Some of the terms we use every day have fascinating historical roots that reflect cultural exchanges, misunderstandings, or adaptations over time. From beverages to sports and beyond, these words carry with them stories of how people adapted traditions or misunderstood foreign concepts.

Here are 10 examples of terms with historical origins that reveal much more than their everyday usage.

Related: 10 Places That Still Bear the Evidence of History

10 Americano (Coffee)

The “Americano” coffee drink emerged during World War II when American soldiers stationed in Italy found the local espresso too intense for their tastes. Used to drip coffee back home, they diluted the espresso with hot water to make it more palatable. Italian baristas began referring to this concoction as “Caffè Americano,” or “American coffee,” as a nod to the unique preferences of their foreign customers. Over time, this became a common menu item in Italian cafes and eventually spread worldwide.

The Americano’s cultural significance lies in its ability to bridge two distinct coffee traditions. In Italy, espresso is consumed quickly and in small quantities, while Americans often prefer larger, slower sips. By creating this hybrid beverage, soldiers inadvertently influenced global coffee culture. Today, variations of the Americano exist, such as the iced Americano, which is especially popular in East Asia. This drink remains a symbol of adaptability and cultural exchange born out of wartime necessity.^[1]

9 French Fries

French fries, despite their name, likely originated in Belgium rather than France. Villagers along the Meuse River in Belgium were known to fry small fish as part of their diet. However, during harsh winters when rivers froze, they used sliced potatoes as a substitute. By the 17th century, this method of preparing potatoes was popular in the region. The term “French fries” was popularized by American soldiers during World War I, who encountered the dish in French-speaking parts of Belgium and assumed it was French.

The mislabeling stuck, and French fries became an integral part of American cuisine. However, Belgium has long fought to reclaim its culinary legacy, even petitioning UNESCO to recognize fries as part of its cultural heritage. In the U.S., the fries’ versatility has led to countless variations, from shoestring fries to curly fries, with regional specialties like poutine in Canada and chili cheese fries in the South adding to their global appeal. The enduring misconception about their origin underscores how cultural misunderstandings can shape global food history.^[2]

8 Soccer

The term “soccer,” often viewed as an Americanism, actually originated in England. In the late 19th century, the sport now globally known as football was formally named “association football” to distinguish it from rugby football. British schoolboys began shortening “association” to “assoc” and adding the playful suffix “-er,” creating the word “soccer.” The term was widely used in England alongside “football” for decades before falling out of favor in the mid-20th century.

Ironically, while England abandoned “soccer,” the term took root in the U.S., where “football” refers to the entirely different sport of American football. The use of “soccer” in America and other countries like Canada, Australia, and South Africa reflects the global influence of British colonial and linguistic traditions. Today, debates over the term’s legitimacy often resurface during international tournaments, but its origin as a British creation is a fact that surprises many.^[3]

7 Hamburger

The “hamburger” takes its name from Hamburg, Germany, where minced beef patties were a popular dish among sailors and dockworkers in the 19th century. Known as the “Hamburg steak,” this preparation involved grinding beef, seasoning it, and cooking it to create a hearty and economical meal. German immigrants brought the concept to the United States, where it was eventually adapted into the sandwich form we recognize today by placing the patty between two pieces of bread.

The evolution of the hamburger into an American icon took place at events like the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, where vendors sold the sandwich as a quick and affordable meal. By the mid-20th century, fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King had turned hamburgers into a global phenomenon. Despite its name, the modern hamburger is far removed from its German origins, showcasing how cultural adaptation and commercialization can transform a humble dish into a worldwide staple.^[4]

6 Pajamas

The word “pajamas” derives from the Hindi and Urdu term pajama, which translates to “leg clothing.” These loose-fitting trousers, tied at the waist, were traditionally worn in South Asia and became popular with British colonists during the 18th and 19th centuries. They brought the garment and its name back to Europe, where it was initially adopted as casual loungewear before evolving into sleepwear.

Pajamas became a symbol of luxury and modernity in Europe and America during the early 20th century. Wealthy individuals often wore elaborate silk or embroidered pajama sets, while middle-class families embraced more affordable cotton versions. The term’s adoption into Western fashion illustrates how colonial encounters influenced global clothing trends. Today, pajamas are a ubiquitous part of sleepwear worldwide. However, their origins in South Asia remain a lesser-known part of their history.^[5]

5 Panama Hat

Despite its name, the Panama hat originated not in Panama but in Ecuador. These lightweight straw hats, woven from the toquilla palm plant, were crafted by Ecuadorian artisans as early as the 17th century. The misnomer arose in the 19th century when these hats were exported en masse through Panama, a major trading hub. Workers building the Panama Canal in the early 20th century popularized the hats due to their practicality in the hot, humid climate.

The Panama hat’s global fame skyrocketed when President Theodore Roosevelt was photographed wearing one during his visit to the canal’s construction site in 1906. This image cemented the hat’s association with Panama rather than its true Ecuadorian origins. Even today, the name persists, though Ecuador has campaigned to reclaim recognition for this iconic accessory, which remains one of its most celebrated exports.^[6]

4 Cantaloupe

The cantaloupe, a beloved melon, takes its name from the town of Cantalupo near Rome, where the fruit was first cultivated in Europe during the 15th century. It was introduced to the region by Armenian monks, who brought seeds from their homeland. The fruit quickly gained favor among European nobility, becoming a symbol of luxury and exotic taste.

In modern times, the term “cantaloupe” creates some confusion. In the United States, it refers to the orange-fleshed melon with a netted rind, but in Europe, the name often applies to smoother-skinned varieties. This linguistic divide highlights the fruit’s long journey from its Middle Eastern origins to its various interpretations around the globe, reflecting how regional adaptations shape the identity of food.^[7]

3 Molotov Cocktail

The term “Molotov cocktail” emerged during the Winter War of 1939–1940 between the Soviet Union and Finland. The Finnish people coined the term as a sarcastic jab at Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who had infamously claimed that Soviet bombers were delivering “food baskets” to Finland, even as they were dropping bombs. Finnish soldiers created these homemade incendiary devices—glass bottles filled with flammable liquid and a rag wick—to counter Soviet tanks, mockingly referring to them as “cocktails for Molotov.”

The name stuck, and the Molotov cocktail became an enduring symbol of resistance, used in conflicts and uprisings worldwide. Its simplicity and effectiveness have made it a staple of guerilla warfare and protest movements. While it originated in Finland, the term has transcended its historical context, symbolizing defiance against oppressive regimes or overwhelming odds.^[8]

2 Saxophone

The saxophone, a cornerstone of jazz and popular music, owes its name to its inventor, Adolphe Sax. A Belgian instrument maker, Sax patented the saxophone in 1846 with the goal of bridging the gap between brass and woodwind instruments. It was designed to provide the projection of a brass instrument while maintaining the flexibility and tonal richness of a woodwind. Initially intended for military and orchestral use, the saxophone was slow to gain widespread adoption.

Its rise to prominence came in the early 20th century, particularly in the jazz scene, where musicians like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane transformed it into an instrument of unparalleled expressiveness. The saxophone’s distinctive name honors its creator. However, its versatility has made it a universal symbol of innovation and artistry in music.^[9]

1 Jeep

The origin of the term “Jeep” is often attributed to military slang during World War II. The U.S. Army’s General Purpose (GP) vehicle, used for reconnaissance and transport, was nicknamed “Jeep” as a phonetic shortening of “GP.” Another theory ties the name to the character “Eugene the Jeep” from the Popeye comic strip—a small, versatile creature capable of navigating any terrain, much like the vehicle itself.

During the war, the Jeep became an icon of mobility and efficiency, symbolizing American ingenuity on the battlefield. After the war, it transitioned seamlessly into civilian life, becoming a popular off-road vehicle and a cultural symbol of adventure. The Jeep’s legacy continues today, but its quirky name remains one of the most interesting aspects of its story.^[10]

It’s no secret that couples often speak their own language with one another. When two people become close, they develop their own inside jokes, codes, and nicknames. When we see others doing this, especially in public, it can quickly go from cute to sickening.

However, cutesy nicknames and baby talk between two people in love may actually be part of a cycle that only strengthens their bond. When two people in a relationship have a secret language, it draws them closer together. And when two people are exceptionally close, they invariably create some sort of special code to speak together.

These codes quickly become very important. One study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that a couple’s ridiculous nicknames and sneaky code words had a direct positive connection to their relationship satisfaction.

Other studies have found that couples who maintain a five-to-one ratio of positive-to-negative interactions tend to remain happy. That seems like a given, but the role that secret language plays in that is dramatic.

Using silly pet names and cracking inside jokes is a fast way to make both partners feel special, and that ramps up the number of positive interactions faster than less cutesy conversation. It’s no wonder that all cultures seem to have their own strange-sounding but absolutely standard pet names.

10 Sweet Pea, Poppet, And Possum
English

To the average English speaker, these nicknames likely don’t seem too abnormal. “Sweet pea” is a reasonably common nickname in the United States, particularly in the Southeast. In part, this owes to the small flower’s beauty and the luck of having the word “sweet” in its name.

On the other hand, it likely has something to do with the sweet pea plant’s historic reputation as an aphrodisiac. As an aside, all varieties of sweet pea produce toxins and should not be used to induce relations, no matter how sweet they may be.

“Poppet” is far more common in the United Kingdom, although it is quite dated now. While “love” is a far more popular pet name, “poppet” is still in use and is far weirder. It started as a pet name back when the term referred chiefly to a puppet or doll.

In some circles, such as those populated by modern-day witches, it still does. This is likely why the nickname comes across as so strange. True, it can be read as referring to a loved one as a cute little doll. But it can also be interpreted as calling your significant other your puppet, which is a little bit supervillain for the modern paramour.^[1]

Down under, “possum” is a perfectly acceptable nickname for your lover. For non-Australian women dating Australian men, this is a problem. The continent of Australia has a reputation for taking perfectly normal animals and turning them into something monstrous.

However, the trend is reversed for the Australian possum. Whereas most of the world’s opossums (a different animal than a possum) tend to be viewed as massive rats that rummage in trash cans and play dead when noticed, Australia’s possums look a bit more soft, fluffy, and friendly. So, despite the culture clash, it isn’t much worse than a lover using “kitten” as a pet name.

9 Mon Chou
French

There are many French pet names that are fairly well-known due to their popularity in the media. Mon coeur (“my heart”), ma moitie (“my other half”), ma cherie (“my darling”), and mon tresor (“my treasure”) are all terms of endearment that we tend to hear in soap operas or anytime a charming foreigner appears on-screen.

Mon chou is less commonly heard beyond the French-speaking populations of the world but is widespread within them. It translates easily to “my cabbage” and is similar to English pet names like “honey,” “pumpkin,” or even “cutie pie.”^[2]

To the French ear, it isn’t strange sounding at all and tends to be understood to mean “my favorite one.” The French may have a better view of cabbage than many of us. But what makes mon chou an interesting pet name is really its variations.

French is a language with many diminutive forms that lovers use to amp up the cuteness and sickly-sweet sound of the phrase. Ma choupette is the feminine form which uses the diminutive -ette by default. Mon choupinou for men and ma choupinette for women is one way that speakers simply make the word sound cuter.

A more exaggerated form of this is mon chouchou and ma chouchoutte. Finally, there is mon petit chou (“my little cabbage”).

8 Anata
Japanese

Japanese is not a language for terms of endearment as we often think of them. In Japan, levels of familiarity are often achieved by altering the level of formality used, adding and removing honorifics, and chopping names into shorter nicknames.

The most common way to refer to a person in Japanese is with their last name and the honorific -san. Anything more familiar than that can be said to be a term of endearment and a sign of closeness. Using close language when there is no such closeness is a good way to earn disdain.

But when there is closeness, the honorific may switch first. For a younger girl, you may use -chan at the end of her name. For a younger boy, you may use -kun. For a close friend from childhood, one might go so far as to add -cchi to the end of their name or to just one syllable of their name. Taichiro may become Tacchi to a close friend or lover.

As stated above, using familiarity where there is none often creates problems in Japanese conversations. For this reason, many don’t even use the word anata (“you”) so often as they do the person’s name with an appropriate honorific. Due to this particular quirk of Japanese, anata has become a perfectly acceptable pet name that married women often use to refer to their husbands.

In other words, it is normal to refer to one’s husband as “you” and count it as a pet name. To go a step further in Japanese, a woman might playfully refer to her husband as anta, a much more casual and relaxed form of anata that is considered extremely rude when said to a stranger.^[3]

Imagine calling a stranger on the street “sweetheart” or “dumpling,” and that’s fairly close to the reaction. But one way of translating anta does pretty much boil down to calling your partner “hey you.”

7 Gordo/Gorda
Spanish

In Latin American countries like Ecuador and Argentina, they tell it like it is when it comes to pet names. Nicknames tend toward the descriptive, which leads to the usual sort of compliments like chiquito/a (“little one”) or lindo/a (“beautiful”).

However, it also paves the way for descriptive nicknames like pobrecito/a (“poor little one”), loco/a (“crazy”), viejo/a (“old man/woman”), flaco/a (“skinny”), and, of course, gordo/a (“fatty”). All those are appropriate pet names and observations without much stigma attached.

A speaker of Latin American Spanish may call a close friend or family member any of these to their face without reproach, and lovers may croon softly to one another with the exact same words.

These are just descriptive words. In some ways, it’s stranger to think that we can’t describe people honestly without insulting them in English-speaking countries. It is the context that makes all the difference.

When calling someone “fat” or “skinny” in English, the understood context is that the person has failed in some way to manage their own body shape. When one is called gordo/a, the implication is most often that the person is healthy and eating well.^[4]

There are times when someone is too far removed to be using such blunt descriptors, but a significant other will happily toss around gordo/a anytime and mean no offense. If you date someone from these areas, your in-laws will happily and innocently inform you when you look a bit plump.

6 Mijn Poepie
Dutch

The people of the Netherlands have a similar reputation for blunt communication. There is a no-fuss approach to conversation that means people will say what they mean and mean what they say. Anyone who doesn’t may come across as insincere or, worse, a liar.

The Dutch maintain that mincing words wastes time and energy that could be put toward better things, while many English-speakers blush at the things a Dutch friend might say. Despite the culture clash, the approach works well for the people of the Netherlands. In 2013, UNICEF ranked the children of various countries based on their overall sense of well-being. Dutch kids were right on top.^[5]

So, what sort of pet names are used in such an idyllic place?

Mijn poepie for starters. This charming turn of phrase translates to “my little poop.” This term is used in romantic and platonic relationships and with both adults and children. It may also be one big reason why the Dutch don’t have a reputation for romance among other European countries. Its close cousin, scheetje (“little fart”), may be the nail in that coffin.

But English speakers shouldn’t raise too big of a stink about it, considering that “poopsie” is a pet name still in use. At least one gentleman was willing to admit to calling his wife “poopstink” on the worldwide web where all could see and read it.

Just to be fair, the Dutch also have many perfectly usual pet names. Schat (“treasure“), lekker ding (“delicious thing”), and dropje (“licorice”) all have reasonably normal meanings.

5 Mausezahnchen
German

Mausezahnchen is one of many long, silly compound phrases that Germans love to bandy about among loved ones. This one just happens to mean “little mouse tooth.”

German nouns are a funny thing on their own. Adjectives get smashed onto nouns to make long word chains regularly, so lovey-dovey Germans have to step it up if they want to make something appropriately ridiculous to call their beaus.

“Mouse” is a common and acceptable term of endearment in Germany. So lovers there don’t likely experience the same shudder that some English speakers might upon being called something that resides in a rodent’s mouth.

The list of massive, cutesy compounds is quite long. Igelschnauzchen breaks down to “little hedgehog snout,” honigkuchenpferd means “honey-cake horse,” and knutschkugel translates to “smooch ball.”^[6]

If you peruse a longer list of German endearments, you may notice some similarities to previous items on this list. Moppelchen means something like “little chubby person,” similar to gordo/a. Hasenfurzchen mimics the Dutch scheetje by calling a loved one a “fart,” but one-ups it by making it a much cuter “bunny fart.”

German pet names are also chock-full of animals and sweets, including bears, bunnies, mice, hedgehogs, strawberries, and tarts. One particularly ambitious appellation, schnuckiputzihasimausierdbeertortchen, means “cutie-pie-bunny-mouse-strawberry-tart.” It’s not so much a sweet nothing as a sweet everything-but-the-kitchen-sink.

4 Moosh Bokhoradet
Persian

This Persian phrase translates to “a mouse should eat you,” which is a little more threatening than charming if you aren’t familiar with it. The phrase might be better understood to mean something like a mouse could eat you or, to explain further, you are something so small that a mouse could swallow you whole.

It essentially means that the recipient of the compliment is cute. Children are more often than not subjected to cheek pinching while an adult cheerfully informs them of their suitability to become part of a mouse’s balanced breakfast.

This is one of the more colorful Persian affectionate phrases, but there are a few others that are definitely worth noting. Jeegareto bokhoram (“I want to eat your liver”) and jeegare man-ee (“you are my liver”) are not ways of indicating that Hannibal Lecter levels of cannibalism are about to ensue. Instead, these are common ways of pledging one’s love.^[7]

Along the same lines, ghorbanat beram means “may I be sacrificed for you.” It earns its notation here for the drama factor alone, but the meaning is genuine. If a Persian speaker says any of these three phrases, they want you to know that they would do anything for you. They might still feed you to a mouse, though.

3 Ywn Ghzal
Arabic

Ywn ghzal refers to the hypnotic eyes of a gazelle. Abd Al-malik Ibn Marwan, born 646/647 in Medina, Arabia, was the fifth caliph, the leader of a Muslim community of the Umayyad Arab dynasty centered in Damascus. He also historically once caught a gazelle with such hauntingly beautiful and enchanting eyes that he had to release the animal.

It is said that the gazelle’s eyes reminded him of his beloved’s own mesmerizing stare. In Arabic poetry, a woman’s gaze is often described as lethal spears that snag a man and keep him captive. Thus, men will use this phrase to woo a woman whose spell they feel they are under, especially if the feeling is not mutual.

Ghazal, pronounced a bit like “guzzle,” itself may also be used as a pet name, as women in poetry were often metaphorically referred to as gazelles. In these poems, hunters would often be struck by the stare of a gazelle and would linger on in lovesickness until they died.

Fittingly, the term ghazal is also the name of a form of Arabic poetry where the focus is on sexual desire, the pursuit of love, and sometimes mysticism and religion. These beautiful medieval poems follow a complex rhyme scheme where words are repeated at the ends of lines while only the preceding content changes.^[8]

2 Negao
Brazilian Portuguese

In English-speaking countries, we rarely refer to people to their faces by a descriptor. This tends to be reserved for describing someone to a third person who may not know the individual. Openly describing a person to his face can be considered rude. After all, we know what we look like more often than not.

Similar to the culture shock of gordo/a in Spanish, Portuguese also uses descriptors as a normal and acceptable way to refer to a friend. Alemao (“German”) or Polaco (“Pole”) are used to call white friends regardless of their actual ethnicity or nationality.

Similarly, negao is used to refer to a black friend. The term usually isn’t meant offensively. Like gordo/a, it’s a simple descriptor. It’s a racial variation of amigao (“big friend”), which is complimentary.^[9]

However, it has caused confusion for many dark-skinned, English-speaking transplants in Brazil. Skin tone is very important to the equation—Brazilian races break down to indigenous, white, yellow, brown, and black.

