Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings
    Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings
    Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings
    Ebook254 pages1 hour

    Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings

    By Marina Orlova

    2.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Brilliant philologist and sexy YouTube sensation Marina Orlova is Hot For Words—and you will be too when you join her on a titillating journey through the origins and meanings of words and phrases. Combining fascinating philology and etymology with provocative, full-colored photos of the alluring author, Hot For Words makes intelligence almost unbearably sexy…and lots of fun!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateAug 1, 2009
    ISBN9780061933639
    Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings

    Related to Hot for Words

    Related ebooks

    Special Education For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Oxygen In Ash

      Dec 15, 2021

      IN OUR first COVID summer, the fires outside Fort Collins, Colorado, burned so close that ash would fall from the sky—gentle as snowflakes, gentle as the dying leaves of the honey locust tree. All the clouds were smoke, a sulfur yellow and deep purpl

      4 min read

    • Article

      10 Things Men Need To Know

      Apr 23, 2021

      10 Things Men Need To Know
      3 min read

    • Article

      Pillow Talk

      Aug 26, 2022

      Pillow Talk
      4 min read

    • Article

      Laughter: A Love Story

      Feb 5, 2023

      Laughter: A Love Story
      9 min read

    • Article

      Sleep Divorce: Could Sleeping In Separate Bedrooms Save Your Relationship?

      Mar 23, 2021

      I love my husband more than anyone in the world, he’s a great man, the love of my life etc etc… but about six months into sharing a flat we decided to have separate bedrooms. It started off as a Sunday night thing. You know, when the ‘all-I-can-think

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of The compliment

      Apr 14, 2022

      The Art Of The compliment
      6 min read

    • Article

      Going Big on Small Talk

      Sep 22, 2023

      Going Big on Small Talk
      6 min read

    • Article

      What Women Need To Know About Orgasms

      Mar 23, 2020

      Female ejaculation does not always equate to an orgasm, but it does feel awesome. It is very seldom that you reach orgasm with just penetration, so as the sole receptacle of female pleasure, clitoral stimulation is crucial. An average orgasm lasts fo

      1 min read

    • Article

      UNLEASH YOUR Creative Spirit

      Apr 14, 2023

      UNLEASH YOUR Creative Spirit
      4 min read

    • Article

      5 Books To Help You Feel Better

      Feb 27, 2022

      Life doesn’t feel very conducive to calm right now and so this book is timely. It is for anyone wanting to be more resilient in the face of inevitable ups and downs. Finding Calm shares useful advice and practical skills to help everyone come to term

      2 min read

    • Article

      Horoscopes

      Nov 22, 2021

      November 22 to December 21 December is a big month for you as you say the final goodbyes to a past version of yourself and mourn what once was. Take the time to clear the slate mentally and emotionally, so you’re ready to step into a fresh iteration

      6 min read

    • Article

      Harnessing Hope

      Jul 5, 2024

      Harnessing Hope
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Lesson In Self-confidence

      Dec 12, 2019

      A Lesson In Self-confidence
      2 min read

    • Article

      How To Generate New Ideas

      Nov 27, 2020

      How To Generate New Ideas
      4 min read

    • Article

      Letting Go

      Feb 15, 2023

      THEY tell you to write the book you’re afraid to write. But let’s be honest: It’s scary to write any book. There’s the fear you won’t be able to write it. The fear you’ll write it and won’t be able to sell it. The fear you’ll sell it and it will flop

      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Hot for Words

    2.5/5

    4 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      I learned from this book that attractive people can sell anything. This book was a really quick read(I was able to finish it in a day). It has something for everyone-stories of word origins for women word nerds and picutres of the author being scantily clad for the guys.Overall, a very iformative book for learning the hidden history of popular words.

    Book preview

    Hot for Words - Marina Orlova

    Hot for Words

    Answers to All Your Burning Questions about Words and Their Meanings

    Marina Orlova

    TO MY PARENTS

    who encouraged me to

    study philology, and

    TO MY FRIEND CHARLES COMO,

    whose short e-mail

    YouTube.com, check it out,

    introduced me to a whole

    new way of teaching.

    Your Class Schedule

    Introduction

    1st Period

    Homeroom

    The Bare Essentials

    School

    Etymology

    Philology

    Linguistics

    Eponym

    Mathematics

    Literature

    2nd Period

    P.E

    Let’s Get Physical

    Buxom

    Muscle

    Adam’s Apple

    Gymnastics

    Head over Heels

    Jockey

    3rd Period

    Sex Ed

    The Naked Truth

    The Birds and the Bees

    Erotic

    Orgy

    Hooker

    Horny

    Hussy

    Wedding

    4th Period

    History

    Fully Exposed

    America

    Amazon

    Boycott

    Chauvinist

    Philander

    Tantalize

    Vandal

    Knickers

    Siren

    5th Period

    Lunchtime

    Mouthwatering

    Milk

    Hamburger and Frankfurter

    Artichoke

    Eggs Benedict

    Humble Pie

    6th Period

    Science

    The Laws of Attraction

    Mammal

    Hermaphrodite

    Coulrophobia

    Partridge

    Giraffe

    Pupil

    Crocodile Tears

    Oxygen

    7th Period

    Debate Club

    Urban Legends

    Break a Leg

    His Name Is Mud

    Kangaroo

    OK

    Rule of Thumb

    8th Period

    English

    Librarian by Day…

    Allegory

    Blurb

    Comma

    Garble

    Glossary

    Censor

    & (Ampersand)

