482: filibuster Apr 3, 2016

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Nowadays, 'filibuster' carries the connotation to politics and legal assemblies, but it did not start out that way. It comes from the 18th century French word, 'flibustier', which first applied to pirates pillaging the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, ultimately from the Dutch, 'vrijbuiter'. In the mid 19th century (the term was used to denote Americans who incited revolution in several Latin American states. Soon after the verb was used to describe tactics employed to sabotage congressional proceedings.

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Important Announcement: Blogspot Access Will Close

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There will be no additional new content hosted on this blogspot account, and in 4 weeks from now (30th of September 2020), the blogspot account will no longer be publically available. If you are subscribed via email, please visit WordFacts.Org and subscribe via email there; there is a link to do so on the bottom of every page, so you will only need to scroll all the way down on any page you are on (see video below if needed). Apologies for the inconvenience, but the blog, video, and commercial services are now being moved specifically to WordFacts.Org 
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1511: "I'll be home in 3 days; don't wash" Might be False Jan 31, 2019

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852: delilah Apr 8, 2017

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Plenty of common Western names have some biblical relevance. It is usually from the frequency of these names that terms like 'john' referring to a man who hires prostitute, or foundation the baseball team, Yankees , come about. Some names, such as 'Delilah', are also used as nouns separate from the name, but with connotations stemming from Scripture, and not contemporary connotations. It is from the story of Samson and Delilah where the sense of the word as 'seductress' began, but the name was around for much longer than this. There is disagreement concerning the true etymology of this word, but it either comes from the Hebrew element 'dal' meaning 'weak' or the Hebrew for 'delight'. Unlike other much older names like 'Matthew' or 'John', 'Delilah' only started to be used as a name in the 17th century with the Puritans, though it gained more popularity following Saint-Saens' opera, Samson and Delilah (1877). Li
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