Archives: Word Myths

“Nightmare” Has Nothing to Do with Horses: The Real Meaning of the Nocturnal Mare

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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.

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Does “Sincere” Mean “Without Wax”? The Elegant False Latin Etymology

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“Sincere” does not come from “sine cera” (without wax). Despite the story’s popularity in Latin classes and motivational writing, no Classical Latin source connects “sincerus” to wax or marble sculpture. The word appears in Latin meaning pure, whole, and unadulterated — applied to wine and honey as well as character — with a disputed but entirely wax-free etymology. The marble-cracking story is a Renaissance invention, repeated ever since because it is too good not to share.

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Were Roman Soldiers Really Paid in Salt? The Truth Behind “Salary”

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Partially true. The word “salary” does derive from Latin “salarium,” connected to “sal” (salt) — and Pliny the Elder explicitly makes this connection in 77 CE. But whether Roman soldiers were literally paid in salt is disputed; most historians believe “salarium” referred to an allowance to buy salt, not salt itself. The etymology is genuine; the “paid in actual salt” story may be a simplification of a more complex reality.

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Does “Posh” Stand for “Port Out, Starboard Home”? The Unsinkable Myth

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“Posh” does not stand for “Port Out, Starboard Home.” Despite the story’s extreme persistence — it has appeared in encyclopaedias and BBC programs — no P&O ticket, invoice, or shipping record using “POSH” as an abbreviation has ever been found. The P&O company archive has been searched specifically for this evidence: it does not exist. The word’s true origin is uncertain, possibly Romany slang for money (half a crown = “posh”), but the acronym story is definitively unverified.

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Does “F**k” Stand for “Fornication Under Consent of the King”? The Real Origin of a Taboo Word

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No — “fuck” is not an acronym. The word appears in 15th-century manuscripts and coded writing, centuries before acronyms were a word-formation method in English. The real origin is almost certainly Germanic: cognate with Norwegian “fukka,” Swedish “focka,” and Dutch “fokken,” all meaning to push, strike, or thrust. The various acronym stories (Fornication Under Consent of the King, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, etc.) are all backronyms — invented long after the word already existed.

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Is “Honeymoon” Really About Drinking Mead for a Month? The Surprising True Origin

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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.

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Does SOS Stand for “Save Our Souls” (or “Save Our Ship”)? The True Meaning

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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.

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Did People Really Say “Bless You” to Ward Off Plague? The Origins of the Sneezing Superstition

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The plague theory is uncertain. While Pope Gregory I did encourage blessings after sneezing during a Rome plague around 590 CE, sneezing superstitions existed in ancient Greece, Rome, and other cultures long before any medieval plague. The custom almost certainly predates the Black Death by centuries, and the plague connection — while possible — is one of several explanations, not the definitive one.

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Is “Rule of Thumb” Really About a Wife-Beating Law? The True Origin

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No such law has ever been found in English legal history. Despite being widely repeated since the 1970s in academic and popular contexts, no “rule of thumb” wife-beating statute exists in any English, Scottish, or American legal record. The phrase most likely derives from craftsmen and brewers using their thumb as a measuring instrument — a physical “rule” (measuring tool) no wider than a thumb.

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