Welcome to etymoloblog.com or etymoloblog.wordpress.com.    I used to have a Blogger (f/k/a Blogspot) account, and the interface wouldn’t allow me to edit for a month.  These are the items I collected while I was waiting.

It’s funny that the online invitation website is called Evite. “Evite” (eh-VEE-tay, not EE-vyte) means “s/he avoids” or “you avoid” in Spanish.

The Cambridge Insight Meditation Center is one of the loveliest places in the Boston metro area and one of the only ones that uses the word “insight” correctly. Most of the time, the word is used to denote a bright idea, not clarity about the inner life/inner being.

I didn’t know that the Hebrew “mi-tachat” means “below” or “under” until recently. As soon as I learned the word, I realized that it’s the source of the Yiddish “tuchus,” meaning “backside.” I had this realization during a religious service and had a little chuckle. Also, the Yiddish word for “drunk” is “shikker,” and this too comes from Hebrew. It’s funny because Yiddish is heavily derived from German, but some of the earthier words come from the language of prayer and study.

“Debride” is a word that you probably know if you have looked at a peroxide bottle recently. Peroxide usually says on the bottle that it is an oral debriding agent. Debride= “get the gunk out” or “remove debris.” I was using it one day in my own thought to mean that all my painful thoughts were rising to the surface and shaking loose. I was saying to myself that I felt debrided, and then I thought the word should have something to do with divorce, i.e., the opposite of becoming a bride.