NPR's "On Words"

[Fred Shapiro]

On Wed, 25 Jan 2006, Tom Vincent wrote:

>  NPR: On Words with John Ciardi [NPR] Ever wondered where this word or
> that phrase comes from? The late poet laureate John Ciardi uncovers
> historical interpretations in this series from the Morning Edition
> archives. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4986368

It should be noted that John Ciardi, although a pretty good poet, was a
notoriously poor etymological scholar.  Anything he has to say about
"historical interpretations" should be taken with many grains of salt.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org