Blood is thicker than water
A lot of people assume this is an expression that means “Family before everything else”, but they would be surprised to learn the true origins.
“Blood is thicker than water” is shorthand for the expression “The Blood of the Covenant is thicker than the Water of the Womb”
Basically meaning the blood you’ve shed with comrades, or the blood you share in oath (blood brothers) is a stronger bond than the bonds of family which is kind of the total opposite of what people presume from the shorthand.
The term "riding shotgun" was applied originally to the movie depiction of stagecoaches and wagons in the Wild West, in danger of being robbed or attacked. An employee or passenger would sit beside the driver, carrying a shotgun or rifle, to provide an armed response in case of threat to the cargo or passengers.
So next time you call shot gun remember that you’ve got responsibilities
submitted by Nat and Rob (no tumblr)
Happy International Women's Day!
To celebrate, here’s a factlet about the English language:
The word female is not etymologically related to the word male.
Femele is first cited in 1350 in the OED, and although male was first cited around the same time it was written maal, masle, madle or mawl in Middle English. They came to English from completely different Middle French words, and have eventually converged in terms of pronunciation and spelling.
Links to the Word Roots
1. GREG (group)
12. DOL (pain)
13. VOR / VOUR (eat)
14. PAN (all)
15. FOLI (leaf)
16. LEV (light, i.e., not heavy)
17. FID (faith)
18. CULP (blame)
19. CORP (body)
20. CIS (cut)
21. CHRON (time)
It kind of bothers me when people call their subsequent month-long intervals of their relationship, their ‘anniversary’. Because in Latin, anniversary is derived from the adjective, ‘anniversarius’ (returning yearly). Loosely it has been accepted as meaning “they’ve been together for a month” or whatever, but I feel as if this has only come about out of ignorance and incorrect application. I know it’s not really that big of a deal, but the degradation of language really bugs me for some reason.
