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Aborigines. When Captain Cook approached natives of the Endeavor River tribe to ask what the strange animal he spotted was, he got “kangaroo” for an answer.
    The word cop came from the English term “Constable on Patrol.”
    MAFIA is an acronym for Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela, or “Death to the French is Italy’s Cry.”
    Mothers were originally named Mama or Mommy (in many languages) because they have mammary glands.
    Influenza got its name from the fact that people believed the disease was because of the evil “influence” of stars.

THE NAKED TRUTH
    A fable says that Truth and Falsehood went bathing; Falsehood came first out of the water and dressed herself in Truth’s garments. Truth, unwilling to take those of Falsehood, went naked.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING
    A prestidigitator is another word for magician.
    A castrated rooster is called a capon.
    A conchologist studies mollusks and shells.
    A deltiologist collects postcards.
    A fingerprint is also known as a dactylogram.
    A funambulist is a tightrope walker.
    A horologist measures time.
    A klazomaniac is someone who feels like shouting.
    A librocubicularist is someone who reads in bed.
    A phrenologist feels and interprets skull features.
    A sultan’s wife is called a sultana.
    An anthropophagite eats people.
    Killing a king is called regicide.
    Spat-?out food is called chanking.
    The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck.
    A fox’s tail is called a brush.
    The two ends of a magnet are called poles.
    The word diastima refers to having a gap between your teeth.
    The word lethologica describes the state of not remembering the word you want to say.
    The word samba means to rub navels together.
    When your sink is full, the little hole that lets the water drain, instead of flowing over the side, is called a porcelator.
    Women who wink at men are known as nictitating women.
    A necropsy is an autopsy on animals.
    A poem written to celebrate a wedding is called an epithalamium.
    A scholar who studies the Marquis de Sade is called a Sadian, not a Sadist.
    According to author Douglas Adams, a salween is the faint taste of dishwashing liquid in a cup of fresh tea.
    Alma mater means “bountiful mother.”
    An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
    Degringolade means “to fall and disintegrate.”
    Dendrology is the study of trees.
    Dibble means “to drink like a duck.”
    EEG stands for electroencephalogram.
    EMI stands for electrical and musical instrument.
    Groaking is to watch people eating in the hope that they will offer you some.
    “Hara kiri” is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word seppuku, which means, literally, “belly splitting.”
    It is possible to drown and not die. Technically, the term drowning refers to the process of taking water into the lungs, not to death caused by that process.
    Karaoke means “empty orchestra” in Japanese.
    Kemosabe means “soggy shrub” in Navajo.
    Koala is Aboriginal for “no drink.”
    Lead poisoning is known as plumbism.
    Scatologists are experts who study feces.
    Sekkusu means “sex” in Japanese.
    Spain literally means “the land of rabbits.”
    The “You Are Here” arrow on a map is called the IDEO locator.
    The third year of marriage is the leather anniversary.
    The abbreviation “e.g.” stands for “exempli gratia,” or “for example.”
    The abbreviation for pound, “lb.,” comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning “balance.”
    The French term bourrage de crane for wartime propaganda means “brain stuffing.”
    The infinity character on the keyboard is called a lemniscate.
    The Japanese translation of switch is pronounced suitchi.
    The name for fungal remains found in coal is sclerotinite.
    The phrase “jet lag” was once called boat lag, back before airplanes existed.
    The Sanskrit word for war means “desire for more cows.”
    The slang word crap comes from T. Crapper, the man who invented the modern toilet.
    The slash character is called a virgule, or solidus.