    9th Period

    Social Studies

    Sex, Lies, and Politics

    Candidate

    Caucus

    GOP

    Democratic Party

    Gung Ho

    Gerrymander

    Poll

    Radical

    Uncle Sam

    Tank

    Advanced Placement

    Tongue Twisters

    Floccinaucinihilipilification

    Antidisestablishmentarianism

    Honorificabilitudinitatibus

    Detention

    You’ve Been Naughty

    Stark Naked

    Booby

    Snafu

    Cock

    Blow

    The F-word

    Heroin

    Cocktail

    Dope

    Skinny-Dipping

    Alcohol

    Extra Credit

    Do You Want to Be the Teacher’s Pet?

    Ha-Ha

    Poop Deck

    Vanilla

    Hair of the Dog

    Afterword

    School is Out for Summer

    Special Thanks

    Searchable Terms

    About the Author

    Credits

    Copyright

    About the Publisher

    Photographs © Jennifer Moss

    Introduction

    Why do our parents use the birds and the bees to explain reproduction to us? And did you really have to get the King’s permission before practicing what the birds and the bees do back in medieval England? Why was America named after a guy who didn’t discover it? Oh, and what does OK stand for?

    These are the types of questions that keep me awake at night.

    When you start looking at the origins of words, it opens up a whole new world for you—a world with a great view of history—in little, bite-sized chunks.

    Once you’ve been exposed to the amazing world of words, you will suddenly find yourself asking more and more questions about where words and phrases come from. That is the goal of this book: to get you curious about the world of word origins, and about your own society’s history, as revealed through word origins.

    I can assure you that once this bug bites you, you will forever be hooked, and you will find yourself looking at words in a new and different way. Who would have thought that the world of word origins could be so exciting?

    OK—class is in session, so please keep the noise down in the back, and let’s get started!

    1ST PERIOD

    Homeroom

    The Bare Essentials

    School

    In the old days—the very old days—being able to go to school meant you had a lot of time on your hands.

    THAT’S BECAUSE THE WORD SCHOOL comes from the Greek word schole, meaning leisure. Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato used to gather groups of young men who weren’t going to be distracted by mundane activities like working a job; they taught these young men, and called the gatherings schole—a name that carried the clear suggestion that these students could afford to spend their time doing something that most other people couldn’t.

    The name stuck, and later on, the Romans turned the Greek word that had come to mean gathering of students into schola, which in turn gave rise to English words like school, scholastic, and scholar. Nowadays, the idea that only cultured, leisured people should go to school has fallen out of favor…one can only wish that school time were still considered leisurely!

    When you use the word school in the phrase school of fish, you’re using a word with the same spelling, but a different lineage. That’s because the word school in school of fish descends from a Dutch word that’s akin to the Old English word scolu, meaning gathering of people.

    TRUE OR FALSE

    A school can also mean, A group of persons drinking together in a bar or public house, and taking turns buying the drinks.

    ANSWER True.

    Now, who wants to buy the first round?

    I am…

    A. an etymologist

    B. a philologist

    C. a nicebecetur

    D. all of the above

    (Answer: d. A nicebecetur is a fine, dainty, or fashionable woman. Some people will try to tell you that the word is obsolete, but I just used it, which makes this book a published, contemporary citation of modern usage. Draw your own conclusion.)

    Etymology

    THE WORD ETYMOLOGY itself has an etymology, an origin. The first half comes from the Greek word etymos, which means true, and the second half comes from the Greek word for word, which is logos. An etymologist, then, is someone who finds out the truth about words, someone who separates myth from history in the field of language.

    This is a fascinating job to have, because there are stories inside every word, just as there are stories inside every person, every community, and every country. Of course, not all of the stories we hear about words are true; some are false, and some are just plain bizarre. In this book, you and I will get to the bottom of some of the best stories.

    Philology

    I confess: I am in love with the English language. And no entry in this book serves as better evidence of the kind of long-running, public love affair I have chosen to pursue than philology—a word that proves once and for all that my life’s work really is (in the immortal words of Tina Turner) a love thing.

    PHILOLOGY TRACES ITS ANCESTRY through an old Latin word, philologia, that literally means love of learning or love of letters. That Latin word came from two Greek words, philo (meaning love) and logos, (meaning word or speech). To me, philology will always mean the love of words.

    Now I want you to visualize a rushing river that is barreling through time and space, from Ancient Greece toward the twenty-first century, carrying you and me along with it. Up ahead, the river is about to split off into three different directions. In modern English, the river we are riding, the river called philology, has divided into different fast-running, complementary streams of meaning. One branch of the river is the study of the relationship of languages, and especially the study of the history of languages as reflected in their texts; a second branch of the river means just the study of old texts to learn more about a people or a culture; and a third branch means just the study of literature. (Yet another branch, meaning the science of language itself, has never really caught on in the United States, and is likely to flow instead into conversations of linguistics, as we shall see in the next entry.)

    Which branch of the river will we take? I say we take all three…wherever they lead.

    TRUE OR FALSE

    The field of comparative philology identified unexpected

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1