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.
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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.
Fact-based Word Journeys
Pyjamas Began as Persian Leg Clothes Worn in Broad Daylight
Pyjamas, pijama and pizhama all come from a Persian phrase for leg clothing, and the loose trousers it named were worn in the daytime long before anyone went to bed in them.
Fact-based How It Started
The Frisbee Took Its Name From a Bakery's Pie Tins
Long before plastic flying discs, people in Connecticut were said to be sailing empty pie tins from a Bridgeport bakery across the grass, and the bakery's name stuck.
Fact-based Word Journeys
The Word Sugar Began as an Ancient Word for Gravel
Sugar in English, sakhar in Russian and azúcar in Spanish all grew from one Sanskrit word for grit and gravel, which travelled west with the sweet crystals themselves.
Fact-based How It Started
The Post-it Note Began as a Glue That Would Not Stick Properly
A chemist trying to make a super-strong glue made a very weak one instead, and it took a choir singer with runaway bookmarks to work out what it was for.
Fact-based Word Journeys
A Magazine and a Russian Shop Are the Same Arabic Word
Magazine, the Spanish almacén and the Russian magazin all grew out of one Arabic word for a back room full of sacks, and only one of them ended up made of paper.
Fact-based Odd Places
Turkey Has a Whole Hillside of White Stone Bathtubs
Hot springs at Pamukkale have spent thousands of years laying a thin white skin of stone down a 200-metre cliff, building a staircase of shallow pools the colour of the sky.
Fact-based How It Started
The Shopping Trolley Began as Two Folding Chairs
The first one was a pair of wooden folding chairs on wheels with a basket on top, and shoppers refused to push it so firmly that the shop had to hire people to demonstrate.
Fact-based Word Journeys
The Word Coffee Took the Long Way Round
Before it reached your cup, the word coffee travelled from Arabic into Turkish and then all over Europe, picking up a new spelling in almost every language.