Words That Seem Related but Aren’t

WORLD

A crayfish is not a fish, an outrage is not a rage, and there’s no bomb in bombast. Words suggest one thing, but their histories tell us another. (The Week)

Dig a little—or a lot!—deeper with a wide variety of resources from our websites (that’s Education and Kids) and blog.

This amazing graphic shows the linguistic evolution of 200 common words, or cognates, across languages. Graphic by Oliver Uberti, National Geographic
This amazing graphic shows the linguistic evolution of 200 common words, or cognates, across languages. Some words change a little, and some words change a lot.
Graphic by Oliver Uberti, National Geographic

Discussion Ideas
Read the terrific talking points from The Week, and dig a little deeper with resources from our websites and blog.

1. PEN AND PENCIL
Learn more about the geography of a pencil with this activity.

2. MALE AND FEMALE
See how this school of fish is a girls’ school . . . until some of the girls become boys.

3. FISH AND CRAYFISH
Listen to this podcast about the long, strange journey of Louisiana crayfish. (Can’t access the podcast? Try here.)

4. HANG AND HANGNAIL
Take a look at the beautifully evocative handprints—and possibly hangnails—stenciled on the wall of an ancient cave in Argentina.

5. EAR AND EAR (OF CORN)
See more ears of corn and other grains in the photo gallery for our encyclopedic entry.

7. STAR AND STARLING
Take a look at this beautiful My Shot photo of a Brahminy starling, indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.

8. FACE AND SHAMEFACED
See how one My Shot user shows a shamefaced portrait.

9. GINGER AND GINGERLY
Learn about the life and travels of a real-life spice trader, Al Goetze.

10. STEP AND STEPMOTHER/FATHER
What relationships define a family? Learn more with our encyclopedic entry.

11. SCOTLAND AND SCOT-FREE
Learn about Scotland and its neighbors with our handy country guide to the United Kingdom.

12. LOCK AND WEDLOCK
Use GIS skills to understand how buying a wedding dress took on tragic consequences in the 19th century.

13. BOMB AND BOMBAST
Rimbombante!

14. RAGE AND OUTRAGE
Use our collection of materials on protests to understand others’ outrage.

15. MAN AND HUMAN
What perfect words to start studying for AP Human Geography!

Leave a Reply