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| Here is a book by Linda Verville... |
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| ...and another by Ellen Stoll Walsh. |
The
phrase “for Pete's sake,” which some people say when they are
frustrated, was apparently created to be a substitute for similar
phrases that many consider to “take the Lord's name in vain.” Why
Pete
is anyone's guess—although a nice one-syllable name with a popping
first sound was surely more likely to catch on with frustrated people
than something like, “Oh, for Jennifer's sake!”
The
Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the phrase was first recorded
in 1903. Other similar uses of Pete
include “for the love of Pete” (first recorded in 1906) and “in
the name of Pete” (1942).
Perhaps
you can celebrate this holiday by trying to get your own name or
nickname into a catchy phrase. (Good luck if your name is Jennifer,
though!)
By
the way...
As
I typed the last sentence, I got to wondering how the word nickname
came to be. Does it have anything to do with the name Nick?
Turns out, no, it doesn't. The word nickname
comes from the Old English “an ekename,” which means “an
additional name.” Sloppy pronunciation and copying resulted in “a
nekename,” which has over the years evolved to our current word
nickname.
Celebrate
wordsmiths and phrase-makers.
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| "Etymology" is the study of the origins of words. |
- Read Frindle, the story of a boy who tries to create a new word.
- Quiz yourself on word origins in order to learn more about them. You can play this quiz game over and over again, always with new words, to learn even more!
- If you want to look up the origin of a word or word part, you could try Online Etymology Dictionary. Remember, it is not explaining definitions of words, but where and when the words came from.
Also
on this date:
