Thursday, May 15, 2008

Something New Every Day


Today, while reading an entertaining piece by St. Olaf professor Gordon Marino on the author David Mamet's fondness for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I was surprised to find the word transmogrify slipped into a piece of otherwise stolid prose. I, of course, immediately connected this word to Calvin and Hobbes and pegged it for a sly tribute. Not so, according the the Online Etymological Dictionary, for transmogrify dates back to 1656. Go figure.


2 comments:

Elephantschild said...

If "transmogrify" dates back to the 17th century, it's of course only because Calvin used his transmogrifier as a time machine and left a temporal implant back there.

Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake said...

Haha, excellent point.