Norse mythology specified that the destruction of the world would be preceded by a cataclysmic final battle between the good and evil gods, resulting in the heroic deaths of all the ‘good guys.’ The German word for this earth-shattering last battle was ‘Götterdämmerung .’ Literally, ‘götterdämmerung ‘ means ‘twilight of the gods’ (‘Götter’ is the plural of ‘Gott,’ ‘god,’ and ‘Dämmerung ‘ means ‘twilight’). Figuratively, the term is extended to situations of world-altering destruction marked by extreme chaos and violence. In the 19th century, the German composer Richard Wagner brought attention to the word ‘Gotterdammerung’ when he chose it as the title of the last opera of his cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, and by the early 20th century, the word had entered English.
Etymologists take a gingerly approach to assigning any particular origins to this word. While it might have come from the name of the spice, there’s nothing concrete to back up that idea. Another conjecture is that it’s related to an Old French word, ‘gensor,’ that meant ‘delicate.’ That’s because in 16th century English an earlier sense of ‘gingerly’ often referred to dancing or walking with dainty steps. Not till the 17th century did it change to apply to movements that were cautious in order to avoid being noisy or causing injury, and to a wary manner in handling or presenting ideas. Not too surprisingly, given its ‘-ly’ ending, ‘gingerly’ is also quite often correctly used as an adverb. One could thus say that ‘Simon gingerly twisted the cap.’
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Getting Down to Brass Tacks
Originated from textile industry.
In early American times, women would buy fabrics in large quantities. Merchants would try to cheat them by reeling the fabric out fast.
The merchants would have brass tacks on the table to indicate a yard. If they reel the fabrics out fast enough, they would be able to cheat a little.
The women buying the fabric realized what they were doing, and would exclaim, ‘You need to get down to brass tacks!’
When English speakers hear ‘achoo,’ they usually respond with either ‘gesundheit’ or ‘God bless you.’ ‘Gesundheit’ was borrowed from German, where it literally means ‘health’; it was formed by a combination of ‘gesund’ (‘healthy’) and ‘-heit’ (‘-hood’). Wishing a person good health when they sneezed was believed to forestall the illness that a sneeze often portends. ‘God bless you’ had a similar purpose, albeit with more divine weight to the well-wishing. (It was once believed the soul could exit the body during a sneeze, causing ill health. Folks said ‘God bless you’ to ward off this danger.) ‘Gesundheit,’ at one time, also served as a toast when drinking (much like its English counterpart, ‘to your health’), but this usage is now mostly obsolete.
After the completion of the Statue of Liberty, the city of New York had a large celebration.
The owner of the company that designed the statue of Liberty, Gaget, Gaultier & Co., decided to cash in on this occasion, and made small bronze replica of the statue to sell.
It was such a popular item, that everyone was asking, ‘So, do you have your Gadget?’ referring to the small bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty.