Joy of Words
The first date I had with Bill was to a hockey game. He was not well versed in the game, and I (a Canadian and die hard Leaf fan at the time) was happy to teach him. Longing to appear clever at something during the game, Bill began to peruse the program (programme for my Canadian pals) and began to read aloud the names of the players. It was during his recitation that we discovered our mutual love of word origins. At the time, a number of Finnish players were playing in the NHL (do they still? I don't watch anymore), and we were giving each other high fives for pointing out the Finnish names. The rest, as they say, is history. Nowadays that might seem like a sort of racist endeavor: "Let's name all the Finnish people". But, that wasn't what was going on. We just truly enjoyed the etymology of words - and in this case it was surnames. So, it is in this vein, that I share my most recent 'moment of joy'. It is with the word 'scuttlebutt'. Last nig...