A word resembling supercilious in its history and meaning is snooty. It is derived from snoot "snout or nose". It suggests a downward gaze along the nose again associated with an air of disdain.

One can say that raising the eyebrows and looking down the nose is being "superciliously snooty"!

Shambles. Sometime the meaning of a word takes a circuitous route. Why do we start with a "footstool" and end up with a "mess"? The Latin word scamellum gave rise to the Old English scamul which means "a footstool or a table for exhibiting goods". Scamul became shamel and later shamble which meant "a table of meat for sale". In the 16th century shambles came to mean a "slaughterhouse". From this was developed the figurative use to describe a place of terrible slaughter and bloodshed as in a battlefield.

In the 20th century, shambles has two meanings: (1)a place of great destruction and disorder, and (2)a scene of great disorder and confusion, or simply a mess.

Plagiarism. The Latin word plaga denoted a hunting net or snare for capturing game. The netting of such animals was known as plagium. This word was also used for the crime of kidnapping children to be sold into slavery. The kidnapper was called a plagiarius. By the first century AD, the same word was used to refer to a literary thief or plagiarist. Plagiarism denotes the practice of stealing the ideas or words of others and passing them off as one's own.

In a previous article we presented a so-called thumbnail history of the English language. We stressed that the English language was a most difficult language to learn, especially for foreigners.

A case in point. A French couple migrated to this country with the desire to settle here permanently. The couple settled in the suburb of a small city. The two young people were married for ten years and had no children. They eventually made friends and socialized with their neighbors.

The fact that the couple was childless did not deter a nosy neighbor from asking questions. When asked bluntly why they had no children, the Frenchman replied: "You see, my wife is impregnable. I mean she is unbearable. No, no, I mean she is inconceivable. Sacre bleu! I do not know how to explain.