Mascots y Mascotas et al.

Pets vs. Mascots. Got into this one working on the Dog Rally post. I’ve always thought it’s fascinating that pets are called mascotas in Spanish, and my curiosity about this led me to discover tonight that both words come from French and ultimately mean “good-luck charm.” Kind of pulls it together for me, how a dude in an alligator suit cavorting on the sidelines and a little terrier aren’t that different after all.

Enthusiasm. A wonderful word, as is its underused cousin, “enthused.” Turns out it comes straight from en+theos, “possessed by a god,” which I understand is a helluva way to get excited about stuff.

Scrutinize. This is my favorite word-origin “a-ha” of the last 2 years or so. Scruta is Latin for trash. So it is “to examine, search (as through trash)” (online etymological dictionary). So when you use this word or hear it used, picture searching for something so carefully, so thoroughly, that you are willing to sift through the trash.