Race is complex in Brazil and sometimes difficult for foreigners to understand. Negao is no more negative than Alemao unless a rude tone is used, but that doesn’t mean that Brazil is without its racial tensions. Families will often be composed of people who are classified as white, yellow, brown, or black, but there is a clear hierarchy.

Tightly curled black hair is referred to as cabelo ruim (“bad hair”), and being viewed as not black is a huge social boost for Brazilians. In recent years, Brazil has tried to downplay this and its history in the slave trade. Naturally, that’s easier said than done. Nevertheless, referring to someone’s race remains a common term of endearment.

1 Ben Dan
Chinese

Ben dan is a term that women often use playfully with their husbands and boyfriends. It means “dumb egg.” It has its origins in schoolyard bullies and is about as offensive as calling something stupid or silly.

Eggs work hard in Mandarin to fill out the insult roster. Huai dan (“naughty egg”) is used for bad people, and hun dan (“confused egg”) functions similarly to the word “bastard” in English.

Finally, wan dan (“finished egg”) is an expletive. In conversation, it can be used to say someone is in deep trouble. So when a woman calls her husband ben dan, she is teasing him that he is silly or maybe in some kind of playful trouble.^[10]

Mandarin Chinese has its share of beautiful terms of endearment as well. A term pronounced chenyu luoyan translates as the seemingly nonsensical phrase “diving fish, swooping geese.” The phrase tells two Chinese stories at once, though.

The first is about Xi Shi, a woman so beautiful that her face could make fish forget to swim and geese forget to fly. Thus, the fish would dive while absently staring at her and the geese would swoop to the ground for the same reason. Wang Zhaojun was another historical beauty responsible for grounding the geese, and lovers can liken their beloved to both women in one fell swoop using this phrase.

Renee Chandler is an Atlanta-based graphic designer and writer. She is currently coauthoring a novel that you can preview and support on Patreon at www.patreon.com/pterohog.

Ever heard a doctor use terms like “tracheotomy,” “dysphagia,” or “haematopoiesis” and thought, “What in the world does that even mean, and how did they remember it?” You aren’t alone. Even medical professionals themselves can struggle to learn these terms at first. However, once you understand how these words are made, learning them gets a whole lot easier.

Medical language is built almost entirely on affixes, additions to a word that gives it a specific meaning. For example, in regular language, you often hear “anti-,” which you probably know means “opposed to.” When a product comes out on the market called “antifreeze,” you go, “Hey! That must stop or prevent freezing.” These cues help us navigate the language, and it does the exact same thing in medicine.

10The Dreaded Captain ‘-Itis’

This fun-loving word means “inflammation.” Inflammation of course sounds like fire, and it also feels like fire because it kind of is. It is the process by which a part of your body swells, gets all red and puffy, and usually burns like you got on the wrong side of a hornet nest (in fact, that may be exactly what happened to you). This is due to your body sending tons of fluids with all manner of healing properties to the affected site, and as more fluids arrive, the pressure increases, the area swells, and things get all hot and bothered.

Now you know that if your general practitioner tacks “-itis” onto another word, you can discern that something is inflamed (which, in all honesty, you’d probably already know because it burns like an SOB). You most likely have heard “-itis” preceded by “bronch-” or “derma-,” which mean “bronchioles” (those branch-like tubes that stretch down into your lungs) and “skin” respectively. So if your skin is all red and swollen, it is dermatitis. If your coughing has irritated the bronchioles and it feels like your lungs are burning, it is bronchitis.

Here is the tricky business with “-itis”: While it may tell you that something is inflamed, it won’t tell you why or how it got that way. Bronchitis is a symptom, not a cause. It could be caused by anything. A cold might make you cough, which injures the bronchioles, which makes them inflamed—or maybe you are a heavy smoker and have done some damage—or maybe you are a maniac who drank bleach. “-Itis” tells you none of those things.

9From The Greek Word “Haima,” Meaning Blood

This one has a lot of variations like “hemat-,” “haemato-,” “haem-,” and “hem-,” which all refer to blood, and “hema-” and “hemo-,” which specifically mean “blood.” If you are an alien and are unaware, we humans are big on blood. We need it big time. So when a doctor says “hee-muh” or “hee-moh,” you know that something is up with your blood.

One “hema-” disorder to watch out for is hematemesis. This is when you vomit blood or there is some blood in your vomit. There are a multitude of reasons one could vomit blood, and the bad news is most of them are very dangerous. These include but are not limited to: bleeding ulcers (holes in your stomach), tumors in the stomach or esophagus, hemorraghic fever (your brain is bleeding due to an infection causing a fever), and my personal favorite: severe radiation exposure. Hematemesis is a sign of some very dangerous conditions, and if you’re thinking, “Hey! I just vomited blood this morning after eating some Frosted Flakes,” please stop reading this and go to the hospital.

8You Are What You Eat

Here is a fun one. “-Phagy” refers to the act of feeding upon whatever word precedes. This term is used widely in biology to describe the diets of many animals and insects. For example, coprophagy is a nasty habit that plagues fuzzy little rabbits and involves them eating their own feces.

Hopefully you recognize the prefix on “hematophagy.” Hematophagy is the act pf consuming blood, the pastime of some of our favorite novel, TV, and movie characters. In animal biology, this crops up with unfortunate frequency, from Desmodus rotundus the vampire bat, which laps up the blood of sleeping mammals after cutting them with razor sharp fangs, to the ire of every human ever, Culicidae. the mosquito.

7No Job? You Have An-Income

The prefix “a/an-” is one of those things that’s everywhere, but you never noticed it.

A good example of this is “anaerobic” and “aerobic,” which you’ve probably heard mentioned. This specifically relates to work done by cells that require oxygen. Aerobic processes require oxygen. Anaerobic exercises, which don’t require oxygen, are of a higher intensity and will lead you to fatigue more quickly. If your doctor prescribes some exercise of either type, you will know what he or she is talking about.

6Try A Junk Food-Ectomy

The suffix “-ectomy” is attached to what is being cut out of you. A common way you may have heard this is an appendectomy, which involves removing an appendix, usually due to appendicitis. “What’s appendicitis?” you ask. Really, you forgot already? Go back to the start of the article.

Another good example, and one that makes a man like me cringe, is a vasectomy. This procedure involves the clamping of a tube called the vas deferens that connects the testicles to the urethra and allows the passage of sperm. Once it’s clamped, it’s “goodbye, swimmers.” However, semen will continue to be produced and released during ejaculation. It is possible that trace sperm are still kicking it in the urethra after the procedure, so patients must still use contraceptives until there is no sperm detected in their urine.

Fun fact: The body still produces sperm despite the cutting of the vas deferens, but it is simply reabsorbed by the body. You can decide for yourself if that is cool or creepy.

5A Pumpkin Pie-Otomy Is My Favorite

Related to the “-ectomy” is the suffix “-otomy.” Instead of cutting out, an “-otomy”cuts into. A perfect example of this might be something you would see in a hospital soap opera. When someone has an allergic reaction and can’t breathe, the trachea (commonly referred to as the “windpipe”) would be cut open to clear the airway. This procedure is called a tracheotomy.

Another one you might have heard of is a gastrotomy. If you can figure out what is being cut into here, 10 points to Gryffindor! (Just kidding. If anyone is going to cut into your stomach it would be Ravenclaw; they seem to be the scientifically minded ones.) Note that a gastrostomy, however, is the insertion of a feeding tube through the abdomen, so mind the “s.”

4A Whole New Meaning For Cold-Hearted

“Cry(o)-” translates to “cold” in Greek and is used in procedures and for afflictions. One such example of this is a cryoablation, which involves destroying tissue for the benefit of the patient.

This is one I’ve actually experienced, when my super ventricular tachycardia was limiting my quality of life. For some background information, this is a condition in which the highest ventricular chamber of the heart produces an abnormally fast heart rate. (“Cardia” means heart and “tachy” means rapid—those are a couple bonus affixes for you.) To fix this, I went under for a procedure called a catheter ablation, in which a tiny tube with a camera is inserted into a major artery and reaches the heart. Once it’s there, the problem cells are destroyed with cold or heat (in my case, cold).

3Dys-Pepsi, The Discomfort In Drinking Pepsi

One word you are bound to hear in your life is “dyspepsia.” The prefix “dys” means anything bad, difficult, abnormal, or defective. The other half, “-pepsia,” means digestion. So this term ends up being used for a host of problems relating to digestive discomfort. This can encompass a range of problems like nausea, heartburn, indigestion, and upset stomach (though not diarrhea, which would complete Pepto-Bismol’s famous symptom list).

2This Is Bound To Be Epi-C

“Epi-” refers to something being on or upon. There are many examples of this and generally are involved in treatments. An epidural, for example, is often performed on women giving birth. It is an injection of painkillers through the lower back onto the nerves, which then become desensitized. These nerves carry signals from the uterus to the brain, and by deadening the nerves before they complete their path, voila, no pain.

Note that an epi-pen is not an example of this prefix as “epi” here refers to epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, a hormone produced naturally. In the case of an epinephrine injection, the hormone is concentrated.

1Just Drink Water

“Hepat-” and “hepatic-” mean “of or pertaining to the liver.” The study of the liver is hepatology, and the most famous medical term with this prefix is hepatitis.

Please tell me you remember what “-itis” means—oh good, you do. Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver. Types A, B, and C are the most common of the infectious types and the ones everyone should be vaccinated for at some point in their life. Many causes of non-viral hepatitis have also been discovered, such as toxic hepatitis caused by chemicals and autoimmune hepatitis, in which the body’s immune system attacks the liver. There’s also my preferred method, alcoholic hepatitis, caused by overconsumption of alcohol. All of these can temporarily or permanently damage the liver, causing scarring labeled as cirrhosis. Other consequences can include liver cancer, liver failure, and of course no medical warning is complete without death.

