Before emojis, there were grawlixes. Imagine you’re doing some home repairs, and as you’re pounding a nail into a piece of wood, you mistakenly bash your thumb. You don’t respond calmly with, “Oh darn. I do believe I just hit my thumb with a hammer. It is rather painful.” No, if you smash your thumb with a hammer, you’re going to shout, “#@*&!%@!” This isn’t the type of publication to spell out curse words — those handy symbols used to replace an expletive are a grawlix.

A grawlix is a string of symbols (glyphs) often used in cartoons and comic books, either to convey an obscenity or a variety of emotions. Grawlixes are not limited to what you find in the top row of your keyboard. They can include a variety of symbols, such as lightning bolts, storm clouds, explosions, skulls and crossbones, shaking fists, and hammers, depending on the emotion to be conveyed. In graphic novels, these might be drawn by an artist, but in digital communication they can be conveyed with a graphical font such as Wingdings, or with emojis. 

Cartoonist Mort Walker, who created the “Beetle Bailey” and “Hi and Lois” comic strips, coined “grawlix” in a 1964 article, “Let’s Get Down to Grawlixes,” for the National Cartoonists Society’s magazine. In a 2000 book called Mort Walker’s Private Scrapbook, he elaborated on how some cartoon-specific terms came to be: “It started out as a joke for the National Cartoonists Society magazine. I spoofed the tricks cartoonists use, like dust clouds when characters are running or light bulbs over their heads when they get an idea. … I created pseudoscientific names for each cartoon cliché, like the sweat marks cartoon characters radiate. I called them ‘plewds,’ after the god of rain, ‘Joe Pluvius.'”

So, how did Walker get to “grawlix”? To break it down linguistically, it sounds similar to the word “growling,” an appropriate expression of emotion for a cartoon character. “Graw” is akin to “draw, which is what cartoonists do. And “-lix” gives it a Latinate air of authority, as in calix (“cup”), helix (“spiral”), and prolix (“drawn out”). But Walker might not have been thinking of etymology when he added to the artists’ vocabulary.   

Walker also coined some words for the symbols used in a grawlix in comic strips: “jarn” (spiral), “quimp” (ringed planet), “nittle” (star), and “squean” (starburst).  

But while Walker was the first to name such cartoon symbols, he wasn’t the first to use them. Examples can be traced back to newspaper comics around the turn of the 20th century, including “The Katzenjammer Kids” by German immigrant Rudolf Dirks, first published in 1897, and “Lady Bountiful” by Gene Carr, first published in 1901.

Etymologists study the roots of words, tracing back centuries to find where, for example, an English word might have originated in an ancient language. Many modern words share a common ancient root, or etymon. Sometimes these connections are obvious — for example, “portable” and “transport” both come from the Latin verb portare, meaning “to carry.” Similarly, all words with a “bio-” prefix, whether the science of biology or a written biography, are related to the Latin bios, meaning “life.” Other words might share similar spellings, but the meanings are a little further apart. For example, “bicycle” and “cyclone” are based on the same root, the Greek kyklos, meaning “circle, wheel.” Whether the relation is crystal clear or more oblique, two or more words that share a common source are doublets. Let’s take a look at some words that have an obscure connection to each other — you can’t tell these words are doublets from spelling alone. 

Many words that don’t look related today have gone through millennia of evolution and can be traced back to a common ancestral language. Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is a hypothetical language, spoken at least 6,000 years ago. It’s considered hypothetical by linguists because no written record of it exists, but it’s been reconstructed from the earliest Indo-European writings. The Romance, Germanic, Slavic, Celtic, Iranian, and Indian languages descended from PIE, and we can find the roots of the majority of the English language in PIE. 

In PIE, “*ker-” (an asterisk is used when writing PIE syllables to denote they are reconstructed by linguists, or hypothetical) means “head” or “horn,” with derivatives referring to horned animals, horned-shaped objects, and projecting parts. 

In modern English, head-related derivatives include “cranium,” “cerebrum,” “cerebellum,” and, less obviously, “migraine.” “Migraine” derives from the Greek hemicrania, literally “half a head,” because migraines typically affect half of the head.

Names of animals with projecting parts from “*ker-” include “triceratops,” “unicorn,” “reindeer,” “rhinoceros,” and “hornet,” named for its projecting stinger. Earlier pronunciations in their various root languages of “reindeer,” “hornet,” and “rhinoceros” began with a guttural “k” sound, which is why they are in the family of words stemming from “*ker-.”

Animal horns have been used as musical instruments for millennia, and so we can add to this extended family of words “horn,” “alpenhorn,” “flügelhorn,” “French horn,” and “cornet.” When a horn is used as a container for food, it’s a cornucopia.

Many mathematical and scientific words have Arabic roots, owing to the achievements in the Arabic-speaking world that were adopted by Europeans in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. In Arabic, al- means “the,” so the prefix was often combined with an Arabic noun to create a new English word. 

“Alcohol” is from the Arabic al-kuhul, the black substance now called “kohl,” used as a cosmetic to darken eyelids. This substance was created by sublimation, a chemical refinement process. “Alcohol” came to refer to any substance obtained by sublimation, such as “alcohol of wine,” which was produced by distillation, a process much like sublimation. By the mid-18th century, “alcohol,” used on its own, referred to the intoxicating ingredient in any strong liquor.

