Educational Annotations

Some of the comics have (more or less) informative annotations on a variety of topics. This is a list of the more educational ones, sorted by subject tags. Some annotations are listed under multiple subjects.

Comics tagged: etymology

• 559 - Flammable versus inflammable; English etymology
• 820 - Etymology of "xenomorph"
• 1130 - Lent; lentils; lenses
• 1391 - Etymology of "poppet"
• 1481 - Petards; being hoist thereon; Hamlet
• 1731 - Etymology of "titbit"; bowdlerisation of language
• 1982 - Whiskey and whiskey
• 2031 - "Bupkis"; words we understand but never use
• 2055 - "Fortnight"
• 2107 - "Computer"
• 2116 - "Software"
• 2153 - Cheshire cats and the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's version
• 2244 - "Wharf", "pier", and "jetty"
• 2343 - "Fuschia"; "orange"
• 2370 - "Tinker's cuss"; "tinker's damn"
• 2382 - "Wolf" in German
• 2392 - "Atom"
• 2411 - "Zeitgeist" in English and German
• 2519 - "Suffer"
• 2657 - "Scientist"
• 2690 - "Right whale"
• 2694 - "E pur si muove"; "punk"; Measure for Measure
• 2736 - "Petroleum"
• 2784 - "Magazine"
• 3026 - Figurative use of "literally"
• 3138 - Words coined by Shakespeare
• 3431 - Djinn and genies; computer programming; computer languages
• 3448 - Atlas (the titan); atlases
• 3488 - Density of alcohol; layered drinks; types of alcohol; formic acid and ants
• 3521 - "Whence"
• 3532 - "Pyroclasm"; pyroclastic flow
• 3558 - Cannibalism and sophiophagy
• 3626 - "Plumbing"; words derived from the Latin "plumbum"
• 3732 - "Tad"
• 3741 - "Balls-up"
• 3919 - "Conversation piece"
• 3944 - Portmanteau words; portmanteau luggage; Oliver Heaviside; complex numbers in electrical engineering; the Heaviside layer
• 3957 - "Pittance"
• 3966 - "Takes the cake"
• 3981 - "Port" and "starboard" sides of a ship
• 3982 - Dire wolves
• 4009 - "Taxicab"
• 4014 - Daiquiris; mojitos; "limeys"; scurvy; grog
• 4051 - "Invoke"; alliteration versus assonance
• 4067 - "Jack of"; "jack" as an adjective
• 4072 - "All at sea"
• 4094 - Etymology and pronunciation of "lich"; usage in fantasy literature
• 4123 - Jemaa el-Fnaa
• 4148 - "Hooroo"
• 4244 - "No good deed goes unpunished"
• 4261 - "diversionary"
• 4307 - Etymology of Cuba; origin of Christopher Columbus
• 4378 - Photoshop sky replacement; etymology of "hurricane"; hurricanes
• 4386 - "Hair of the dog"
• 4469 - "Avocado"
• 4500 - "Replica", "model", "likeness"
• 4523 - "Give someone a lift"
• 4545 - "All the trimmings"
• 4546 - "Ahoy"
• 4572 - "Between a rock and a hard place"
• 4762 - Plains, and plain
• 4846 - "Belt up"
• 4866 - The name of Naples
• 5176 - "Over a barrel"

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