More from Charles Hodgson
salamander - word of the day
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From: Charles Hodgson
The story behind the word "salamander"
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Piece Description
Charles Hodgson's "Etymology Moment" is a series of two to three minute pieces exploring the history of common English words. Intended to be played as a series, either daily or less frequently, each episode talks about a single word, the different meanings it might have had through history and related trivia such as an interesting historical character who used the word early on. The series already has hundreds of episodes to choose from and more are being added each week. Listener endorsements for Charles Hodgson's work include: "A staple of my daily listening, always interesting, kind of relaxing and educational to boot! I love it." (Russell Jenkins) "Mr Hodgson's dry wit and gentle delivery entertain, inform, and calm me down a bit after a hard day's work. A treasure I found months ago and it keeps on giving." (Hamilton UCI) "This is a daily must-listen." (Laurence Simon) "We love this program. It is a great way of learning, one word at a time. Charles has a unique way of pronouncing and interpreting the words. And we love his soothing voice." (Roland Popp) In addition to his "Etymology Moment" Charles Hodgson has written a book (publication August 2007) entitled CARNAL KNOWLEDGE - A Navel Gazer's Dictionary of Anatomy, Etymology, and Trivia. Richard Lederer, host of NPR's A Way With Words says of the book: "Master etymologist Charles Hodgson offers a passionate lesson...illuminates how just about every part of the amazing human chassis got its name." Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves says: "Delight your friends (or lose them rapidly) with this fabulous new knowledge presented with deftness and wit."
Broadcast History
content posted in different format as a podcast
Transcript
This is the etymology moment, and I'm Charles Hodgson. Today we'll hear the story behind the word jet.
It was in the 1930s that the idea of a jet engine that could be used on aircraft was finally put into practice. It was 1944 when the word jet was first used to describe an aircraft powered by these things. The idea of how such an engine might work had been around for millennia. A NASA website credits an ancient Egyptian of 150 BC with coming up with the idea of a turbine engine. How it works is that air gets sucked in at the front end and compressed down into a central chamber where fuel is sprayed into the passing breeze and set alight. The resulting explosion is a controlled one but it has the effect of considerably increasing the pressure of the gasses inside the engine at this point. Aside from extracting a little energy to use for sucking in more new air, the rest of the jet...
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