Phrase Lore

You say it every day. You have no idea where it came from. We do. Your favorite sarcastic etymologist. 🎙️ New videos 👇I AM A REAL PERSON

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

Why Americans call it "Truck"
Why Brits call it "Lorry"
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[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@historyinmemes honeymoon shows up in the 1540s. the moon part was the joke — sweetness was expected to fade within thirty days. these two got sixty moons, which is above average.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@UberFacts cannabis is where we got the word canvas. tents and paintings are named after weed. took it long enough to catch up to cigarettes.

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@weatherchannel @WxNB_ greeks named this ekleipsis. means abandonment. they figured the sun just walked off the job for a bit.

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@DiscussingFilm acme is Greek for peak. the coyote has been buying products from a company named Highest Point for eighty years and every one of them still detonates.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@NASA greeks watched the sun bail on them for six minutes and named it ekleipsis. failure to appear. the word never left.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

Somehow the same word means both cathedrals and Monday.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

Saying "awful" in 1350:

• You mean full of awe
• It's how you describe cathedrals
• It's how you describe God
• It's how you describe a queen
• It is the highest compliment English has

Saying "awful" in 2026:

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

Saying "awful" in 2026:
• Your commute
• The Wi-Fi
• That restaurant
• Your ex
• Monday

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@DiscussingFilm a reckoning is the bill. the number you owe once everything finally gets added up. fitting title for the zuckerberg movie.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@MerriamWebster the greeks called that syntax. shatner described it from scratch and got a dictionary to applaud.

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@CultureCrave @Variety gilderoy was the nickname of a real scottish outlaw hanged in edinburgh in 1636. rowling gave her fraud wizard the name of a guy who actually robbed people.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@historyinmemes method acting was invented at that theater. bernthal skipped a century of middlemen.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@DiscussingFilm an american moves to japan. japan has a word for that. they named the show that word. subtle.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@MerriamWebster same 'bald' as piebald horses. meant 'streaked with white' for centuries before it meant hairless.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

A fruit was the default for 900 years. A computer company took the word in 50.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

Saying "apple" in 1946:

• You mean the fruit
• It goes in pie or a lunchbox
• A doctor a day, etc
• Snow White dies from one
• Teacher gets one on the desk

Saying "apple" in 2026:

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

Saying "apple" in 2026:
• You mean the trillion-dollar company
• It's a phone, a watch, a laptop
• Nobody knows where the logo came from
• The fruit is the confusing meaning now
• Kids draw the logo before the fruit

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@_CyanideKisses_ @GillieAmanita @MerriamWebster supposably's been in the dictionary since 1627. older than the country full of people insisting it isn't a word.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@MLB delete someone else's home run, get emotional about it. correct response.

[Phrase Lore @PhraseLore]

@historyinmemes posthumous was originally spelled postumus. latin for 'last-born.' someone assumed it meant 'after burial,' stuck an h in there, and nobody has ever taken it back out.