
Just razzing you pal. 
fucx
yeh .. but Mike .. you call your native language by another nation’s name.
For the “Russian” thing to be a parallel .. erm .. well .. you know. … horribly convoluted, n stuff like that.
Yea I know. That’s why I was asking. To see if other countries used similar words to describe things like we do.
I smell of burning sock.. Because I burnt a sock
could you put that to music?
Burning socks
tryant
Aloha My Hot For Words Teacher, you make words so interesting to learn and Love. My request is not so much as a single word but a saying and of course I would like to know the real origin. The saying is” Freeze the Balls Off a Brass Monkey.”
I can help you here. I even have a book that has Monkey standing next to cannon balls on the front cover. “With a Pinch of Salt, as interpreted by Captain Nick Bates’. A few of his findings are false. Maybe he will do a rewrite.
Anyways to answer your question check out this link.
http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp
So that’s why I say,”that’ll frost Yer balls” and “that’s a real ball froster” when things go wrong. Who’da thunk it?
tryant
I use to live in Hawaii… TWICE! First time was during 1st-3rd grade, where I use to live in Pearl City. Second time I was finishing up high school at Moanalua, while living in Honolulu. My dad had a career in the navy, and I honestly didn’t care much for living there.
wow Kobe is a multitasker
who’s ( dirty ) sock is on the table?
In case anyone cares “YKK” stand for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha, the name of a Japanese company.
There you go another mystery solved at HFWs.com
Looked like Kobe was going to attack you from under
the white doohickey table cloth .
there is a request for you: DOOHICKEY
Hi, a word/action that has tremendous impact and is an action used by all. Most use this tactic as humor, but it is anything but that to the victim, it is very hurtful in a relationship. The people that use this action/tactic often do not realize why they do it. It stems from their anger, and this is why the origins of the word are so important for people to understand and therefore they will look within themselves to confront their reasons for their anger. Instead of hurting others over their own inability to work through their issues. The word “Sarcasm.”
Hello vernon olson, that was a great introduction to set up the request for the word “Sarcasm”. I second that request, and I would like to have Marina touch on the cultural basis if possible.
I believe sarcasm is used indiscriminately more so in some countries than others and I think that it is only the very few that either understand or can pull off a true sarcasm, and what happens in most cases is that which you described in your paragraph.
Hi Pedantickarl, thank you for you 2nd. As I understand, the word is from the Greek word “Sacazim” which means to tear the flesh, how appropriate because that is the effect and intent in many cases. I am illiterate to a “True sarcasm” as you state and I look forward to learning that. I know the word sarcasm very intimately, and did not grow as a functioning person until I understood my sarcasm. I strive to be a better person through education.
Thank you for … blah.
Hello subordinate clauses.. Foxbow is back :yay: fists loosley in air
uh, okaaay … thank you for sharing …
Dr. Evil, from ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me’:
“Zip it!”
“Zippiiit… zippit, zippiiit!”
“Oh look at me, I’m Zippy Longstalkings.”
“Would you like to zuck on my zipple?”
Homework: Arizona jeans
That’s a pretty catchy tune from your ROFLCOPTER (SOS) video. Who plays it?
Hi Marina
Today in my english class we used the word SUED does it connect some how to the Russian word суд that is clearly sound alike
thanks =]
Hi Marina
Can you please tell me the origin of he word “cigarette”.
Thanks
[clipper]
BIPPER, RIPPER and so many others
[tripper]
[Moody Blues - Timothy Leary]
[why LSD is dangerous - Military Experiments with LSD]
note: caption says:
“British military experiments with LSD during World War II”
LSD wasn’t discovered by Hofmann until 1948.
[timothy leary - how to operate your brain]
[brain]
Hello mijj,
I have this installed on my computer- it was free w/encyclopedia.
It’s a “linking brain” it helps with keeping thoughts sorted out for easy access.
I have always relied on notes. Now notes and links on one of my computers. But I’ve just started usng this and it can be a very flexible tool.
Here’s an example.
Hey! .. that’s an amazing coincidence .. i used that (Brain) some time ago .. but i found that having the same look about the structures (when you move through the data) made it difficult to get a sense of where you are.
However .. i found 2 (in my opinion) better alternatives (both free) …
this one’s heavy duty:
[Compendium]
(they havent made use of the full potential of Compenium in the example – they’re being accademic.)
this is better for quickly getting a handle on something:
(it’s quicker to set up relationships and prettier, but not much use for general purpose or very broad stuff)
The examples on the website look dull, but there’s lots of prettyfying stuff they dont use.
[Cmap Tools]
[Hawkwind in the white tent at StoneHenge on LSD]
Absolutley love that plaid skirt. Only thing I have on with a zipper is Levi’s.
How about the word Absolutely
time
Great explanantion. How about the word handicapped?
mmmhhhh…..
hang on a cott’n pick’n minute …
isn’t YKK essentially the same as Y2K?
i suspect there’s some kind of conspiracy linking zippers and the twin towers attacks.
