Fact-based Word Journeys
Shampoo Began as a Hindi Word for a Good, Firm Massage
Shampoo, the Spanish champú and the Russian shampun all go back to a Hindi word meaning to press, and in English it first meant a massage, not a wash.
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Fact-based How It Started
The Tea Bag Was Patented Years Before Its Famous Accident
The tea bag is said to have been born by mistake, when customers dunked silk sample pouches around 1908, but two women in Milwaukee had already filed a patent for one in 1901.
Fact-based Word Journeys
Ketchup Was a Fish Sauce Long Before It Met a Tomato
Ketchup, the Spanish kétchup and the Russian ketchup all go back to a word from the coast of southern China that meant the juice of pickled fish, with no tomato anywhere in it.
Fact-based How It Started
The Barcode Began as Morse Code Drawn in Beach Sand
A young engineer on a Florida beach stretched the dots and dashes of Morse code into lines in the sand, and about 25 years later his idea rang up a pack of chewing gum.
Fact-based Word Journeys
Kiosk Was a Persian Garden Pavilion Before It Sold Newspapers
Kiosk, the Spanish quiosco and the Russian kiosk all come from a Persian word for a palace or garden pavilion, which shrank on its way west into a booth on the pavement.
Fact-based How It Started
The Bendy Straw Began With a Milkshake Too Tall for a Small Girl
A father watching his daughter struggle with a straight straw at a soda counter reached for a screw and some dental floss, and the first customers for his idea were not children at all.
Fact-based Word Journeys
Hammock Was a Caribbean Word Long Before It Meant a Lazy Afternoon
Hammock, the Spanish hamaca and the Russian gamak all swing from one word of the Taino people of the Caribbean, which reached Europe in the 1490s and was later mistaken for a hanging mat.
Fact-based How It Started
The Slinky Began as a Ship Spring That Fell Off a Shelf
In 1943 an engineer working on springs to steady instruments on ships knocked one off a shelf, and instead of flopping in a heap it walked down to the floor and stood up.
Fact-based Word Journeys
Kangaroo Is a Real Word, Not a Polite Shrug
A popular story says kangaroo means I don't understand, but the word was a real name for a big grey kangaroo, written down beside a river in 1770.
Fact-based How It Started
Your Pencil Has Never Had Any Lead in It
The grey core of a pencil is graphite, a soft form of carbon, and the lead in its name comes from a mix-up on an English hillside more than 450 years ago.