LINC Home Study - English Activities Online

	Etymology: a branch of linguistics that studies the origins of words or expressions Words created by error - approximately 300-400 words in the English language have been created by a typographical error or mishearing. Below are some examples. Messuage A legal term that describes a house, its buildings and its land. Messuage is a mishearing and poor translation of the French word "menage." "Menage" in French means the persons comprising a household. Kitty-corner or Catty-corner A way of describing something that is located diagonally from something else, or on a 45 degree angle. Catty-corner is a mishearing and poor translation of the old term "catercorner." Beg A verb used to describe asking for charity. Beg is an improper back-formation of the word beggar. At one time, a beggar was a person who asked for charity but the word "beg" did not exist. The word beg was placed in a dictionary as a verb when the word did not exist at all!