Next time you see your friends, throw a few of these terms around. Then you can seem smart and sophisticated. Your secret’s safe with me. However, if you attempt to do this with your doctor, symptoms may include scorning, stink eye, and loss of physician.

My name is Rick Loxton. I am a 21-year-old small town guy with a penchant for writing and a bad habit of spending far too much time on the Internet. I can be reached socially on my twitter account @RG_Loxton. Thanks for your time.

It’s been said that marketing is more about selling an idea than a product. There’s an early episode of Mad Men in which Don Draper comes up with a way to sell cigarettes by simply saying the tobacco is toasted, even though every brand has toasted tobacco. It doesn’t really matter what you’re trying to sell, just use words that make it sound enticing. You don’t even technically need to lie, just say stuff people want to hear. Even if that means saying things that mean nothing.

10. Corinthian Leather is Just Leather

Is there anything like the smell of a new car? It’s hard to even explain what it is. Maybe some of the paint, some deodorizers and cleaners used in production, and possibly even that rich, Corinthian leather.

Mmm, can you already feel it? Soft, supple, and luxurious? Yep, Corinthian leather is the top of the line upholstery for your car and why shouldn’t it be? It comes from Corinth, right? The Ancient Greek city once sacked by Romans and that currently has a population of under 40,000? They probably know tons about leather. 

In reality, Corinthian leather has nothing to do with one another because Corinthian leather isn’t a thing. It was made up by ad execs for Ricardo Montalban. Yeah, Khan from Star Trek.

As the story goes, Montalban was doing the play Don Juan when he got to Detroit and Chrysler and its ad agency saw him perform. The executives loved Montalban and wanted him to promote the Cordoba, which sounded Spanish and fit Montalban’s sexy mystique. 

They got him to talk about Corinthian leather because, in his accent, that word sounded suave as hell. Much cooler than just “leather” alone. It was just cheap leather, it didn’t come from anywhere special at all, but now it sounded like it did and people wanted it. 

9. There’s No Such Thing as Sushi Grade Fish

About five million Americans eat sushi once a month and it’s safe to say it’s probably the most popular Japanese cuisine in North America. Some people love it enough to try their hand at doing it themselves even though it can take years, even over a decade, to master it in Japan. 

One thing people concern themselves with when it comes to making sushi is the quality of the fish. You need sushi grade fish, right? You can find sushi grade fish for sale at markets but what they rarely tell you is that it doesn’t mean anything.

Things get a little complicated when trying to understand this because, in America, the FDA has guidelines for fish if it’s being served raw. Their Parasite Destruction Guarantee says that, in order to serve a raw product it must be “frozen and stored at a temperature of -20°C (-4°F) or below for a minimum of 168 hours (7 days).” That will ensure you’re at minimum risk for parasites in the fish. But is that sushi grade? No.

There is no regulation in North America for the actual term “sushi grade.” It may be used by vendors who meet that FDA standard, but the FDA doesn’t govern the use of that label so anyone can say any fish at all is sushi grade for no reason at all. 

Sushi-grade was used as a marketing term in the early 2000s to convince restaurants to expand beyond tuna when trying to sell raw fish. It was a nice term that sounded official and convinced them to expand their horizons.

8. Superfruit Is Just a Vague Marketing Term

Everyone wants to sell you the next big thing and a buzz term that showed up a few years back was “superfood.” This has been narrowed down in some circles as “superfruit.” Things like pomegranate, acai, Goji berries and even blueberries have been called superfruits, mostly because they have antioxidants or whatever other nutrient someone is trying to push as a miracle.

In reality, a superfruit is a fruit. It may be a good fruit and it’s great if you love it and want to eat it, but it’s no “better” than other fruits. That’s kind of the rub with a word like “super,” it doesn’t have a lot of objective meaning. 

The European Union banned the label “superfood” back in 2007 unless manufacturers could provide evidence of how that item was good for your health. . 

7. All Salt Is Sea Salt 

Once upon a time if you went to the store to buy salt you’d find boxes of iodized salt and shakers and maybe some coarse or kosher salt. Now when you go, you can find gray salt, pink salt, Atlantic sea salt, Celtic salt, black salt and probably a few dozen more.

Sea salt is big, especially in marketing other products. Sea salt chips, for instance, or pretzels coated with coarse sea salt. You know it’s good if it came from the sea! Except in a very literal way, all salt is sea salt. 

Even if the ocean that it came from dried up hundreds or thousands of years ago, it came from the sea at some point. And it is chemically exactly the same as all other salt, it just might have a handful of other random, non-salt minerals included in tiny amounts to tweak the color.

Modern day marketing uses terms like “sea salt” to make it seem different from “regular” salt and therefore higher quality or more nutritious but it’s all the same in the end.

6. Angus Is Just a Breed of Cattle and Doesn’t Imply Quality

People take their beef seriously and any restaurant that is trying to entice you to buy steaks or burgers isn’t just going to have beef on the menu. They’re going to seduce you with tales of just how great that beef is. It’s going to be USDA Prime beef and maybe, if you’re really fancy, it’ll be certified Angus beef. That has to be good. It’s certified! It earned a certificate!

So what makes beef certified Angus? Well, it has to come from an Angus cow. Like Holstein or Guernsey, Angus is a breed of cow. They’re the black ones, and to qualify as Angus, a cow has to be mostly black. Then, to be certified Angus beef, the meat has to have a specific amount of marbling and fat, muscle thickness and so on. 

In terms of taste, you probably won’t notice any difference between Angus beef and any other beef of the same quality because it’s all beef. If it has the same fat content, it’s going to be pretty much identical. The Angus label, which is usually used to make beef seem higher quality, tastier or just better than “normal” beef is nothing but marketing. 

The big difference comes down to Angus vs Certified Angus. The certified meat is at least inspected to ensure the highest quality in terms of marbling which affects flavor. Again, if you had beef from a different breed that had the same thickness, the same fat marbling, etc, it will taste the same. 

If someone is selling Angus beef that doesn’t claim to be certified, then it can be any quality of Angus. This is what fast food companies do with their Angus burgers, and you end up paying more for beef that is no better quality than what is normally on the menu.. 

5. Portobello, Cremini and Button Mushrooms Are All the Same

Not everyone enjoys mushrooms but plenty of people do and the mushroom industry is worth over $50 billion per year. Matsutake mushrooms can cost as much as $2000 per pound, so it’s easy to see where all that cash is coming from. 

Marketing plays a big part in selling mushrooms and nowhere is that more apparent than in the world of portobello mushrooms. For those of us who can’t shell of a few grand for matsutakes or truffles, the portobello is the more accessible fancy mushroom. You’ll see them on menus when a restaurant wants to elevate a dish above just boring old mushrooms. Or at least trick you into thinking that.

In reality, there’s no such thing as a portobello mushroom. Obviously it’s an actual mushroom, but it’s no different from those little white button mushrooms you see on the shelf of every grocery store in North America and that’s because they’re exactly the same mushroom.

Little white button mushrooms turn brown as they age. At a certain point they will be marketed as cremini mushrooms, probably right next to their pale, younger selves on the shelf. But when they grow big enough, they get upgraded to portobello. All three mushrooms are the same fungus, just at different stages in its lifespan. Marketing makes it seem like you’re getting something fancier or higher quality. 

4. No Tears Shampoo for Kids Didn’t Have a Specific Meaning

Ever open your eyes in the shower with a headful of shampoo and instantly regret it as the lather oozes into your eyes and burns into your skull? Good thing they invented tear-free shampoo so you can lather your eyes until the cows come home. Except that’s not really how it works and the concept of “no tears” shampoo was more marketing than practical formula.

There was never a standard formula to govern what “no tears” means between brands of shampoo. Until 2013, Johnson and Johnson used to include formaldehyde in their no tears baby shampoo which you probably don’t need a degree in chemistry to know was a bad thing to put in your eyes. 

More confusing was that, for some years, there was a debate about whether no tears meant tears as in liquid that comes from your eyes or tears as in rips and breaks in your hair. There were commercials that made it clear the formula was a detangler so that, when you comb your hair later, it wouldn’t tear at your skull and cause you to cry. 

Johnson and Johnson, post formaldehyde, said their formula meant no tears as in no crying if shampoo gets in your eyes because their formula is made up of larger molecules designed to be less harsh to eyes and skin. All of this means the marketing term “no tears” meant very little to most people since it was widely open to interpretation. 

3. Cage Free and Free-Range Might Not Mean What You Think

Once upon a time you’d go to a store and buy eggs. Now you can pick Omega-3 eggs, organic eggs, cage-free eggs, free range eggs and a few dozen others. Some of those things mean something and others probably don’t mean what you think.

Cage-free eggs means that yes, the hen that laid them wasn’t in a cage. But it doesn’t mean she was outside, either. These hens are kept in rooms where they can roam and have unlimited access to food and water. However, the chickens often fight each other and poor ventilation means they may live in terrible air quality. 

Free-range is more insidious. It sounds like the hens can wander, but in reality it means they can “theoretically” wander free. The place they are kept must have a door to the outside, but there’s literally no rule that says a farmer has to open it, or that the access they have to outside is anything beyond a small cage. Look for “certified humane” if you want more assurance they had access to space outside. 

Another label, farm fresh, has no meaning at all. Chickens are all raised on farms so it’s just filler to say this. The farm could be in the fiery pits of hell and the eggs would still be farm fresh. Likewise, the word natural has no meaning because an egg, by definition, is natural.

2. Saltwater Taffy and Regular Taffy Are the Same Thing

Would you rather have taffy or saltwater taffy, assuming you’re a taffy person at all? There’s no reason to stress any longer as there’s no difference between the two. “Saltwater” taffy is just a thing to make it sound better. It’s not even made from saltwater.

