Where'd That Word Come From?

"origins of words and phrases"

A light romp through history and culture.

(A caution: as with many other fascinating pages on the Web, this one may not be backed up by top-rate research. For example, my guess is that the "son of a gun" entry derives from a source with a multicultural perspective. A more academic, yet less politically correct, discussion of that particular phrase is at "The Phrase Finder - son of a gun." Finally, "Snopes.com" has a well-thought-out discussion of where "son of a gun" came from.)