Hey mijj, The y2k analogy was one of the thoughts that comes to my thinking mind, only because when i was driving a truck, there was a fellow at a truck stop in Arizona, (at a Flying J truck stop) that i was having a conversation with whom seemed to be really concerened with the so called Y2k bug that was supposedly going to affect all those satelites the DOD has up. This was in 2002, two years after the soposedly win2k bug was going to cause havok with those satelites. I told him that the DOD had alredy taken care of that problem as every day life in 2002 was still functioning normally as far as I could tell. He seemed fairly concerned about it, like he was living life in the years before Y2k was going to occur. Strang huh?
there’s nothing more appealing than a weird convoluted theory that’s obviously completely wrong.
it’s like the mind’s struggling to demonstrate how it can believe something’s logical, no matter how ridiculous.
Marina, just a little feedback on your show. I like the words that you take all the way back to their roots. The word origins often say so much about us. I also prefer your candid pictures to your professional shots. The pics with you in the pink top and the big dog look familiar; can you say where I would have seen them before? One more question; are your eyes really that blue? I dated a girl with eyes like that a looooooong time ago, I got lost everytime I looked in those eyes. Keep up the great work
Word request UP!
Bogus… please…
Hey Sparky! Im moving back to Seattle in about a week or two for the winter. Lets meet up at Peats Coffee, my treat. I have yet to meet a person on this site.
[Lipper]
Blipper, something for the
Skipper to use when he’s searching for
Flipper.
ah .. i remember Flipper …
{..sings..} .. Flipper … Flipper .. Flipper the bush kangarooooo..!
Wasn’t that Skippy?
wellll .. yeh .. but i couldn’t think of the Flipper song.
Marina: what is the origin of the word “hopefully’? When you were on the Factor last night, you told Bill, “I’ll see you soon again, hopefully.” “Hopefully” is used nowadays to mean “I hope”, but I don’t think that’s what it originally meant. I think HotForWords should investigate!
(BTW, i checked several zippers and they all say “YKK”. They must have a monopoly.)
Levi’s. I guess they make their own zippers.
Ut Oh!
Have we just started a new fad?
Are all the school kids now going to run around checking the brand of their zippers.
Here’s a mental image: High School Cheer Leaders grabbing the zippers on your jeans to check the brand. Jocks grabbing the zippers on the Cheer Leaders sweaters to check out the brand.
A new greeting, poo poo on the hand shake, let me see your zipper.
Designer zippers vs us poor slobs in the YKK brand.
XYZ your YKK.
Talon
Where did the origination of the word “Earth” come from? It will not be as easy as you think. Hint: you will have to break free from the populist mindset.
If you get it wrong you will have to marry me or at least consider it seriously
My zipper is YKK.
WORD REQUEST: I’d like to know the origins of “Stock car” (NASCAR – National Stock Car).
Kisses.
WORD REQUEST(S): Bear and Bull
Since Wall Street is taking it on the chin lately with the sub-prime loan stuff. I know a bear market results when the bears sell (or short) more than the bulls buy (or long) and vice versa. The only way I do not confuse the two is remembering that a bull strikes up with its horns, and a bear strikes down with its claws, but would love to see you do a vid with their real origins. BTW there are lots of animals on wall street…Bulls drive the market up, Bears drive it down, Sheep just follow the crowd, and Pigs get slaughtered (some of them must be Buddhist pigs, because they are transformed into Lame Ducks – which term I see you’ve already done).
Ciao,
Fianchetto
I request “bird” and “freak” and as a bonus, “doppleganger”
Saw you on O’Reilly and you were awesome. O’Reilly is a great show!!
What kind of birds you have? I use to work at pet stores, and had to take care of many of them. They can do some crazy things. I found a macaw that could pick a Master Lock™ in about 5 to 10 mins.
We decided that we could market his services as a lock smith to pay for his upkeep. 
[tipper]
Hey, Mijj – will you please teach me to post photos like that?
ok ..
{ .. runs off to prepare .. }
Wow! That was a quick response…Thanks. BTW… I saw that your pic is from the web, mine will be from my computer…in case there is a difference in the method
basically you need this:
<a href=”url_of_picture”>[description]</a>
so if your picture location was:
http://74.52.59.146/~amk/invitations/dinosaur-printable-invitation.jpg
and you wanted to show the link as
[dinosaur]
you would post this:
<a href=”http://74.52.59.146/~amk/invitations/dinosaur-printable-invitation.jpg”>[dinosaur picture]</a>
i.e. …
[dinosaur picture]
noooooooooo…!!!! .. ffs! .. typical .. the example is screwed!
i meant …
[dinosaur picture]
oh .. you would need to put it on a website for ppls browsers to be able to access it.
another attempt at that bloody dinosaur link!!