According to legend, a taffy shop in Atlantic City was flooded one day thanks to some angry sea levels. A customer wanted to buy some taffy, and the owner joked all he had was salt water taffy, thanks to the flood. But he sold what he had, the customer liked it and boom, a new name was created.

1. The Term “Teenager” Was Invented in the 40s

Everyone knows what a teenager is, it’s obvious. But that’s only obvious to use in the present. If you asked someone in the ’30s what a teenager was, you’d be met with an arched eyebrow at best. That’s because the concept of teenagers was invented as a marketing angle in the 1940s.

Teenagers became a recognized phase of life, that sport between childhood and adulthood as society moved away from agrarian roots to city living and manufacturing. To prevent kids from all being chimney sweeps or coal miners, mandatory schooling was created and a clear “new” type of human emerged – the teenager. A little rebellious, a little better educated, and unique in their wants and needs.

Marketers of the world must have rejoiced at this totally new and cross-cultural customer base they had created to sell things to, and which to this day stands as one of the biggest forces in pop culture and marketing as everyone wants to be the next “big thing” for the teens out there.

Physicians don’t just use awful handwriting to stop us from knowing whatever they write. They also use slang to stop us from understanding whatever they are saying.

See Also: Top 10 Codes You Aren’t Meant To Know

Medical terms are sometimes humorous and used to explain some hilarious medical scenario. Others are used to hide more offensive or derogatory statements. And then there is the distinct category of slang used to describe the condition of dying patients, hide controversial medical procedures from their relatives or just refer to the annoying habits of loved ones.

10 John Thomas Sign

The John Thomas, JT or Throckmorton‘s sign is a slang used by physicians to refer to the position of the penis in the X-ray scans of a man’s pelvis. A patient has a positive John Thomas sign if his penis points in the direction of the injured body part and a negative John Thomas sign if it points in the opposite direction.

Some physicians believe the position of the penis in x-ray scans is not always coincidental. For instance, men with hip fractures are likelier to have positive John Thomas signs. Physicians believe this is because patients with hip injuries often rest at an angle to avoid pain and discomfort, causing the penis to point towards the injured hip. Logical . . . but weird.^[1]

9 Slow Code

Physicians sometimes believe a patient cannot be saved, irrespective of what medical procedure is performed on them. At other times, they could even have concerns that resuscitation attempts could cause more harm than good (in the case of survival with horrific related injuries).

However, they do not just abandon the patient to their fate since it could lead to lawsuits, imprisonment, loss of license or worse. So they perform what they call the slow code.

A slow code is a deliberately weak attempt at resuscitating a dying patient. Physicians on a slow code will not perform all the life-saving procedures they should. When they do, they perform it sluggishly, hoping the patient will be dead before they are done.

The slow code is often the fallout of the difficulties in explaining the condition of the patient to their relatives. So the physicians perform the ruse to trick the relatives of the patient into thinking they are really trying to save the dying.

The slow code is a very controversial process, even among nurses and physicians. While some suggest it should only be used as an option of last resort, others insist it is never an option.^[2]

8 Medical Zebra

Doctors in training are often told “When you hear the sound of hooves, think horses, not zebras.” The saying uses horses to refer to common diseases and zebras to refer to rarer diseases. The idea is that almost every human is likelier to see a horse than a zebra, except maybe if you live somewhere in the African savanna or near some wildlife park.

Rare and common diseases often have similar symptoms and a doctor could easily misdiagnose the symptoms of a common ailment as rare. So the saying encourages doctors to assume the symptoms are caused by the common disease and not the rarer disease.

While the slang has probably saved millions from misdiagnoses, it has caused trouble for medical zebras, the slang for patients with rare diseases. Physicians often have a hard time diagnosing people with rare diseases. Medical zebras often visit several physicians and undergo many series of tests before the real cause of their symptoms is discovered.^[3]

7 Frequent Fliers

A frequent flier is a patient who frequently reports to a hospital emergency room for non-emergency reasons. They often arrive the emergency room in ambulances or just walk straight-in without any help. Frequent fliers visit the emergency room so often hospital staff know them by their names.

Little wonder they are also called high-utilizer, super utilizer or GOMER (Get out of my Emergency Room), which we will mention in the next entry.

Some patients become frequent fliers because they do not have insurance and cannot afford a regular doctor visit. So they just go straight to the emergency room where they will always receive treatment. Some have insurance but just prefer to visit the emergency room for unclear reasons.

However, the action of the frequent flier is often costly. One study revealed frequent fliers formed 1% of the patients that visited hospitals in Camden, New Jersey. Yet their visits were 30% of the running costs of these hospitals. Another 2009 study revealed nine patients visited the emergency room of a Texan hospital 2,678 times. Their visits cost the hospital $3 million.^[4]

6 Get Out Of My Emergency Room

In 1978, Dr. Steve Bergman released his novel “The House of God,” which he wrote under the pseudonym, Samuel Shem. The book is about a medical intern in his first year of internship and is based on his real-life experience at the time he was an intern at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, between 1973 and 1974.

In the book, Dr. Bergman revealed some slang used by doctors. One is GOMER, which means Get out of my Emergency Room.

GOMER is a often used for an elderly patient at the brink of death. They are barely alive, cannot perform basic human functions and cannot be saved by medical care. However, they do not die and often go in and out of emergency rooms.

Dr. Bergman also revealed other medical slang like turfing, which refers to the act of referring or transferring a patient to another service. This new service could be another hospital, a nursing home, the patient’s home or even a morgue. A physician who refuses to admit a patient or turfs them to another service even before they are admitted is called a wall.

There is also the sieve, who is a doctor that only accepts a few patients even though they could admit more. These sort of doctors are often considered a problem. A bounce or bounceback is used to refer to a patient that is readmitted. Another is LOL in NAD, which means Little Old Lady in No Apparent Distress.^[5]

5 July Effect

It is said that some doctors advise that people should not allow their friends and families undergo surgeries in teaching hospitals in July. This is because of what physicians call the July effect.

Every July, fresh graduates from medical schools resume work as interns in teaching hospitals. Their inexperience means they often make errors. Lots of errors, which causes an abnormal increase in patient deaths.

Researchers from the University of California proved that the July effect is real after analyzing over 62 million death certificates issued in the US between 1979 and 2006. They discovered that teaching hospitals often saw a 10% increase in deaths in July.^[6]

4 Normal For Norfolk

Normal for Norfolk (or N4N) is a slang for a weird person. It started off as a medical phrase for a patient who cannot correctly describe the symptoms of their ailment or is just odd in some other way. It was also used to refer to a patient from a rural area.

We know the slang is named after Norfolk county in Britain even though its origin is uncertain. One source says doctors at Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital created the phrase to refer to mentally retarded patients. Another source indicates the phrase was created by doctors outside Norfolk over concerns that people there have weird characteristics.

Weird news reports from Norfolk probably reinforced this stereotype. Once upon a time, news agencies reported that police in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, detained a driver carrying a wardrobe on top of his car. The wardrobe was only secured on the car with a bubble wrap. Other news reported that Norfolk farmers were hiring humans as scarecrows. Perhaps one of our British readers can shed some light on this in the comments.^[7]

3 The Daughter From California

The Daughter from California (or Son from California in the case of men) is a medical term for a person who suddenly arrives at a hospital and demands physicians perform some medical procedures to save the life of a dying relative. Some Physicians sometimes swap California with New York.

The Daughter from California is usually angry and pisses the medical staff off. They refuse treatment suggestions, even from fellow relatives, and will continue to force their suggestions on everyone. Physicians consider their actions a syndrome they call Daughter from California syndrome.

The Daughter from California is often a distant relative that has not seen the dying relative in a while. So they are often surprised with how bad the situation has deteriorated. Physicians believe the guilt feelings of being away from the sick relative is often responsible for the behavior of the Daughter from California.^[8]

2 Funny-Looking Kid

The funny-looking kid (FLK) is used to refer to a child with some unknown growth or mental condition. The funny-looking kid often has a strange face. This could be evident in their flat nose bridges, sloppy foreheads, abnormal looking lips among others. Sometimes, their faces are normal but blank and without expression.

To be clear, doctors do not use funny to mean funny in the amusing sense. They use funny to mean odd. Nevertheless, the slang is considered derogatory.

The term is only used for children with abnormal faces caused by unidentified medical conditions. It is not used for children with more common medical conditions like Down Syndrome. The parent could also be called a funny-looking parent (FLP) if they have a similar looking face.^[9]

1 Social Injury Of The Rectum

Sometimes people stick weird things up their anus. And some of these items get so deep they reach the rectum and become irremovable, prompting a visit to the emergency room. Physicians call these sort of incidents “social injury of the rectum.”

Patients with social injury of the rectum often require surgery to remove whatever got stuck up there. Physicians have operated on patients with pens, beer bottles, bowling pins (WTF?!), baseballs, electrical tapes, wine corks, flashlights, cucumbers, fruits and light bulbs stuck in their rectums.

Physicians have also removed larger items like wooden rods, ice picks, a soy sauce bottle, a peanut butter jar, the head of a Barbie doll and a bed post from the rectum of patients.

For understandable reasons, most patients only complain of abdominal pain and refuse to reveal the real issue whenever they get admitted. They only partly confess after x-rays reveal they have got some other weird stuffs up there. We say partly because they sometimes deny putting anything in their anus and provide hilarious suggestions to explain how those items ended up there.

One elderly man said he was using an ice pick to push hemorrhoids into his anus when the ice pick went up his butt (I guess that’s one way to apply Preparation H). Another said he was using a flashlight to force himself to poop when it went in. Yet another unfortunate patient said he was sleepwalking and somehow ended with a light bulb in his rectum. And, finally, a fourth said he fell on a cucumber while showering.

