So That's Why We Say That

Fun facts about the language that’s been confounding speakers for centuries: English

- Brandon Specktor

AS ANYONE WHO'S sat through English class can tell you, this globally unifying language is baffling. And yet, somehow, there are currently around 1,71,146 words A in use in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Granted, many are of the a, the but variety. Still, few of us know how the words we utter were derived or what they really mean. What follows is a hodgepodge (there's a good word!) of fun facts about the language that gave us Shakespeare, Hemingway, Angelou, and those dolts on Twitter.

THE STORY BEHIND THE WORD

Did you know that the word muscle comes from the Latin musculus, which means 'little mouse'? Apparently, the ancient Romans thought that the movement of a muscle, especially a flexed bicep, looked as if a mouse were running under the skin. Now there's a fun visual. And that's not even the weirdest example of a word with odd, ancient origins creeping-like mice under our skin-into modern English. Here are a few of our favourites.

QUARANTINE The first quarantine was in Venice, Italy, while bubonic plague was ravaging the mainland. To help curb the spread of infection, visiting ships had to spend 40 days at anchor before entering the city. (Worst. Cruise. Ever!!!) The word quarantine comes from the Italian phrase quaranta giorni: literally, '40 days!

GALAXY Thousands of years ago, ancient Greek stargazers looked up at the sky and saw a white river of light arcing overhead. Their reaction? "I could really go for some cookies right now." The Greeks named that broad band of stars galaxias-which stems from the word gála, meaning 'milk! To this day, we call our galaxy the Milky Way.