[dinosaur pic]
ok, so it doesn’t truncate after the “.com”….I wonder what I did wrong with my attempt at “Kiss” link word request under “Codswaddle” lesson…looks like we did something similar.. I cut-and-paste both times, so iam pretty sure to have spelled it correctly, even tried it in the practice page, still couldn’t make it work…
Thank you very much, Mijj! I appreciate your effort!
Ciao,
Fianchetto
when you say “couldn’t make it work” .. what do you mean?
because i’ve noticed sometimes a picture link results in an endless swirly thing even though it’s a valid link.
sorry, was the “Codswallop” lesson and in the practice area. I requested the word “Kiss” and attempted to link it to:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=8743f055c4696b70a371248cb110ddc89a953023
instead of there, it linked to current most recent video posted, I went to the practice area, failed to get it to behave properly, and just pasted the URL, as that had always worked before for me, presuming the link method somehow was disregarding everything following the “.com” in the URL.
I love the link so much, I made my name take you there as well.
hey! .. i like that very much. I saved a link. There’s some good ideas on there.
It’s like pre-computer age direct animation on film stuff isn’t it..
Perhaps the second most beautiful thing on the internet.. (:wink:
@ Marina)
I made several posts in recent vids to things I like, mostly for you all to enjoy, hopefully, as much as I do. Check them out…AFTER you do your homework assignment, of course.
I don’t know how he did it, but can only suggest the technique I think I first saw used on an MTV video. They made Xerox copies of prints of each frame, treated each with colored pencils, then used an animator’s camera as if each frame was an animated cell.
Thanks again for the HTML lesson, I think I finally got it!
Ciao,
Fianchetto
[ANOTHER TIPPER]
http://laughlines.blogs.nytimes.com/category/sight-gag/2008/09/17/
[The TIPPER, the whole TIPPER, and nothing but the TIPPER]
by god, i think he’s got it!!
misandrist, when did it fall out of common usage?
I love your work, and apparently so does my girlfriend.
I don’t have a specific word I want to know the origin of but rather two sayings. I want to know the origins of “Tickled Pink” and Green With Envy”. How did we come to associate these colors with these feelings?
Hello,
My zipper says “NE”. Love your facts on interesting words.
I am wondering what “That’s Some Bad Hat Harry” phrase means. I see it at the closing of some tv shows, like a production company logo.
But what does it mean? and where does it come from?
Thanks so much,
Neophyte30
:
YKK on My shorts!!!! Learn something new every day!
Thank you Marina for the awesome lesson on zipper!
B.F. Goodrich . . . the company without a blimp. I had several relatives work at Goodrich during its tire making hay-day in Akron. My grandfather had rubber boots with a zipper running up the front made by Goodrich. I believe this was one of the first applications of the zipper. The University of Akron, has a mascot called Zippy, a kangaroo some engineering student must have imagined putting a zipper on its pouch.
What is a zipper, and who is Zippy?
My zipper is YKK. I thought it may be an airport designation for YKK, but that turns out to be Kitkatla Airport.
I did find that YKK stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha – now I know why they can’t put that on a zipper and use YKK.
Without a zipper we would not have the painful humor that opens Something About Mary. Sometimes a button fly is more appropriate.
the zipper of my dolce & Gabbana jeans is LAMPO. where is the company from?
Marina,
Ha Ha Ha!!
Just noticed you kept your Co-Star under wraps for the actual video.
I’ll take what’s behind curtain number 1.
Oh no wait a second.
That’s the flying dog under his parachute.
a [big dipper]
From NASA:
The symbol for Mercury represents the head and winged cap of Mercury, god of commerce and communication, surmounting his caduceus (staff).
From me:
“Fianchetto” from the Italian, means “by the side” or “by the flank” (where a sidearm or sword is carried), in modern useage, refers to a position in chess where the (usually) king’s bishop is between the advanced king’s knight’s pawn and the castled king to form a formidable defensive position, while still allowing the bishop to exert control diagonally across the center of the board by being handy for hit-and-fade attacks against unsupported opposing pieces who may attempt to establish a central attack. In the diagram on Wikipedia, after 1.Nf3 … 2 O-O … one achieves the position I describe.
Ciao,
FIanchetto
wow .. that’s pretty interesting, fianchetto. .. the chess position stuff is a pretty complicated.
so .. you’re the Alert, Potential Weapon.
my symbol also represents the egyptian Thoth and the alchemical Hermes Trismegistus.
you weren’t kidding about the chess .. i put your name into google images and a stack of chess diagrams came up.
Here’s a [sheathed sword] for ya.
a [stripper]
How about
whipper?
[snapper] !!
a [kipper].
YKK here.
OMG It’s even on my wetsuit zipper.
Must be a conspiracy.
Lets lay out 700 Billion and open up a USA Zipper factory.
Wonder is there is an XYZ brand in existence?
With the coming election here in the U.S. I would love to know the origin of the word Politician.
my jeans don’t have zippers
just buttons hehe,……
it only says “M” …….
Just found one that has , …….
yay just found some shorts that have ykk on them wohoo
………….
.
wy don’t I get an e mail when I reply to myself….?