Physicians say people do not always put weird things up their rectum for sexual reasons. Some shove items up their anuses because they enjoy the feeling of getting it removed by physicians (wait . . . isn’t that sexual?) Some also ended up with weird stuff in their rectum after eating it (let that be a warning to any budding sword swallowers reading this!)^[10]

The edges of any language are ragged, torn, messy, and not easily delineated from the next fluttering language. This is the place you’ll find slang—an ever-shifting series of terms, words, phrases, and grammatical quirks that, depending on your perspective, either debase, oversimplify, and cheapen a language or provide it with the color and joy that aids in keeping the given language from becoming overly rigid and utilitarian.

Here’s a list of some of the weirdest, coolest, and most obscure terms used on the streets; in the cantinas, the pubs, and coffee houses; on the farms and the decks of fishing boats; and rarely, if ever, in the halls of academia or on the pages of textbooks.

Related: 10 Foreign Words That Deserve English Translations

10 Sigogglin – Appalachian English, USA

Appalachian dialects are old, perhaps the oldest English language dialects in the continental U.S. What is amazing is that there are still many people who speak this way, allowing terms that are entirely alien to most English speakers to live alongside the modern, everyday language (primarily the broader Southern U.S. dialect). The thing about this particular dialect is that many of the words simply sound like what they describe, without resorting to onomatopoeia. For example, a “jag” is a small amount of something, a “gaum” is a mess, and a “foxfire” refers to any plant or animal life that displays bioluminescence. Concise and beautiful.

Take “Sigogglin” (also “antigoglin”); it refers to a surface or construction that is askew—a combination of “side” and “goggling.” It could be a poorly made cabinet or a muddy slope that one needs to walk across. Both would be a bit sigogglin. See also “slaunchwise,” as in: “I put up that shelf a bit slaunchwise, and now all my books keep sliding off.” To which one would reply, “What? You mean it’s sigogglin, don’t you? Do try to speak properly, good sir.”^[1]

9 Dwankie – “Zef” Dialect, South Africa

Zef is a fascinating sub-culture in South Africa. Many low-income countercultures or “street cultures” around the world seem to be a reaction to social degradation and a lack of opportunity (“gopniks” in Russia, “chavs” in Britain, and “eshay/bogans” in New Zealand and Australia). However, Zef culture in South Africa tends to be more playful, relying on self-parody and a broader reaction to being an Afrikaner in post-Apartheid South Africa. It’s beautifully complex. And brashly simple. More “White trash-sculptors” than simply “white trash.”

Some of the words employed in the Zef version of code-switching Afrikaans/English are similarly playful, thumbing their noses at the primness, the religious conservativism, and the conformity of the older generations. “Dwankie” is a perfect example of this edgy use of language – a combination of “downie” and “wanker” (“downie” being an offensive term derived from Downs Syndrome and “wanker” an English put-down that refers to masturbation—edgy, right?).

The term refers to a person or a situation that saps the fun out of whatever the utterer wants to do. “You don’t want to go to the party? That’s dwankie. You’re dwankie.” The mix of Afrikaans, English, and other African languages form a dynamic, exciting cant, especially when you consider that the sub-culture is focussed on souped-up cars, gold chains, and the ever-weird music of groups like Die Antwoord.^[2]

8 Zhooshy – Polari, England

Some languages and cants develop naturally, born out of the passage of both time and cultures through a population, meandering their way to modern vernacular. Some forms of speech, however, are born from necessity. Numerous “thieves’ argots” have sprung up over the years, secret vocabulary used by a criminal underclass to aid in identifying their brethren or obfuscating their unlawful deeds. “Polari” is a bit different in that the “crime” this cant was designed to hide was simply being gay. A mix of Italian, Cockney rhyming slang, Portuguese, Greek, Romani, and Yiddish (basically, all the languages spoken in London’s East End from the 1700s through to the early 20th century).

Words like “naff” (meaning a bit crappy or kitsch), “barney” (meaning a fight), and “clobber” (meaning clothing) have entered the broader English lexicon. Words like “zhooshy,” alas, have not. It simply means “showy,” and it is a far more “zhooshy” word for it, don’t you think? Despite being pretty much a dead form of speech, the lasting effects of polari on the English language in England are still felt today.^[3]

Fantabulosa!

7 Cachgi Bwm/Cont y Môr – Wenglish/Welsh, Wales

There are many beautiful, untranslatable words in Welsh, “Hiraeth” being chief amongst them (the wistful longing for a place or a time that has gone or is far away, tinged with aching tragedy and sweet memories). Even many Wenglish words have hyper-specific meanings. Take “Cwtch,” maybe the most famous Wenglish word, which is like a hug, but longer, better, and carries more meaning. You can hug a casual acquaintance, but only a person who truly loves you can give you a cwtch.

There is no swearing in Welsh. One must get awfully creative with their pejoratives. Lots of describing what the other person’s mother likes to do on a Saturday evening… It seems that members of the animal kingdom get some special attention here.

“Cachgi bwm” (“sh*t-dog a**hole”) is a South Walian term for a bumblebee. Anyone who has ever been stung by one of these little “diawled” (devils) will see this term as apt. Same goes for the jellyfish that plague the shallow waters of the coast of North Wales. The legend goes that some Gog (colloquial term for a person from North Wales) was swimming off the coast of Anglesey when he was stung by a jellyfish. He shouted, “Cont!” (Yes, it is what you think), causing his mother to scold him for resorting to foul language, both the word and the fact that it was in Wenglish. He then explained that he was merely using the true, scientific name for the sea creature—”Cont y Môr,” a “C*** of the Seas.” Exactly right.^[4]

6 Tapiru – Gyaru-Go, Japan

A lot of people think of weird and wonderful young women wearing crazy, colorful make-up and doll-like clothes when they think of Tokyo’s Harajuku district. That’s apt…or was 20 years ago. The out-there, bombastic style of feminine dress has gone out of vogue in the Land of the Rising Sun. But some ladies stubbornly cling to the early 2000s subcultures that once dominated Japan’s capital.

“Gyaru” girls, who don dark brown make-up with white-eye highlights and unabashedly feminine clothing (all very Jersey Shore), are almost extinct “in the wild,” but their language remains. In fact, this simplified text speech is flourishing. The perfect example is “tapiru”—it is simply a verb attached to “tapioca.” What does this mean? Considering just how popular bubble tea is in East Asia, especially amongst young women, a word that specifically describes the purchase and consumption of the cold, sugary beverage/chewy treat is perfect.^[5] Does the West have an equivalent for a Frappuccino? No!

Take that, Starbucks!

5 “A Tradie with His Stubbie in a Ute” – Strine Slang, Australia

Apart from deadly fauna, a near-psychotic love for ball-carrying sports that cause brain injuries, and sounding like drunken cockneys, the land down under is famous for adding an “ee” noise onto shortened words. Or just shortening words in general. A “tradie” is a tradesman, a “stubbie” is a stubbed can of beer, and a “ute” is a utility vehicle.

Add a pack of “bickies” (biscuits) and a trip to the local “macca’s” (McDonald’s) followed by a visit to the “bottle-o” (liquor store), and you know you’re going to have a good day.

Or a G’day. Mate.^[6]

4 “Tabarnak!” – Quebecois/Joual, Canada

Many people say, “If you want to hear what French sounded like in the 14th century, go to Quebec!” This isn’t a put-down—the dialect in francophone Canada is very close to older forms of French. This is evident in their very worst swear words. They’re all related to church!

“Tabarnak,” “Câlice,” and “Baptême” are the worst of the worst, the most profane, likely to get you punched in the balls if leveled at a random person in Montreal. They mean tabernacle, chalice, and baptism. The historical prominence of Catholicism, coupled with the profanity of using these terms outside the hallowed church, elevates these simple religious words to super-swears (“Tabarnak” is the Quebecois equivalent to “F*ck”).

Mind you, there’s also the phrase you’ll hear when a Quebecer is angry at you—”J’ai le feu au cul”…”I have fire in my ass.” We hope not.^[7]

3 “The patient has come in with a UBI, appears NFN” – Medical Slang, British Hospitals

There’s something besides cheap, easy-to-access medical treatment which comes with nationalized healthcare. Since everyone gets a tax bill to pay for the services doctors provide, one can’t blame healthcare workers for looking slightly askance at patients who come into the ER with preventable injuries and illnesses. Not wanting to offend the sick, NHS workers have developed a secret code when discussing such individuals with their colleagues: “UBI” stands for Unexplained Beer Injury, “PAFO” is Pissed and Fell Over, and a “GROLIES” refers to a middle-class person who isn’t as bright as she thinks she is (Guardian Reader of Low Intelligence in Ethnic Skirt).

The term that is simultaneously quaintly English and deeply offensive is “NFN”—Normal for Norfolk. Norfolk is an isolated, largely rural county, which is stereotypically considered to harbor many inbred farm boys. As notable (fictional) Norfolk resident Alan Partridge once commented, “I’ve seen the big-eared boys on farms.” Charming.^[8]

2 “En rosin i polsen” – Norwegian, Norway

Is your friend an “alkis” with a “sig” hanging out the corner of his mouth? Are you really “keen” to go see the fjords (maybe don’t let your “alkis” friend pilot the boat)? You’ve never been to Norway? “Serr?”

Many Norwegian slang words, as found in many European languages, are shortened versions of longer words. “Alkis” is short for alcoholic, “sig” for cigarette, and “serr” serious/seriously. You may have noticed the English translations for these shortened slang terms; given that Norwegian is a Germanic language, the closeness to English becomes very evident in the slang. Scraping back the complexity of the formal language uncovers the common basis for many words. In fact, the links to the anglosphere are very prominent in the slang—English and American culture popularity in Scandinavia is evident in the sheer number of people there who speak English. “Keen” is quite literally a loanword from English, now commonly used as a slang term among the youth of Norway.

