My wife mentioned a kee-razy word to me just the other day: "clitoris". LOL What is that? Does that even exist?

The term "Jeffrying" was named after me because I have such a large penis. It's like "Roger", but bigger.

My most humble contrafibularaties subby.

the lovely word "sinister" used to only mean left-handed. But being left-handed was so sinister.

Having gone through Atlanta public schools in the 90s, it makes me cringe every time I hear someone refer to crunk as a portmanteau of crazy and drunk. I'm not sure who the originating conversation was between, but it took place inside a packed, rowdy nightclub (either The Warehouse or the Nike Pavilion) and it went something like this-

"Shawty, we fina crank it up in here."

"No need, my ninja. It's already crunk."

In the 1500s King Henry VIII was off visiting the Duke of Leinster (pronounced "Lin-ster" at the time), where they met up in a small tavern within the city of Dublin. At the time King Henry was rather young in his reign and had not yet attempted to secure an heir to the throne. Accompanying the pair for drinks was the Count of Nottinghamshire, a man about the same age as the King and often the brunt of his jokes. As the conversation progressed between the three, as well as the drinks, the topic eventually turned to the shires each controlled. The Duke of Leinster turned to the Count of Nottinghamshire, inquiring how many shires he reigned over. The Count looked down into his mug and muttered, "Onleh one."

King Henry grinned at the Duke and the two continued to mock the Count in more ways than you could count on your hands. Eventually the Count had enough, and challenged each man to a drinking game: "Fer every shire under yer reign, ya must drink a single liquor shot". The count went first and drank his one shot. King Henry pointed to the Duke and said, "Yer up, that's 12 shots fer ya there, one fer each shire in Leinster." The Duke struggled for the next half hour downing 12 whole shots of the finest liquor, but eventually finished. Finally the Duke and Count turned to King Henry and waited for him to take the 38 shots for the total shires he controlled.

On his 20th shot, the King grabbed his belly, started to thrown up, and felt like he was about to pass out. In a fit of rage, and since he was the King, Henry VIII decided to change the rules of the game. He exclaimed "God damn ya Countee, yer gonna get me killeded. I'mma hereby changin tha names of tha shires to be... to be..." The King paused, his mind blank in his drunken stupor. "A Countee!", he exclaimed at last, dizzily staring at the Count and thinking of nothing else. The King was wise while under the influence, as the game required a shot for each shire, not for this newfangled countee. The name picked up use per the King's decree, and was eventually translated into American as "County", defined as a jurisdiction managed by a Count.

The dance remix of Kraftwerk's "The Robots" has a robo-voice intoning, "Ja tvoy sluga, ja tvoy rabotnik" ("I am your slave, I am your worker") in Czech.

/CSB

What morons keep greenlighting these Cracked links? Are you not aware that we can go to the site directly, if we find it appealing? Christ on a bicycle. We already have boingboing and slashdot to recirculate old links for us. fark off.

john davidson is the long reigning whitest man on TV. wanted to know the root of "fresh" which was large back in the day

In 2061 we're going to have a heck of a time explaining where commonplace words like babby, instain and cromulent came from.

"You mean they just...made 'em up, grandpa?

lizaardvark: What morons keep greenlighting these Cracked links? Are you not aware that we can go to the site directly, if we find it appealing? Christ on a bicycle. We already have boingboing and slashdot to recirculate old links for us. fark off.

Wow! That must suck to have someone constantly standing over you not only forcing you to read Fark links that you don't want to, but to also post in the comments threads!


/a noble spirit embiggens the smallest man

"Boobies" used to refer to underage girls

Oh, it still does.

I quite like 'sharted' - that unpleasant feeling of farting and pushing a little too hard.....

Pants full of macaroni!!: Fun fact: Most words in the English language originated in Irish pubs.

Ironically, most Irish pubs originated in England.

Just bought my wife a book called the Etymologicon - sample here (new window), which looks like it will be an entertaining read for those that like words

Phrase origins are also interesting... (new window)

Have we mentioned recently that Cracked is for retards only?

JackieRabbit: Have we mentioned recently that Cracked is for retards only?

So you enjoyed it, then?

One of my favorites is "edema", or "oedema" in English English.

It is swelling usually caused by increased fluids.

The main place it is seen is in the ankles, so the word edema comes from Oedipus.

The Oracle prophesied that any son born to Laius would kill him. In an attempt to prevent this prophecy's fulfillment, when Jocasta indeed bore a son, Laius had his ankles pinned together so that he could not crawl; Jocasta then gave the boy to a servant to abandon ("expose") on the nearby mountain. However, rather than leave the child to die of exposure, as Laius intended, the sympathetic servant passed the baby onto a shepherd from Corinth and then to another shepherd.

Cool story bro.

DTRTA

The crunk story is absolutely correct. I remember that episode of Conan O'Brien's old show. The word turned up in rap music a few years later. I've been telling people that for years, and they all look at me like I'm an idiot.

/there's probably other reasons for that

there are quite a few people here that could benefit from etymonline.com

I read cracked articles like I read the back of my cereal box.

FloydA: Curiously, an Irish bar was also the origin of the name of the character from Peter Pan, Mr. Smee. Patrons at the bar would drink until closing time. When the Gardaí would come by to chase everyone out at closing time, one patron shouted out "Smee again; arr go f**k yerself."