“Algebra” is from the Arabic al-jebr, meaning “the reunion of broken parts,” a word in the title of a seminal treatise by Baghdad mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī. The “al-” in that mathematician’s name means he was from “the” town of Khwārezm

, now called Khiva, in Uzbekistan. The English word “algorithm” derives from his name. Thanks to al-Khwārizmī, we use Arabic numbers (0-9) and benefit from algorithms.

Other words related to this al- family include “alcove” (al-qobbah, “an arch or vaulted room”), “chemistry” (al-kimia, the supposed art of transmuting base metals into gold), “artichoke” (al-hursufa, “artichoke”), and “admiral” (amir-al, “commander of the …,” and amir-al-bahr, “commander of the sea”).  

In PIE, “*weg-” means “to be strong, lively.” In English, “wake,” “watch,” “velocity,” “vigil,” “vigilante,” “vigor,” and “surveillance” share that common ancient etymon.

“Witch” joins this family because of a witch’s supposed power to awaken the dead. Her name derives from the Germanic wikkjaz, “one who wakes the dead.” The pagan religion Wicca derives its name from the same source.

Also sharing the lively root is “vegetable” — anyone who has ever planted a veggie garden knows the link is in the strength of a seed. With the right soil, sun, and rain, it will become lively and grow to fruition.

Seventeenth-century English poet Andrew Marvell used “vegetable” in this sense in his poem “To His Coy Mistress,” when he tells her, “Had we but world enough, and time / This coyness, lady, were no crime… . My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow.”

An idiom is useful only if it’s commonly recognized by a lot of people. We know someone exclaiming that “it’s raining cats and dogs out there!” isn’t referring to furry creatures because that phrase is widely known to mean it’s pouring rain. But a direct translation of the same phrase in German or Spanish wouldn’t make sense.Every language has its own set of amusing idioms to decode. Sometimes an English idiom gets a slight twist in a foreign language. For example, the English phrase “like a bull in a china shop,” which describes a very clumsy person, turns into “like an elephant in a china shop” in French: “Comme un éléphant dans un magasin de porcelaine.“ Other times, an English idiom can be traced back to a foreign language. “Not my circus, not my monkeys” — meaning “not my problem” — is a translation of a Polish expression (nie mój cyrk; nie moje małpy) with the same meaning. So, what are some of the most amusing idioms that exist in other languages? Let’s find out.

Meaning: To live luxuriously

This expression paints a vividly gross picture. The expression “Wie die Made im Speck leben“ refers to someone living a life of luxury or abundance. For example, you might apply the phrase to a millionaire celebrity who is vacationing on their yacht. In the direct translation, the key German words are Made, meaning “maggot” or “grub,” and Speck, meaning “bacon fat.” The connection here is simple: Much like a hungry maggot in a piece of fatty bacon, this person has everything they need and more.

Meaning: To talk nonsense

In Latvian, the idiom “pūst pīlītes“ means “to exaggerate, lie, or say something outlandish.” Directly translated, pūst means “to blow” and pīlītes means “little ducks” or “ducklings.” (The Latvian word for an adult duck is pīle.) In Latvia, if your friend claims to have won the lottery, you might respond with, “Stop blowing little ducks!”

Meaning: A sunshower

If it’s raining but sunny at the same time, you can call it a sunshower. Those who speak Afrikaans — which is primarily spoken in South Africa and Namibia — call this occurrence “jakkals trou met wolf se vrou,” meaning “the jackal is marrying the wolf’s wife,” in reference to an unusual union of two things. In Zulu, another South African language, this weather phenomenon is called a “monkey’s wedding” for the same reason.

Meaning: An unexpected bonus

While finding a raisin at the end of a hot dog might not seem like a pleasant surprise, for Icelanders, this idiom is a way to convey excitement. The phrase “rúsínan í pylsuendanum” (where rúsínan means “raisin” and pylsuendanum means “the end of the sausage”) is akin to the English phrase “icing on the cake.” For example, you might say that a complimentary dessert at the end of a good meal was “the raisin at the end of a hot dog.” This quirky expression likely comes from traditional Scandinavian sausages, such as the Finnish rusinamakkara, which are made with raisins mixed in for a touch of sweetness.

Meaning: True character can’t be changed

Similar to the English expression “you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,” this Spanish idiom suggests that true character is inherent: “Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda.” Although the monkey (la mona) dresses in silk (de seda), it’s still a monkey. For instance, you might use this phrase if a run-down restaurant is renovated but customer service is still lacking. Despite outward appearances, the fundamental nature or character of someone or something remains the same.

Meaning: Used when someone sneezes

In English-speaking places, it’s standard etiquette to say “bless you” when someone sneezes, but in Mongolia they take it up a level. The expression “бурхан оршоо бутын чинээ сахал урга” (“Burkhan orshoo butin chinee sakhal urga“) includes the standard “bless you” but also wishes the person a luxurious beard. Historically, facial hair was important in Mongolian culture — think of Genghis Khan, the first ruler of the Mongol Empire. Thus, the idiom is a wish or blessing for strength and prosperity.

Meaning: Something absurd

It’s helpful to have a good sarcastic response ready for nosy questions. Down Under, if someone asks you, “What’s in your pocket?” you might respond, “A wigwam for a goose’s bridle.” It’s a nonsensical reply for questions that don’t need a real answer. The phrase was adopted into Australian slang from British English, where the expression is “a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle,” in which “whim-wham” refers to an ornament or a trinket. The phrase was first recorded in its Aussie form in 1917, replacing “whim-wham” with “wigwam,” which is an Indigenous dwelling but is used here for whimsical effect.