Word list · 12 words
False etymologies
A false etymology is a story about a word's origin that sounds right but is not supported by the evidence. Many are acronym stories made up long after the word itself; others tie a word to a famous person or event because that makes a better tale.
Each entry gives the popular story, then what dated written records show, and names the dictionaries and historians who checked. Where the true origin is unknown, it says that too.
Kept on this device only, for the daily recall in My words.
The words
Golf
Golf is the club-and-ball game, and the word is far older than the joke about it.
Literary & Rhetorical
Ring a Ring o' Roses
Ring a Ring o' Roses (in America, "Ring Around the Rosie") is a nursery rhyme and circle game in which children dance in a ring and fall or crouch at the end.
Literary & Rhetorical
Rule of thumb
A rule of thumb is a rough, practical guide based on experience rather than exact measurement.
Literary & Rhetorical
SOS
SOS is the international Morse code distress signal, and more loosely any urgent call for help.
Literary & Rhetorical
The whole nine yards
"The whole nine yards" means everything, the full amount, going all the way.
Literary & Rhetorical