Plantation Hat: Is "pepper" something that adds pep? Or does "pep" describe the result of adding pepper?
Which came first, I wonder?
Monocled Linguist: Actually, they're false cognates! Pepper is named for Sir Davis Pepper, who was the first to import the spice from India to Britain in the seventeenth century.
It was a trade name: Pepper Brand Shockening Powder, later genericized simply to pepper.
Monocled Linguist: Whereas "pep" comes from the Middle Greek "pepos", meaning verve or spirit. Hence pep rally.
Sometimes coincidences like that happen!
Top Hat Bystander: Why are you such a liar?
Monocled Linguist: Come on! I have a linguistics degree.
This is all I have!
{{header: shed light on WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: "How often does somebody actually WONDER ABOUT ETYMOLOGY in my PRESENCE?? You GOTTA give me this!!"}}
''How often does somebody actually WONDER ABOUT ETYMOLOGY in my PRESENCE?? You GOTTA give me this!!''
The computers tell me it was 20 years ago, June 9, 2006, that I arrived in New York for my first-ever comic convention as an exhibitor, MoCCA.
It was an important trip for me, a milestone in what would go on to become my career.
I wrote a little reminiscence on Patreon (free/unlocked) — including a first-since-then reprint of the photocomics I made at the time, documenting the trip!
Read the rest here: [ 20 Years Ago (In Photocomic Form) ]
random.
previous.
next.
current.