Anu Garg's new book, "The Dord, The Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-so-common Words" combines two of my favorite things: food and etymology. Bibliophiles might know Garg from Wordsmith, his 600,000-subscriber word-a-day e-mail system. Now, while the book isn't entirely about food, Garg, a vegan, devotes one entire chapter to the meaning behind food words (gourmand, by the way, comes from the word gormant, which means glutton - share that one at your next dinner party!)
Some other fun word origins? 'Calzone' means 'trouser leg,' 'taco' means 'plug' or 'wad' (ew), and a 'trencherman' is a hearty eater. Hey - what about us trencherwomen? Check out the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's review of the book for more.
So, next time you're gathered postprandial, use this book as fodder in your conversation about aristology to impress your guests.
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