• Thumbnail for Michael Quinion
    Michael Brian Quinion (born c. 1942) is a British etymologist and writer. He ran World Wide Words, a website devoted to linguistics. He graduated from...
    6 KB (635 words) - 20:37, 10 November 2024
  • Thumbnail for Mind your Ps and Qs
    and says that the origin of the expression is unknown. According to Michael Quinion, "investigations by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2007 when revising...
    8 KB (788 words) - 13:15, 15 October 2024
  • least in his experience it is uttered primarily by men. British author Michael Quinion likewise specifies the phrase as belonging to American English. Multiple...
    12 KB (1,515 words) - 18:56, 9 November 2024
  • Thumbnail for Gadget
    2018) Michael Quinion: World Wide Words: Gadget Archived 2022-03-31 at the Wayback Machine (accessed February 6, 2008) Also in: Michael Quinion: Port...
    9 KB (1,147 words) - 09:45, 15 November 2024
  • personified (as in, "What in the Sam Hill is that?"). Etymologist Michael Quinion and others date the expression back to the late 1830s; they and others...
    8 KB (1,039 words) - 10:20, 17 November 2024
  • Thumbnail for Blue-plate special
    The origin and explanation of the phrase are unclear. Etymologist Michael Quinion cites a dictionary entry indicating that the blue plates were, more...
    10 KB (1,169 words) - 00:44, 21 November 2024
  • Thumbnail for Brass monkey (colloquialism)
    made singly. Old brass monkeys of this type are collectors' items. Michael Quinion, advisor to The Oxford English Dictionary and author of the website...
    14 KB (1,615 words) - 18:58, 22 October 2024
  • John L. Sullivan; the company still produces long johns. In 2004, Michael Quinion, a British etymologist and writer, postulated that the john in the...
    6 KB (708 words) - 08:15, 17 September 2024
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    Girl Crazy at the Internet Movie Database. Michael Quinion. "POLLYANNA". World Wide Words (Michael Quinion). Archived from the original on 7 February...
    23 KB (2,699 words) - 13:35, 6 October 2024
  • Thumbnail for Red herring
    published in Comments on Etymology (2008), supported by etymologist Michael Quinion and accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary, the idiom did not originate...
    19 KB (2,206 words) - 12:35, 22 September 2024
  • "hazard", a more complicated version of the modern game of craps. Michael Quinion, a British etymologist, writing on his website on linguistics, says...
    7 KB (971 words) - 04:17, 25 July 2024
  • Etymonline. Quinion, Michael (2009). Why is Q Always Followed By U?. Penguin Books. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-0-14-195969-6. Michael Quinion (22 January 2011)...
    28 KB (3,155 words) - 14:49, 8 September 2024
  • Thumbnail for Gobo (recording)
    adjustable legs. Film portal Theatre portal Music portal World Wide Words – Michael Quinion writes about international English from a British viewpoint. Merriam-Webster...
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  • and it was for this reason that the sarcastic phrase came into use. Michael Quinion notes that the phrase "Monkey's uncle" occurs in a parody of Henry...
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  • the troops. SNAFU Principle The SNAFU Special – Official website of the C-47 #43-15073 World Wide Words, Michael Quinion, Acronyms for your Enjoyment....
    17 KB (1,998 words) - 09:15, 12 November 2024
  • Thumbnail for Eating crow
    Dictionary 2, "crow", n. #1, 3a. Eating Crow, and other indigestibles by Michael Quinion at World Wide Words, last accessed September 2014 Popik, Barry, Studies...
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  • and Flynn was acquitted of the charges. According to etymologist Michael Quinion, "the phrase is said to have been coined following his acquittal in...
    6 KB (682 words) - 21:57, 12 September 2024
  • Brothers, 1867, p.40 "World Wide Words: Great Scott". World Wide Words. Michael Quinion. 21 December 2002. Retrieved 28 January 2009. The Galaxy, vol.12, July...
    5 KB (681 words) - 19:13, 17 October 2024
  • 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2013. "Floccinaucinihilipilification" by Michael Quinion World Wide Words Archived 2006-08-21 at the Wayback Machine; The Guinness...
    36 KB (3,233 words) - 04:46, 12 October 2024
  • symbol". Jeff Miller: Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols Michael Quinion: Where our arithmetic symbols come from The dictionary definition of...
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  • reality, virtual world, and virtual sex. These prefixes are productive. Michael Quinion notes that most of these formations are nonce words that will never...
    12 KB (1,428 words) - 08:19, 25 August 2024
  • Thumbnail for Windy City (nickname)
    Windy City. See also a letter in USA Today by Popik. Windy City by Michael Quinion at WorldWideWords.org Windy City, The Straight Dope. Ongoing updates...
    11 KB (1,486 words) - 15:06, 23 October 2024
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    U.S. Geological Survey". www.usgs.gov. Retrieved February 8, 2024. Michael Quinion (January 23, 2006). "Aluminium versus aluminum". Worldwidewords.org...
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  • word naff, meaning inferior or tacky, has an uncertain etymology. Michael Quinion says it is probably from the 16th-century Italian word gnaffa, meaning...
    44 KB (3,500 words) - 17:22, 7 November 2024
  • Thumbnail for Beam me up, Scotty
    ISBN 9783817464142, p. 81 (German, excerpt, p. 81, at Google Books) Michael Quinion (August 6, 1996). "BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY!". World Wide Words. Barbara...
    11 KB (1,128 words) - 15:51, 6 August 2024
  • Thumbnail for Isabelline (colour)
    accessory around the period the word first came into use. Etymologist Michael Quinion reported that certain sources suggested an alleged Arabic word for...
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  • medievalist, etymologist, poet, translator of poetry and literary critic Michael Quinion (born c. 1943) Linguistics portal Examples Etymological dictionary...
    21 KB (2,553 words) - 20:09, 30 October 2024
  • Thumbnail for Book frontispiece
    lingua italiana (in Italian). Vol. II. Bologna: Zanichelli. p. 461. Michael Quinion, World Wide Words Entry Look up frontispiece in Wiktionary, the free...
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  • praised the book's clear, simple, and nuanced guidance.[citation needed] Michael Quinion of WorldWideWords.org said in his review that usage guides "row a course...
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    (1927). A Dictionary of slang and Colloquial English. pp. 128–129. Michael Quinion (1999). "World Wide Words". Retrieved 15 January 2013. "The Project...
    15 KB (1,772 words) - 00:40, 3 October 2024