Words Have History

EVER WONDER:
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal? 

Chao- Seen this around many users' profiles. Find it pretty annoying, especially for the ones that are bold. Most of these can just be Google for answers. Seriously, a lot of these can be explained (except maybe for the women and their mascara usage progress). To keep up with the subjects of English and writing for this blog, the questions that are bold have to deal with words. Words in every language have a history--from being adopted from another language, to combinations between languages. English, for example, has roots found in French and the Germanic language. Words we use today could have a different meaning years and years ago. Here's a video that this English-learner watched in a class about the history of English.               

Chao- It was actually a pretty cool series. Learned a lot from the class and this documentary. Anyway, words have developed different meaning over time, and they are created through other words based on need and popularity. Words can be broken down into parts. Let's take the word "Congress" from the example above. While it is true that "con" can be the opposite of "pro", it doesn't mean nothing happens in Congress (but it was a pretty funny thought). And for its word history, "Congress" came about in Middle English with the meaning of "a gathering of bodies", and the suffix "gress" came from a developed form of "gredi", to grade. Isn't it cool to read about the history of a word and its parts? Been reading some words' origins in online dictionaries.

YChao- I guess this is why people find old stories and poetry fascinating, and then we have the abuse of old timely words like "ye" and "t'was". Makes me wonder if "ain't" is ever going to be considered a proper word.

Agent Daisy- *browsing through Beowulf*

Chao- Who knows? But Chao also likes to read what is current for fan fics!

YChao- So this wasn't an attempt at a legit English lesson as an English teacher?

Chao- Bwa ha ha! Like Chao would ever waste such time with such a useless occupation! (gets shot by friends who are studying to be teachers)