Holy christ FloydA, I am pissing myself laughing over here. Thanks for a great laugh!

Really? Bugs Bunny coined "Nimrod"?

The authors of the Old Testament are gonna be awfully suprised.

lizaardvark: What morons keep greenlighting these Cracked links? Are you not aware that we can go to the site directly, if we find it appealing? Christ on a bicycle. We already have boingboing and slashdot to recirculate old links for us. fark off.

So your submission was redlighted, huh? Yeah, we've all been there.

The difference is, the rest of us aren't whiny biatches about it.

If Boobies means young girls does that make the Fark filter a pedo for defining the word as one's post?

RassilonsExWife: Really? Bugs Bunny coined "Nimrod"?

The authors of the Old Testament are gonna be awfully suprised.

RTFA. The claim is that the cartoons are responsible for the modern connotation of the word.

nmrsnr: Pocket Ninja: Personally, my favorite "word origin" story (which also, ironically, happened in a Dublin bar) goes back about 200 years to a night when Seamus O'Jackerson was throwing back some pints and had gotten up to relieve himself only to return and find another man in his seat. So Seamus said, "Git yisser sorry arse oyt av me sate an' gie me jar," as any man would, and the man (who'd had a few himself) peered bleary-eyes at Seamus and said, "Waaat ye say?" And Seamus was getting angry and said, "Shut yisser pie 'ole yer bleedin tosser," and the man just sort of blinked and said,"Waa ye saay?" And Seamus puffed out his chest and roared and said, "Go 'um an' feck yisser struggle an' strife yer fat bellied paddy 'oor," and the man started to say "Waa say?" again but right then hiccuped and was barely able to stifle it so what he actually said came out as "Waa say *up*." And Seamus just burst out laughing at that, and all the tension was broken, and after that it was a real joke in the bar to go up to people and say "Waasayup?" at random times just to get them laughing. And that continued for years and years and years, right up until a Budweiser representative just happened to be in the bar one afternoon.

Funny, I had also heard an Irish bar origin to the word, but it goes somewhat differently.

Sometime around the end of WWI there appeared an Englishman by the name of Wesley Chadwick as a regular in a local bar (Locations of the bar vary by telling, some say Dublin, others Kilkenny, if you're hearing a local tell the tale it's their own town.). Little was known of Wesley, all the locals knew was that he was a blackout drunk who was clearly from means because when he was conscious he would buy anyone who asked a drink. No limit, just ask, the drinks were on him. Some people thought he might have been a deserter, but since all he did was drink, buy others drinks, and pass out, the regulars let him be. In fact, he was so regular that as soon as the locals entered t ...

These are all very entertaining, but "What is up?" was not popularized by Budwiser and, as far as I know, has been a popular way to ask if anything is going on since at least the late 50s, and maybe since the 20s.

RassilonsExWife: Really? Bugs Bunny coined "Nimrod"?

The authors of the Old Testament are gonna be awfully suprised.

Go read the damn article you nimrod.

RassilonsExWife: Really? Bugs Bunny coined "Nimrod"?

The authors of the Old Testament are gonna be awfully suprised.

Know how I know you skipped over big parts of the article?

Heron: RassilonsExWife: Really? Bugs Bunny coined "Nimrod"?

The authors of the Old Testament are gonna be awfully suprised.

Go read the damn article you nimrod.

Whatta maroon...

Pants full of macaroni!!: Fun fact: Most words in the English language originated in Irish pubs.

Actually, most are of French origin. But I am not one to quibble.

bikerbob59: Pants full of macaroni!!: Fun fact: Most words in the English language originated in Irish pubs.

Actually, most are of French origin. But I am not one to quibble.

We used the parts that didn't surrender.

DjangoStonereaver: lizaardvark: What morons keep greenlighting these Cracked links? Are you not aware that we can go to the site directly, if we find it appealing? Christ on a bicycle. We already have boingboing and slashdot to recirculate old links for us. fark off.

You're new here, aren't you?

(checked lizaardvark's profile).

Well, relatively new.

First: Cracked and Fark management at one time had some sort of
'arrangement' that still may be in force. Hence the higher-than-average
number of greenlights.

Second: Cracked doesn't suck anywhere near as most people think, and
is certainly a better home for somewhat original content than either Slashdot
or BoingBoing.

Third:

[home.roadrunner.com image 600x450]

Wonderduck: lizaardvark: What morons keep greenlighting these Cracked links? Are you not aware that we can go to the site directly, if we find it appealing? Christ on a bicycle. We already have boingboing and slashdot to recirculate old links for us. fark off.

So your submission was redlighted, huh? Yeah, we've all been there.

The difference is, the rest of us aren't whiny biatches about it.

lizaardvark: What morons keep greenlighting these Cracked links? Are you not aware that we can go to the site directly, if we find it appealing? Christ on a bicycle. We already have boingboing and slashdot to recirculate old links for us. fark off.

hey lizarrdvark GOAN fark yourself!!!
welcome to fark

Pants full of macaroni!!: Fun fact: Most words in the English language originated in Irish pubs.

Nope, like literally over half of the English language we know today was invented by Shakespere