language myths »
“Just Deserts” Not “Just Desserts”
The idiom used for the notion of someone “getting what’s coming to them”, whether good or bad, is actually “just deserts”, not “just desserts”. The misconception primarily stems from the fact that most people
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The Name “Hot Dog” Was Not Coined at a New York Giants Baseball Game
You’ll often hear that the name “hot dog” comes from a cartoon drawn by T.A. Dorgan during a New York Giants baseball game at the Polo Grounds around 1902-1906 (date varies depending on who’s
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When Adding a Second “PS” at the End of a Letter, It’s “PPS”, Not “PSS”.
This, of course, is because “PS” stands for “postscript”. This comes from the Latin “post scriptum” (sometimes written “postscriptum”), which translates to “written after”, or more to the point, “what comes after the writing”.
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It’s “I Could Not Care less”, Not “I Could Care Less”
It’s “I could not care less”, not “I could care less”. These two phrases are often used interchangeably when someone is referring to something that they don’t care about at all, even though the
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Jelly and Jam Aren’t the Same Thing
The difference between jelly and jam is that jelly is made strictly from the juice of fruit while jam is made from crushed fruit. Specifically, jelly is made by crushing fruit, then straining out
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Fur and Hair Are the Same Thing
We tend to refer to a lot of animal hair as “fur”, while referring to our own hair as just “hair”. It turns out though that hair and fur are chemically indistinguishable, both made
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“Third World Country” Doesn’t Refer to the Relative Wealth or Technological Level of a Country
“Third World” country is not a country that simply is primitive, underdeveloped, or poor, as most people think. In fact, a third world country is actually just a country that is not considered a
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