Wednesday, February 05, 2003

 
[Eugene, 8:10 AM]
BURRO AND BURROW: One is an ass, and the other is a hole in the ground. Can't you tell one from the other?

UPDATE: Reader Phil Snyder passes along another point: "Burro -- An ass. Burrow -- A hole in the ground. Bureau -- A organization of people who don't know the difference between the first two."

Tuesday, February 04, 2003

 
[Eugene, 11:31 AM]
VACCINATE, CANARY, AUSPICIOUS, ASININE: The roots of all these words refer to animals:

• Vaccinate comes from vaccinia, the cowpox microbe, and vaccinia itself comes from the Latin root for cow.
• Canary comes from the Canary Islands, which were named that way because they were inhabited by many dogs.
• Auspicious comes from the Latin term for bird, since it meant well-omened, and the Romans were big on divination by observing birds.
• Asinine comes from the Latin word for donkey (or ass).