Language

The very tool we use to communicate urban legends to each other — language — is itself a source of folklore. A number of the words and phrases in use today have interesting origins that have almost become obscured in the mists of time. Equally, our sense of romance leads us to invent unusual origins for commonplace words rather than be satisfied with their mundane beginnings.

Did UN Ban the Word ‘War’ Regarding Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine? Staff were reportedly advised to instead use “conflict” or “military offensive.”

Mixture

Did People Refer to Gaslighting During the Era of ‘I Love Lucy’? A stray piece of dialogue from the 2021 biopic "Being the Ricardos" set off a...

Mostly False

Why Are Blue Laws Called ‘Blue Laws’? The term 'blue laws' historically defined regulations intended to preserve the Sabbath by proscribing what...

False

Pink Slip Firing or Being Laid Off from a Job

Where Did the Term ‘Pink Slip’ Originate? Another linguistic mystery over the origins of something everyone's heard about but has never actually...

Unproven

Watch the Borders! Heard the legend about a misunderstood J. Edgar Hoover directive?

Legend

Was ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ Mistranslated as ‘The Angry Raisins’? "You'd get a blank look at McDonald's, too, if you asked for a slice of...

False

Is Greenland Called Greenland Because It’s a Green Land? Erik the Red's 10th century marketing ploy is still fooling some people.

Mostly False

Is ‘Pandemicide’ a New Word Coined To Describe Trump’s COVID-19 Response? The earliest use of the term we found was from 2020.

Mixture

Is It ‘Sea Shanty’ or ‘Sea Chanty’? The word for a sailor's work song is pronounced SHAN-tee, but how you choose to...

False

Does ‘Homework’ Spelled Backwards Mean ‘Child Abuse’ in Latin? Thousands of languages have existed throughout the history of humanity. There is no evidence the...

False

Do Most People Struggle To Recognize the Lowercase Letter ‘G’? The letter "G" is one of several English letters that has multiple lowercase versions.

True

Does ‘Quarantine’ Originate from the Word ‘Forty’ (Days) in Italian? A "quarantine" separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious...

True