how dare you break wind before me
i'm sorry baby i didn't know it was your
turn
welcome to watch mojo and today we're
counting down our picks for the top 10
origins of weird words
huh have you been eating that sandwich
again
sand witch are you being smart with me
if you're being smart with me young lady
you're gonna be punished punished for
being smart
for being a smart aleck how do you say a
lawyer is in spanish
lawyers
el grande avocados for this list we're
discussing some of the strangest words
with even stranger beginnings
if there are any odd bits of language
with odd origins we missed
please tell us about them using your own
words in the comments
if you like what you're hearing be sure
to check out the full song at the link
below
[Music]
the etymology of this word is well the
shambles
i bet that cleared your sinuses
total shambles its roots stem from the
word stool in various languages
as well as words that mean kiosk or
vendor stall
in english this morphed over time into a
general term for somewhere where meat
was peddled
and eventually it came to refer to where
animals were butchered
then in the early 1900s shambles became
an ironic term for describing something
as a bloody mess by comparing it
essentially to a slaughterhouse
what the hell happened all of a sudden
this car turned into a cannoli
it's sakuraphone and it saved your life
look at you you're in shambles so think
about that the next time your life is
in shambles number 9. tragedy the
ancient greeks helped found a lot of
things we take for granted nowadays
from philosophy to democracy but they
also heavily influenced western theater
traditions and genres
particularly tragedy the original greek
word
tragodia referred to a play or poem with
an unhappy ending
to contrast with comedies okay uh who is
the father of greek tragedy anyone
anyone okay escalates it is his trilogy
the oristia
but its literal meaning was goat song of
all things
whether it was because of the greek's
legends about seders or because goats
were used as a prize during poetry
contests
or for some other reason we don't know
but whatever the reason
it is still decidedly bizarre number
eight
avocado avocados are a tricky little
fruit aside from being good for
guacamole
harder than steel until they suddenly
aren't and technically a berry
avocados also have some rather
surprising etymological origins
plenty have noticed the strange
similarity between the spanish word for
lawyer
avogado and the english word avocado how
do you say lawyers in spanish
lawyers
el grande avocados
this is because english speakers mistook
the real spanish word for avocado
aguacate with their word for lawyer
which used to be avocado
still with us yo soy avocado
avocado avogadro
lawyer even stranger is the fact that
aguakate is derived from the aztec word
awakatl which means testicle no doubt in
reference to their similar shapes
some food for thought the next time you
have some avocado toast number seven
disaster a disaster refers to an
unfortunate or ruinous event
but its origins lie in both ancient
greece as well as in the stars
and with all this romantic
atmosphere disasters
[Music]
the greeks put a lot of stock in the
heavens as a means of reading the
outcome or
origin of events on earth the word
disaster comes from the prefix dies
meaning reversal or removal and the
greek word astron
meaning star so any disaster is
therefore said to be the result of a bad
star
this is a disaster no this is not a
disaster an earthquake is a disaster
this comes through in other english
expressions such as being born under a
bad star
number six smart alec no you're not
thinking
you're too busy being a smart aleck to
be thinking when someone gets called a
smart aleck
it's usually because they're acting smug
or sarcastic and the person calling them
that wants to use another word beginning
with a instead
yes i guess that means there are two
in the western hemisphere huh huh what's
your smart ass got to say now
essentially a smart aleck is too smart
for their own good however what's truly
shocking is that smart aleck
may have been named after a real person
alec hogue was a 19th century new york
con man pimp and thief alec and his wife
would scam men out of their money using
a variety of schemes
eventually landing them in jail the
newspapers helped popularize his
immortal nickname
are you being smart with me
if you're being smart with me young lady
you're gonna be punished punished for
being
smart for being a smart aleck so
every time we talked back to our parents
they responded by comparing us to a 19th
century pimp
low blow number five berserk
when someone goes or appears berserk
they display great ferocity or rage
the word is derived from the norse or
viking word berserker
a type of warrior who often displayed
reckless and violent behavior in battle
the word berserker in turn means bear
shirt after berserker's common practice
of donning bare skin for warmth and
intimidation of their enemies
their bear-inspired garments may also
have been for religious purposes
as bear worship was widespread in
europe's pagan cultures
number 4. fizzle when something fizzles
it makes a sizzling or sputtering noise
although the word can also mean that
something has failed or run out of steam
as in this explanation fizzled out
normally your father's crackpot schemes
fizzle out as soon as he finds something
good on tv
anywho fizzle comes from the middle
english term fist which back in those
days was another word for
and yes we swear this is true breaking
wind
how dare you break wind before me i'm
sorry baby i didn't know it was your
turn
[Laughter]
more specifically fizzle means breaking
wind without noise
that's quietly farting for everyone slow
on the uptake so you might say that when
something fizzles
it's silent but dead on arrival much
like this joke
nothing just fizzled out number three
quarantine
an appropriate word to examine during
the time of covet 19
while everyone as of this writing
probably knows what it means
quarantine means isolation from outside
influence usually to prevent the spread
of disease
fittingly enough quarantine originates
from the plague containment policies of
italy
during the 1600s the term quarantine
or space of 40 days was used by venice
port officials to describe the policy of
keeping ships coming from
plague-stricken countries at sea for 40
days
to ensure there were no afflicted people
aboard number 2
nightmare night that's the time when the
sun isn't hitting earth and mayor
that's a female horse right case closed
everybody go home
hold your horse's hypothetical person
it's not quite right
please god this
is god
the mayor part of nightmare actually
refers to a figure from german and
slavic folklore
a kind of female goblin the mayor was
said to sit on the chests of sleeping
people
and bring on a feeling of suffocation
and bad dreams hence
nightmares you killed me bart
[Music]
[Applause]
just in case you needed any more
inspiration for your bad dreams now you
can have nightmares about
nightmares before we get to our top pick
here are some honorable mentions
mortgage you're literally paying off
your death pledge
hazard from the arabic azar or dice
quite the risk
clue from the clue of thread used by
theseus to find his way in the labyrinth
jumbo named for a real elephant
robot a czech playwright introduced this
word from
robota meaning serfdom
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number one sandwich sandwich sounds like
a town in england
and surprise surprise it is however the
practice of putting food
usually meat between two slices of bread
actually has its origins in a man
not the town john montague was the
fourth earl of sandwich in the 18th
century
montague was a busy man and didn't take
traditional meals that often
opting instead for something like beef
between two slices of bread
others seeing his habit would request
the same as sandwich
giving rise to the word as we use it
today go quick gagitating steinmetz
and use an open-faced club the sand
wedge
hmm open-faced club sandwich
although there's some debate over
whether montague was more likely to take
his sandwich while working or
gambling and what manner the beef itself
was cooked it's clear that
sandwiched somewhere between the varying
accounts lies the truth
do you agree with our picks let us know
in the comments and hey if you're a fan
of the song playing right now be sure to
check out the music video for it
right here
[Music]