Friday, August 10, 2007

A few word origins

POP MUSIC is ‘Popular Music’ shortened.
BUS is the short term for ‘Omnibus’ that means everybody.
FORTNIGHT comes from ‘Fourteen Nights’ (Two Weeks).
DRAWING ROOM was actually a ‘withdrawing room’ where people withdrew after Dinner. Later the prefix ‘with’ was dropped.
NEWS refers to information from four directions N, E, W and S.
AG-MARK which some products bear, stems from ‘Agricultural Marketing’.
JOURNAL is a diary that tells about ‘Journey for a day’ during each Day’s business.
QUEUE comes from ‘Queen’s Quest’. Long back a long row of people would wait to see the Queen. Someone made the comment Queen’s Quest.
TIPS come from ‘To Insure Prompt Service’. In olden days to get Prompt service from servants in an inn, travelers used to drop coins in a Box on which was written ‘To Insure Prompt Service’