saoirsealtemple5

A slightly darker side to the word poodle arose in the early 20th century, when it became slang for a woman. British army officers soon extended the term to men who appeared to be currying favour with wealthy women, referring to them as “poodle-fakers.” The implication was clear: a man acting as a lapdog for personal gain.

Pet (noun) — a domesticated animal kept for companionship and pleasure rather than for work or food. I had always assumed the word pet came from the action. We pet our pets. Seemed perfectly reasonable. As it turns out, I was wrong. The verb came later. The pets came first. Somewhere in 16th-century Scotland, people began calling their hand-raised lambs pets —creatures kept not for utility, but for affection. Over time, the term expanded. By the late 1500s, any animal kept for...

Today is Friday the 13th. Well, it was when I wrote this. If you are reading this on some other day, the information remains valid. I decided to look a little deeper into this date and the prevailing superstitions that surround it. I was delighted to discover that it is not merely counted as a day of bad luck. There's an actual documented phobia attached to it. Paraskevidekatriaphobia The fear of Friday the 13th. Honestly, the definition is easier to digest than the medical term, though this...