But Norwegian is not English. It harbors some interesting little phrases that only make sense in a Nordic context. If you come across something that is pleasantly surprising, you’d say, “En rosin I polsen” (like finding a raisin in the sausage)…

If someone tries to get you to invest in their new business venture that focuses on making sustainable T-shirts out of uneaten ham, you’d answer, “Har durøykasokkadine?” (have you been smoking your socks?).^[9]

OK, Norway.

1 SKSKSKSK – Gen Z English-Speaking Internet Slang, the Interwebs

Older people look at Gen Z and argue that an increasing reliance on emojis and meme-based communication is creating a shallower form of interpersonal interactions. Further, Ray Bradbury and Aldous Huxley should be resurrected to remind the kids what the word “fiction” in “science fiction” means…

Perhaps the apex of this degradation is the oft-typed series of letters—”SKSKSKSKSKSK.” This is simply an expression of excitement, meant to represent the hissing feedback heard if the Twitch streamer gets too loud close to a mic. It’s feedback, a fitting metaphor for this new “lost generation.”

Maybe a focus on Bradbury and Huxley is wrong. Maybe we should look to the Wachowskis—once we bring on the Metaverse, maybe we can use these kids as a new energy source…^[10]

Life as a scientist, economist, computer expert, or structural engineer can be pretty boring. Even if you have a natural drive and passion for your subject, it requires grindingly long hours to master these highly complex jobs. Who could blame them for occasionally making up a stupid name and plonking it on one of their discoveries or inventions?

OK, so some of these entries were intended as a joke, but that will not diminish their hilariousness. Scientists with a sense of humor, we salute you. Excelsior!

Related: 10 Famous People With Extremely Silly Quirks

10 Here’s Looking at You, Skid

Most people who have had a general physical exam with a doctor have had their reflexes checked. A quick tap on the knee, a little involuntary kick, and you’re free of serious nervous system disorders. But the knee tap isn’t the only way to check an involuntary reflex. Indeed, the knee jerk is one of many reflexes the human body is capable of. One of them concerns the eye. The brown eye, that is.

An “Anal Wink” occurs when the skin around the anus is stimulated (please try to read that sentence back without giggling like a small child). As with other reflexes, the absence of this wink is suggestive of a breakdown in the neural pathway that controls the central nervous system, damage to the pudendum, or damage to the spinal cord. So, you better hope you have a balloon knot cheeky enough to wink at whoever decides to tickle it.^[1]

9 A Rock to Knock Your Socks off if You Wanna Get Your Rocks Off

There is a type of rock-forming mineral found in New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, and the Northeastern U.S. that has quite a wonderful name. It was discovered and named near the town of Cummington, Massachusetts, in 1824. They named the mineral after the town.

Cummingtonite.

Chester Dewey, according to mindat.com, “did not analyze the species, but noted its unusual physical appearance.” He later added that, despite the clear coincidence of the mineral being found near a place that bears a similarity to his chosen name, it was in fact based on a promise he had made to his wife at the breakfast table that morning…^[2]

8 Cootchy-cootchy-coo! Now, Where’s My Hammer?

Contradictory terms are good for two things—as names of punk bands (like “The Razor Clouds” or “Shotgun Kittens”) or for laughing at. These linguistic quirks come up quite regularly, especially in the study of human behavior. We are complex organisms, perhaps the most complex on Earth (given our massive brains), and we should expect a great deal of seemingly contradictory aspects when describing ourselves. Mood, gains in knowledge, and changes in the environment all contribute to this ever-shifting profile.

Maybe the funniest sounding term in this regard is “Cute Aggression” (See! What a great name for a punk band). This is the expressed desire to bite, pinch, squeeze, or crush something perceived as extremely cute due to its intrinsic cuteness (without a desire for actually causing harm…probably).

You see a little puppy; it rolls around as it plays, sits up, and looks into your eyes. And sneezes. It isn’t uncommon for you to exclaim, “Ooooh, I could just squish you.” Followed by five minutes of gibberish baby talk. This phenomenon is an example of a “dimorphous expression,” like laughing during a funeral or gently striking your partner when they do something romantic. It is postulated that cute aggression, as with other dimorphous expressions, is an evolutionary adaptation to help humans regulate overwhelming positive emotion, thus aiding with caregiving.^[3]

7 En Garde!

Flatworms, those gorgeous, scrap-of-colorful-silk-looking things you find floating around in tropical oceans, are actually weird little buggers. Like many organisms found in nature, they are hermaphroditic, having both male and female sex organs. Unfortunately, their mating ritual is also like many other organisms, too: traumatic and very violent.

Despite this surface-level similarity, flatworms have more of a Hollywood action movie feel to their copulation. Two flatworms will rear up when it’s time to mate, exposing their two pointy penises (like a rapier and a parrying dagger in human duels) and fighting to inseminate each other. If this were applied to humans, 17th-century duels would have been even more ridiculous/traumatizing/hilarious than they were in reality. The term for this mating ritual is gloriously anthropomorphized:

“Penis Fencing”^[4]

The “Flatworm Olympics,” of course, are a must-watch.

6 Really? You Couldn’t Think of a Less Suggestive Term

The Japanese have been responsible for a great many scientific and technological discoveries in the last 200 years—camera and lens improvements, video gaming, Tamagotchi, Ivermectin for curing parasitic illnesses like River Blindness (and that’s all.. .ahem), the Sony Walkman and Discman, and, of course, tentacle porn. Oh, and deep-fried matcha ice cream.

A discovery that you may not know is of Japanese origin is the accurate method for ascertaining the sex of a chicken. Japanese experts discovered a sure-fire way of ascertaining a just-born chick’s sex by checking the poop tract—males and females have a slightly different cornhole (great care must be taken in handling the tiny birds as they crush easily…apparently). The method, quickly implemented by the Zen Nippon school, cut the price of eggs worldwide overnight. Second-generation Japanese Americans found great success in turning this method into a lucrative line of work, virtually cornering the market in the States from the ’30s through to the ’60s, allowing for a boom in the agricultural/food industry.

Unfortunately for the English language, the term used for this process is “Sexing.” Sexing chickens. A person trained to do this is called, even more childishly, a “Chick Sexer.” This is because, unbeknownst to most, Japan is actually a population comprised solely of 13-year-old boys in a Playboy-magazine-littered treehouse from the movie Stand by Me.^[5]

5 Won’t Somebody Pleeeease Think of the Children?

“Mothers Against”-type groups were big news in the 1980s. These censorious, deeply worried, and often super evangelical matrons made it their job to right all the Western World’s moral failings during that decade (and well into the ’90s too). Their crusade against various transgressions (otherwise known as “fun”) covered all manner of things, from heavy metal and rap music lyrics to violence in films, TV, and video games to pushing for teen abstinence from . One big group (and one of the least contemptible) were “Mothers Against Drunk Driving”—despite their noble aims, they were a bit preachy.

The term was used by some scientists in the mid-1990s, their tongues firmly placed in their cheeks, after the discovery of a new protein in the genes of fruit flies (and later, related proteins called SMADs in many other species, including us). The piss-takingly-named “Mothers Against Decapentaplegic” acts to switch off the decapentaplegic gene, sending a message to the cell to stop dividing. This bizarrely named protein is now of special interest to the scientists who search for a cure to cancer.^[6]

4 The Teeny Croakers of Madagascar

Naming conventions in zoology can be confusing. The correct taxonomic name for a lion is Panthera leo—this means that the animal colloquially referred to as a lion is cataloged as the “leo” species of the “Panthera” genus in the family “Felidae.” Got it? Good.

A recently discovered genus of tiny frogs in Madagascar has been given a far simpler, easily parsed name by a team from Germany: “Mini.” And yes. Yes, they are.

The various species have been given awesome species names to follow the genus. We have Mini mum, Mini ature, and Mini scule, all tiny enough to fit comfortably on your fingernail with room to spare.^[7]

3 No, It Doesn’t Always Roll Downhill—Check the Chart

Sometimes, names and terms have extremely complex, byzantine derivations, sending etymologists on decade-long quests of discovery. Other terms are dirt simple. This is one of the latter.

An “SFD” is a high-level technical drawing used in the planning and improvement of sanitation and sewage systems, most often employed in developing countries. They are most useful in aiding planners against allowing effluent and waste to enter sources of drinking water and other such waterways—nobody wants shit in their river. Right?

And that is what SFD stands for—”Shit Flow Diagram.” Yes, that’s right, this integral tool in avoiding waterway pollution is called a shit-flow diagram. Was the word poop too infantile?^[8]

2 Programming Is Complex

Coding is a skill that, as we have been assured by tone-deaf and largely useless journalists, will be the new home economics or shop class in schools (as well as the new skill that workers whose jobs are soon to be taken over by automation should learn—like millions of truck drivers and coal miners will all soon be moving down to Silicone Valley…). Kids and adults in this brave new world will easily pick up enough coding to be able to build and run their own websites and decode a nuclear bomb.

And then we have “Brainfuck.”

This is a coding language invented in 1993 by Urban Müller with the sole intention of messing with coders. What is already a complex area is made all the more difficult by Brainfuck, the goal being to break down simple commands into micro-steps. Ad infinitum. It’s a Turing complete system, meaning it could be used to run a Turing machine, thus making it logically and practically sound. Just really, really, really, really annoying. Really.

So, instead of our students spending a couple of hours a week learning about capital cities or Shakespeare or long division, let’s give them a crash course on Brainfuck. And watch their tiny minds melt. Watch this space—the abacus will be making a come-back to a classroom near you!^[9]

1 Well, It Was Born That Way…

Although a “creepy little mammal with oddly shaped teeth” would be a very uncharitable way to describe many English peers in the House of Lords, paleontologists thought that naming an extinct ungulate after a flamboyant songstress was A-Okay.

