Fig. 1. Still from A Way With Words.
I am new to A Way With Words’ YouTube channel, and while I often go to the beginning of a channel to get a better idea of
its content, this time I watched/listened to the most recent uploaded entry titled, “Care Package.” Narrated in podcast style, its creators, author/journalist Martha Barnette and linguist/lexicographer Grant Barrett, talk about everything language, including questions and sharing stories.
CARE PACKAGE:
In this particular episode, they explore the origins of the several words and phrases, one of them being Care Package. The hosts explain that it was actually an acronym for an organization formed in 1946 called Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe. This organization formed to fight poverty and hunger during WWII. In essence, they sent food and items overseas to people who were in need, but within time, the organization sent food and items all over the world. In light of this, they changed their name to Cooperative For Assistance and Relief Everywhere.
What was most interesting about this story is that the hosts mentioned a new word I had never heard before: backronym. According to Google search, a backronym is an acronym formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words to create a memorable name.
YOU LAID AN EGG:
he episode continues with several listeners calling in and asking questions relating to language. One question I found intriguing was made by a caller from Huntsville, Alabama. He called in to get an explanation on why in the sports world does a score of zero or a bad performance equate with an egg? The hosts answered that on the scoreboard, the zeros look like eggs, so that gave rise to the term. So laying an egg in sports conveys someone who performed at a subpar level.
ORIGIN OF WORD “LOVE” IN TENNIS:
he host then expands on this by saying that some believe that the term, love, when playing tennis originates from the French word, “l’oeuf” which means bread. However, linguist Grant Barrett refutes that and states, “No language authority that I know and respect gives credence to the French origin for love meaning zero in tennis.”
n doing research at Merriam-Webster Dictionary.com, another explanation is that love comes from a person playing for the love of the game. Webster further explains that a “similar idea is found in the origin of the word amateur, which can refer to a person who does something strictly for love; the word comes from the Latin word amare, meaning “to love.” Being of Spanish descent, this made sense immediately as amare is similar to the Spanish word, amor. This made me pause for a second because prior to learning this, I hadn’t put this together when seeing the word amateur. I simply thought it was someone who was a beginner.
ll in all, I learned so many origins of phrases as well as laughed a bit to hear phrases people use to describe walking which included:
- taking the ten-toed mule
- riding the shoelace express
A Way With Words was not only entertaining, but taught me there is much more to language, something reflected in our textbook. I can’t wait to hear more!
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Works Cited:
A Way With Words. “Care Package [Rebroadcast] – 4 September 2023.” YouTube, 4 Sept. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQXzWpeCJm4.
Cantabille, Lily. “moving-boxes-3407663_1280.” Pixabay, 16 May 2018. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/moving-boxes-box-package-cardboard-3407663/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2023.
Geleynse, Joyce. “alphabet-6916985_1280.” Pixabay, 22 Jan. 2022. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/alphabet-letters-decorated-letters-6916985/. Accessed 5 Sept. 2023.
“Why ‘Love’ Means ‘Nothing’ in Tennis.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, Inc., www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-origin-of-love-in-tennis. Accessed 5 Sept. 2023.
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