HOCUS POCUS The Latin phrase “hoc est enim corpus meum” – “This is my body” – appears in the Catholic Mass as part of transubstantiation – when the wafer is accepted as part of the body of Jesus. Over time, and with the pervasive nature of oral tradition leaving the Church and going into the streets, the phrase became HOCUS-POCUS by the early 17th century, and was attached to magicians and jugglers performing at fairs.

CASTING ASPERSIONS "Aspersion" comes from the Latin word aspersus, itself a derivative of the verb "aspergere," which means "to sprinkle" or "to scatter." When "aspersion" first appeared in English in the 16th century, it referred to the type of sprinklings (for instance, of holy water) that occur in religious ceremonies. But English speakers noted that splatterings can soil and stain, and by the end of the century "aspersion" was also being used for reports that stain or tarnish a reputation.

BRA Mark Twain invented the hooks for modern bras in 1871.

VENTRILOQUIST Ventriloquism, the art of speaking such that the voice seems to come from somewhere else, is derived from the Latin word, ventri, meaning abdomen. Ventriloquism is literally speaking from the belly.

COWARD The root word for coward comes from the Latin word for tail, couda, and originates from military terminology to refer to soldiers who placed themselves at the tail end of their regiment to avoid combat. We see the word reflecting an animal metaphoric sense in phrases such as turning tail and tail between the legs. A coward is thus, literally, someone who turns his tail and runs.

BUTT From a series within Parallel Text on euphemisms.

COURAGE The word courage comes from the Old French word, cofur, meaning heart. It’s usually the courageous among us who have the biggest hearts.

BOW Bow is derived from the low german word, bog, meaning shoulder. It was adapted for nautical use in Middle English to refer to the shoulder of a boat’s hull.

ANIMUS This word, as many parallel words, is complicated coming from Latin in two different forms, animus male and anima female. Carl Jung introduced this double-gendered meaning in modern culture, using anima to distinguish the feminine side of a woman’s psyche and animus her male side.

CATERINA de MEDICI - DYPTICH It was the wife of King Henry II, Caterina de Medici, who introduced both table forks and high heels to the Western world.

COKE Coca-Cola was originally marketed as a green, not caramel colored, drink.

DELIRIUM In Latin the word lera means the ridge left by ploughing. The verb de-lerare means to make an irregular ridge when ploughing. A delirious was one who could not make a straight farrow when ploughing and thus came to mean a crazy or disoriented person.

JADED Jaded is derived from the ancient Nordic, word jalda. This term designates an old horse with a bent back and was frequently used in the 16th century as a derogatory epithet to describe a woman. Today it is a term widely used to describe someone bored and without enthusiasm.

DENIGRATE Denigrate quite literally means to burn someone’s name or reputation coming directly from the Latin, denigrare, meaning to blacken.

DESIRE - DYPTICH A common theory is that the word desire is derived from the from Latin “desiderare” with the original sense perhaps being to “await what the stars will bring,” from the Latin de sidere meaning “from the stars.”

CLAVICLE The anatomical name for the collarbone is clavicle from the Latin, clavicula, meaning little key.

FUGUE - DYPTICH The word fugue comes from the Latin, fuga, meaning to escape or chase. A fugue state can make someone feel as if they are flying about and a fugue is also a classical composition that varies its theme with each voice continuously chasing the previous one. Both much like the feeling one gets from a merry-go-round.

LEFT HANDED COMPLIMENT In medieval Germany, marriage between a nobleman and a commoner was discouraged. During the marriage ceremony, the groom was required to place the ring on the left hand as opposed to the customary right. While to an outsider, the marriage appeared quite ordinary it was a marriage in name only as neither the wife nor the children could gain rank or property. This practice led to anything whose surface appearance was deceiving to be called ‘left-handed’ including a compliment.

CATARACT The term cataract gets its name directly from the Latin word, cataracta, meaning waterfall since the whitish appearance of a cataract in the eye resembles the bright white found in the on- rushing water in a waterfall.

NEPHOGRAM From a series within Parallel Text on unusual words. A nephogram is simply a photo of a cloud.

ORTHOPAEDIC Orthopaedic is the branch of medicine dealing with the correction of deformities of bones and muscles but originally is was specific just to children. From the Greek; ortho – straight + paedic – child.

ZERO The mathematical zero- half of all computer language- was created in India. The Sanskrit word for zero implies ‘a wide emptiness.’

ALONE the word alone comes from the Middle English words, ‘al one’, meaning simply: all one. Over time, the two words meshed to a single word though the significance remained unchanged.

PREGNANT From a series within Parallel Text on euphemisms.

SHOT In the old west a .45 car- tridge for a six -gun cost 12 cents, so did a glass of whis- key. If a cowboy was low on cash, he could often give the bartender a cartridge in exchange for a drink. This became known as a shot of whiskey.

SILLY The origin of the word silly began in c1200 and originally meant someone innocent or blessed.

SINCERE The practice of patching flaws in marble sculptures with bits of wax was originally developed during the Renaissance. A statue without flaws, and therefore without the camouflage of wax, was called a sculpture sin cera: without wax. The phrase later came to mean anything true and honest without hidden defects.

CHAOS The origin of the word comes from the late 15 century Greek word, khaos, denoting a gaping void or chasm.

SOMMELIER The word sommelier journeys from mule to its modern day usage starting with the Middle French, somme, meaning burden to sommier which was a beast of burden. Later the word, sommelier, was created for the court official charged with the transportation of provisions and care of the mules and oxen and finally on to the modern day term for wine steward, sommelier, used throughout the world.

ULTRAMARINE This color is named by two words from Latin: ultra, meaning “the far side or beyond” and marine, meaning “of the sea.”

SLIP - TRYPTICH A slip is what you call the undergarment that got its name from its ability to let your clothes slide on.

MAN'S BEST FRIEND 74 famous dogs and their humans

BARE FACED LIE The expression "bare-faced lie" originally referred to the idea that it is more difficult to hide lies with a clean-shaven face than with a beard, which can help hide deceptive behaviors. The meaning which the expression has taken over time is that a bare-faced liar is a person who does not bother to hide his deceptions because he does not care much if a person knows or not that he is lying.

CLICHE - MULTIPLE IMAGES An overused expression or idea - a cliche - comes from the actual cliche which is the term for a the stereotype block used over and over again in the printing process.

CLICHE - MULTIPLE IMAGES An overused expression or idea - a cliche - comes from the actual cliche which is the term for a the stereotype block used over and over again in the printing process.

CLICHE - MULTIPLE IMAGES An overused expression or idea - a cliche - comes from the actual cliche which is the term for a the stereotype block used over and over again in the printing process.

CLICHE - MULTIPLE IMAGES An overused expression or idea - a cliche - comes from the actual cliche which is the term for a the stereotype block used over and over again in the printing process.

Milan A milliner, first used in 1530, is someone who designs, makes or sells women's hats and comes from the city, Milan, from where the best women's wares were imported.

TO SHAKE A STICK AT The early 1800's phrase, "to shake a stick at" is used to mean when the number to be counted is so excessive as to induce confusion and lose count.

MUTATE The opposite of ceteris paribus is mutatis mutandis, which means "those things having been changed that are to be changed". While this is also an expression used by economists, I have always been amused by the fact that the Italian word for underwear is "mutande" (which is derived from the same Latin verb "mutare", to change). So I always think of mutatis mutandis as a change of underwear.

MUTATE The opposite of ceteris paribus is mutatis mutandis, which means "those things having been changed that are to be changed". While this is also an expression used by economists, I have always been amused by the fact that the Italian word for underwear is "mutande" (which is derived from the same Latin verb "mutare", to change). So I always think of mutatis mutandis as a change of underwear.

MUTATE The opposite of ceteris paribus is mutatis mutandis, which means "those things having been changed that are to be changed". While this is also an expression used by economists, I have always been amused by the fact that the Italian word for underwear is "mutande" (which is derived from the same Latin verb "mutare", to change). So I always think of mutatis mutandis as a change of underwear.

MUTATE The opposite of ceteris paribus is mutatis mutandis, which means "those things having been changed that are to be changed". While this is also an expression used by economists, I have always been amused by the fact that the Italian word for underwear is "mutande" (which is derived from the same Latin verb "mutare", to change). So I always think of mutatis mutandis as a change of underwear.

HUMILIATE The Latin, humilis, from which comes the word humble is a word that refers to the original terms of baseness and thoughts. The word, in fact comes from humus, the earth in the sense of the soil, and has long been used in the negative.

CAROUSEL The word carousel originated from the Italian garosello and Spanish carosella meaning little battle. In the 12th century, during the Crusades, the apparatus was used as a combat preparation exercise and game.