Meet “Gagadon minimonstrum.”

This little critter, a weird-looking cross between a deer and a giant shrew, was named after the “Born This Way” singer Lady Gaga, the “gaga” coming from her stage name and the “mini monster” referring to her fans (“little monsters”). Or it’s due to both she and the long-dead beast having “unusually large teeth that were much broader, with wide ridges around the base of its molars and pointed protrusions called cusps rising along their sides”…have you ever seen her teeth?

The creature roamed what is now southwestern Wyoming; this genus is a unique addition to the fossil record, having teeth unlike any similar specimen found in the Americas. Much as Lady Gaga is unique in being a transgressive Italian American singer who has a large gay following.^[10]

What? Who’s this “Madonna” of which you speak?

Language can be a very slippery thing some days. We can play fast and loose with the rules of language and grammar to the point that words can end up meaning totally different things over time, like how literally has gradually come to mean the exact opposite thing. We also routinely make up new words as needs require. Sometimes we’re saying things that don’t mean what we thought they did at all. There are more than a few commonly used words and terms that most of us take for granted that aren’t really what we think.

10. Nutritionist Isn’t a Real Thing

There’s a good chance you’ve read an article in the news or seen a clip from a show in which a nutritionist is quoted about something health related. Whether it’s what nutritionists would order from a fast food restaurant or foods that nutritionists say you should never eat, they get a lot of play in the media, sharing their expertise about which food is good for you and which should be avoided. 

The irony of a nutritionist sharing their expertise is that they may actually have none. In the US and in Canada, the term nutritionist is almost totally unregulated and doesn’t mean anything specific. A dietician has to be trained and certified in their field and actually help treat medical conditions through dietary management. Anyone, however, can claim to be a nutritionist and recommend any sort of diet. There are organizations that can certify a nutritionist, but the requirement isn’t legal across the country by any means so unless you check someone’s credentials then those claiming to be nutritionist could just as easily be bloggers with a passion for food rather than someone trained to understand nutrition and diet. 

9. Curry Doesn’t Mean Any One Thing

The most famous dish in all of Indian cuisine, there are probably few people who haven’t either tried a curry or at least are aware of what one is. You can get numerous heat levels and a nearly endless number of ingredients in any given curry from goat to lamb to vegetables and so on. But you may not be aware that the word curry is extremely loosely defined and what we in the Western world consider curry doesn’t really represent any true meaning of the word.

To start with, we usually refer to two different things as curry. One is “a” curry which is a composed dish and the other is curry as a spice, a yellow powder that is most often associated with Indian food. But there are numerous types of curries and sauces and the closest thing you can get to a definition of what curry is may be a method of cooking that involves a pungent sauce. But even that isn’t wholly accurate because, as we saw with the spice, it doesn’t have to refer to a sauce at all even though most people mean that. So why use the word at all and where did it come from? 

In a lot of ways, the word curry is a product of colonial thinking. Everything fell under the banner of curry because, to those people, it was foreign and different and it was a quick, lazy way to categorize everything. Call it a curry and be done with it. So while technically we think of a curry today as a sauced dish, or a spice, the fact it can apply to so many dishes and things goes to show the definition was never really clear in the first place. 

8. Kung Fu Can Refer to Anything You Practice

Back in the 1970s, America had kung fu fever. The TV show Kung Fu debuted in 1972, inexplicably starring David Carradine as a Shaolin monk and then a year later Bruce Lee’s legendary Enter the Dragon came out. Both of those cemented kung fu as a popular action subgenre that has stuck around in the West to this very day with films like Kung Fu Panda.

While it seems obvious that kung fu is a kind of martial art like karate and tae kwon do, characters in these movies become kung fu masters, after all, that’s not entirely true. Kung fu, or gong fu, means “acquired skill.” It refers to the study and practice of a craft that you can master through hard work. The martial art most people are referring to is probably Wu Shu.

A person who trains and masters martial arts is absolutely a kung fu master. But a person who trains to master basketball is also a kung fu master. As would be an artist, a doctor, or a gamer. If you dedicate yourself to being the best you can be, you’ve pretty much nailed it.

7. Sushi Grade or Sashimi Grade Means Nothing

People love sushi and sashimi and the industry is worth $22 billion in America, which represents a lot of tiny little rolls. But you can’t just make sushi out of any old thing, there’s a lot of skill that goes into creating it properly. The right kind of rice, the right mix of other ingredients and, of course, sushi grade fish. Or maybe not.

Turns out that “sushi grade” is more of a marketing term than one that has any definite meaning. In the simplest terms, if something is labeled “sushi grade” it means you can eat it raw. It doesn’t reflect the quality or freshness of any particular fish at all and doesn’t indicate that it is of a higher quality than any fish that doesn’t have that label. As such, frozen fish can easily qualify as sushi grade. If it’s edible and meets the parasite destruction guarantee as determined by the USDA and FDA, it’s sushi grade.

The parasite destruction guarantee requires raw food be handled in a way that will kill any parasites. Any raw fish besides tuna need to be handled this way. Fish needs to be stored at -20C for 7 days or -35C until solid and then for 15 hours which is sufficient to kill parasites. If you do that, then your fish passes the test and can be sold and consumed raw in the US.

6. Ketchup Doesn’t Refer to a Tomato-Specific Sauce 

Statistics say the average American consumes 5.2 liters of ketchup a year. That seems like a respectable amount and when you refer to that, everyone knows what you mean. Ketchup is a standard of the world of fast food hamburgers and is frequently served with french fries and hot dogs as well. It’s the sweet, tomatoey sauce that Heinz sells 650 million bottles of every year. 

While ketchup means tomato sauce to just about everyone today, there’s nothing in the definition of what ketchup is that requires that. Tomato ketchup is just one kind of ketchup but you can trace the condiment back to 300 BC while the tomato version didn’t appear until 1812.

Old school ketchup hails from China and original recipes involved fish entrails and soybeans. In the UK you can still find mushroom ketchup or just look up a recipe online and make your own. 

The name comes from ge-thcup or koe-cheup and it spread from China along trade routes, allowing people in other nations to adapt the recipe to local ingredients. Older versions were made not just from fish and mushrooms but nuts, celery and fruit.

5. Seeing Eye Dogs Are Not Just Any Guide Dogs

Technological advances continue to make the world an easier place to navigate for those with disabilities, but one of the most easily recognized aides that people who are blind or hard of seeing may have at their disposal are seeing eye dogs. A guide dog can be an invaluable companion to many people with vision difficulties. That said, the language used to refer to them can get a little confusing. 

All Seeing Eye dogs are guide dogs but not all guide dogs are Seeing Eye dogs. Though it’s not widely known among those who don’t require their services, Seeing Eye is the name of the organization that trains certain dogs to be guide dogs and it is the oldest organization in the world that does so. Only dogs trained through their process are properly referred to as Seeing Eye dogs, the name is a registered trademark. They breed their own dogs for the job and only qualified trainers are employed to prepare them for work. But there are many other organizations that train dogs, and their dogs are referred to as the more generic term of guide dog. 

4. Baby Aspirin is Not Intended for Children

Chalk this misunderstanding up to poor planning and poor word choice but baby aspirin is not meant for babies. Properly known as low-dose aspirin, it refers to a pill that just has less of the active ingredient in it, the medication has long been referred to as “baby” because it’s a small dose, much the same as we’ll refer to baby carrots or baby steps when we just mean small. The problem with that is that people began to take it literally. 

Children can actually have a very adverse reaction to aspirin in the form of something called Reye Syndrome. It’s rare, but it happens, so it should only be given if a doctor advises you to do so. 

3. Bollywood Doesn’t Refer to All Indian Cinema

Hollywood is so dominant a force in movie making that everyone knows exactly what you mean when you refer to Hollywood. Movies can be filmed anywhere and they’re still referred to as being from Hollywood. Unless, of course, they come from Bollywood.

To most people in the west, Bollywood refers to Indian movies. That may include the stereotype of a lot of singing and dancing as well. But that’s not the whole story by any means. To start, Bollywood cinema is Indian cinema, but Indian cinema isn’t necessarily Bollywood. Bollywood is a combination of Hollywood and Bombay, not known as Mumbai. It produces Hindi language films in that region. It is one of many “woods” that now exist in India and Pakistan. 

Pollywood is a term that refers to the Punjabi film industry, Lollywood refers to Pakistani films based out of Lahore, and there’s also Chhollywood, Ollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood, Mollywood, Dhaliwood, and maybe a dozen more. 

2. Electrocution Technically Only Refers to Death by Electricity

If you’re doing wiring in your house and accidentally touch a live wire that gives you a shock, would you say you were electrocuted? It’s a standard term nearly everyone uses when referring to an electric shock these days. You can see the word on safety signs and on government websites, even. Strictly speaking, the word refers to death by electricity, not just shocks. It’s a combination of “electricity” and “execution” and was coined just before the first execution in the electric chair took place during the grim furor over the battle between AC and DC currents which saw Thomas Edison publicly killing animals with electricity to prove DC was safer.

The word quickly fell into common usage, however, because as electricity spread to the common people, everyone suffering non-fatal shocks needed a word to describe their experience and electrocute was right there. 

1. Military Grade Means Nothing

In much the same way “sushi grade” is a marketing term, when you see something advertised as military grade there’s a good chance those words don’t mean anything either. A company using that term definitely wants you to think the product is rugged and durable, maybe stronger than similar products and able to stand up to a war zone, but that isn’t the reality.

Even military-approved products don’t really have to meet a lot of strict guidelines when it comes to how they are produced, so a company not working for the military is unlikely to be pushing the envelope here. Military standards were only meant to ensure cheap and efficient products – something that worked but didn’t cost a fortune.