Surprising but verified true etymology.
Fact: the internet slang “spam” for junk email was coined from the 1970 Monty Python sketch where the word “spam” is repeated incessantly. Early Usenet users in the early 1990s adopted the term to describe the flood of repetitive, unwanted messages that cluttered newsgroups. The sketch’s relentless chorus perfectly captured the experience of junk mail, making the myth a confirmed fact.
The claim that report comes from re‑ + port, literally ‘to carry back’, is not a modern invention – it reflects the word’s genuine Latin roots. Early Middle English and Old French attestations show report derived from Latin re‑portare via Old French reporter. The myth is therefore essentially correct, though the nuance of ‘information’ rather than physical cargo is often missed.
Yes, the claim is true. “Share” comes from Old English scearu, meaning ‘a cutting or division’, which in turn derives from Proto‑Germanic *skērą ‘to cut, separate’. The word has been used for a portion of something since the early medieval period, so its link to cutting is etymologically sound.
Yes, the claim is true. “Avatar” entered English from Sanskrit avatāra, which literally means “descent.” Early English citations from the late 16th century already use the word in that sense. Modern uses for a digital persona are extensions of the original religious meaning, not a recent invention.
Yes, the word algorithm does trace back to a Persian mathematician—Al‑Khwarizmi—through a Latinized form that appeared in medieval Europe. The term first shows up in 13th‑century Latin texts, later broadening to mean any step‑by‑step procedure. Today it no longer refers to the scholar himself but to the method he helped popularize.
Yes, the claim is true. The English word filter derives from Latin filtrum, a term for a felt cloth used to strain liquids. Early Latin texts from the first century BCE already use filtrum in this sense. The modern sense of a device that separates particles evolved from that original felt‑based meaning.
True — the “mare” in “nightmare” is not a horse. It is an Old English “mære,” a supernatural demon believed to sit on sleeping people’s chests and cause suffocating dreams. The creature appears across Germanic and Slavic folklore under names including “mara,” “Mahr,” and (in French) “cauchemar” (literally “trampling nightmare”). The equine “mare” (female horse) is a completely different word with a completely different origin.
SOS does not stand for anything. The signal was chosen in 1906 because the Morse code sequence (… — …) is maximally simple and unmistakable — three dots, three dashes, three dots. “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are backronyms invented after the signal was already in use, designed to help operators remember the sequence by attaching a memorable meaning to it.
The mead theory is substantially true. Richard Huloet’s 1552 English dictionary explicitly connects “honeymoon” to the custom of drinking mead (honey wine) for a full month after a wedding. The “honey” referred both to the sweetness of new love and to the honey used to ferment mead; the “moon” was a lunar month. Huloet’s entry also adds a wry observation: just as the moon wanes, so does the initial sweetness of marriage.