There is a detailed discussion here https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=uGs3BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT149&lpg=PT149&dq=ʒ&source=bl&ots=UBS252Anaw&sig=JsJmc58DdSzM5GWhttxMDP73FNY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJobur6fvcAhUR7rwKHYC2BWM4MhDoATADegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=ʒ&f=false Som...

The internet provided me with this link to a Guardian article that explains the significance of the act: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/shortcuts/2016/may/02/obama-out-mic-drop-white-house-correspondents-dinner The article cites 1987 as the earliest use in print although the phrase clearly pred...

According to Etymonline,LukeJavan8 is almost correct. "hash" is a shortened form of "hashish" which in turn derives from Arabic (not Farsi) "hashish" https://www.etymonline.com/word/hashish It is etymologically related to "assassin" https://www.etymonline.com/...

For a tiny little two-letter word, we expect "as" to do a lot of work. The dictionaries say it can function as an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition and a pronoun. Audiendus and Slava post the following sentences for our consideration, numbered here for our convenience. 1) There was a he...

Slava, can you either give us information about that Christmas Carol? The title or quote the whole verse? I've never heard the carol and the internet couldn't find it for me.

You'll be pleased to know I am now getting "Word of the Day" email regularly. Thank for all your efforts.

It seems to me that some of the elements in this sentence have suffered an interesting metathesization:
"The rrecently oot of this word was mentioned as also underlying . . . ."
Did you intend to write "The root of this word was recently mentioned as also underlying . . . ."

Dr Goodword says "subterfuge" is a mass noun with no plural. Yet in his "In play" section, his second example, "TV commercials resort to many subterfuges to entice viewers to buy the products they advertise," he uses it in the plural. If it were a mass noun wouldn't it ...

Back in 2006, the Good Doctor said that "bricolage" would make a good word of the day as it is a word with an interesting story (origin myth?). But it hasn't run yet. According to Merriam Webster the first known use of bricolage is 1960 and it denotes a "construction (as of a sculptur...

The dictionaries (both US and British) partially support you on "confidante." They include a usage note saying something like "usually a woman."

Also please see my note on "anymore" added to the "Is he a Realtor anymore" thread.

Merriam-Webster has this to say about anymore/any more anymore vs. any more Although both anymore and any more are found in written use, in current writing anymore is the more common styling. Anymore is regularly used in negative ⟨ No one can be natural anymore. —May Sarton ⟩ , interrogative Do you ...

I can't answer the question directly but I might be able to put a floor under it. The 1977 item in the link below uses "bury the lead" in the sense you ask about https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=3IxbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22bury+the+lead%22&dq=%22bury+the+lead%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved...

Dr. Goodword, bringing up the "Blue Tail Fly" to illustrate the meaning of "gimcrack," only makes me more curious. What is "gimcrack corn"? On the internet, we find "corn" can be slang for "moonshine whisky" but moonshine, while cheap and shoddy, is ...

"Dond" is new to me too. Wordnik has neither a definition nor a etymology but does have a couple of examples. Here's an explanatory example without a link to the explanation mentioned: "An explanation of how the word "dond" came to be used by RR people to mean to second anot...

Slava, your question is unclear. Which word are you asking about? Vermicelli: Merriam-Webster says "borrowed from Italian, plural of vermicello, diminutive of verme "worm," going back to Latin vermis" Diet: the Online Etymology Dictionary says "diet (n.2) "assembly,&quo...