Words - Part I

Many words and phrases we use do have an interesting background. Here are some of the wonderful words and the spicy details about them.

FORTNIGHT comes from 'Fourteen Nights' (Two Weeks).

POP MUSIC is 'Popular Music' shortened.

MOPED is the short term for 'Motorized Pedaling'.

BUS is the short term for 'Omnibus' that means everybody.

DRAWING ROOM was actually a 'withdrawing room' where people withdrew after Dinner. Later the prefix 'with' was dropped.

NEWS refers to information from Four directions N, E, W, and S.

AG-MARK, which some products bear, stems from 'Agricultural Marketing'.

QUEUE comes from 'Queen's Quest'. Long back a long row of people as waiting to see the Queen. Someone made the comment Queen's Quest..

JOURNAL is a diary that tells about 'Journey for a day' during each Day's business.

TIPS come from 'To Insure Prompt Service'. In olden days to get prompt service from servants in an inn, travelers used to drop coins in a box on which was written 'To Insure Prompt Service'. This gave rise to the custom of Tips.

JEEP is a vehicle with unique Gear system. It was invented during World War II (1939-1945). It was named 'General Purpose Vehicle (GP)'.GP was changed into JEEP later.

Hat tip: Rajagopalan of Just Out