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mashedradish.bsky.social
I get to the bottom of words on the top of our minds. Mashedradish.com is etymology at the intersection of news, life, and everyday language. Previously headed up content at Dictionary.com.
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As I've been spending more time on LinkedIn for work, I really can't help but think about etymologies of words I encounter more frequently in workplace/business contexts and draw little doodles about them: mashedradish.com/2025/06/06/i...

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

Breaking: megalomaniacal narcissists are loyal to no one but themselves. I want them out of my head. I want them out of my feed. I want them out of our government. I want them out of our lives. I wish their unseriousness weren't so consequential. And yet all we do is give them oxygen.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Want the oral history on who whose handwriting this is.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

"Smizing"? Just broke the bridge of my nose pinching it so hard.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Intrusive etymology: "Paste" and "pasta" are effectively the same word.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Southwest Ohio, man. What are we even doing here. What is in our water. Vivek, Vance, his half-brother going for mayor, now PG Sittenfeld.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

The whole story is just so stupid but it did make me look up why it’s called “eighty-six”/“86.” Found in 1930s in soda shop slang for “sold out.” Origin obscure, could be rhyming slang for “nix.”

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

“Theodore” and “Amelia” on the rise.

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

Two of my favorite subjects: shoes and brand names. fritinancy.substack.com/p/why-did-al...

submitted 32 days ago • 3 comments

"What is Rerum Villanovarum, Alex?"

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

In addition to its own significance, the Pope Leo news is so welcome because it has been a moment to not constantly spend my every last ounce of attention on Trump (which is the MO here)—though as quickly as the white smoke cleared we all went to how this news stacks up against Trump.

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment

"Leo," of course, is "lion," Latin via Greek via possibly Hebrew or Egyptian. Interesting: Apparently Leo XIV chose "Leo" in specific tribute "Leo XIII," popularly called the "Pope of the Workers" for his advocacy for workers' rights. 1/3

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment

From how I understand it, this whole "synodality" business in the Roman Catholic Church is meant to deemphasize hierarchical clericalism in favor of more community-focused, meet-you-where-you-are-at meetings (synods) of members of the church, including laypeople.

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

Big day for the word "synod." It is ultimately from Greek for "assembly"—and whose roots literally mean "a traveling or way together." The "-od" in "period" is also derived from that Greek root for "way" (hodos). It literally breaks down to "a going around."

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

Interesting. "Balcony" comes into English from the Italian "balcone," based on "balco" (scaffold), in turn ultimately from a Germanic root related to English's own "balk." Ancient base sense of "beam, prop, ridge."

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment

¡Tenemos papas!

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

Big moment for Latin 101 students coming up here.

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

Millennials were never cool. Viz. Zuck, Vance, Ramaswamy. (The second lives effectively around the corner from me, the third I went to high school with. What happened, SW Ohio?)

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

As a dude who's been around a lot of dudes, I can confirm that so much of realized masculinity is just a defensive reflex when called out is "I was just joking/you can't take a joke" or "I don't know/not my problem."

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

Not the first to voice this, but it bears repeating again and again: It's endlessly frustrating and exhausting to see their charade of 'masculinity' as they joyfully spurn any iota of taking accountability and responsibility, which historically have been aspects of 'traditional masculinity.'

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

I choose to believe Cassian Andor has cousins who go by Eitheror, Neithernor, and Bothand.

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

OK white business guys. It's OK to take off the vest when you're putting on a sports jacket.

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

lol

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

If you're following along news about the papal conclave that's starting today, I've got you covered—etymologically. Plus, how the conclave got started. A pet theory I now have on Ancient Roman toilets. And why the treble and bass clefs symbols look like they do. mashedradish.com/2025/05/04/c...

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

I have long been saying that, with all the “free time” AI opens up, so many of us are just going to be scrolling where not second-screening. Irony given and hypocrisy forgiven, social media is not designed for self-actualization. It’s designed for our attention and, inevitably, monetization.

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments