Have you ever wondered why "bravado" means a FALSE sense of courage?

"Bravado" is a linguistic fossil. It retains an old meaning of "brave" that vanished long ago: PRETENDING to be brave. Like a fossilized dinosaur bone, "bravado" provides hard evidence that a now-extinct meaning of "brave" once roamed the Earth.

Let's monitor the thoughts of the "renouned" linguistic paleontologist U. Stew Mean as he examines other fossil words...

— mincemeat pie — Hmmm... This pie contains no meat, but instead a mixture of dried fruit, nuts and spices.

Perhaps "meat" used to mean any kind of food or nourishment, not just the flesh of an animal. After all, the biblical phrase "meat and drink" means "food and drink." That's it!

— farm team — That baseball farm team might be digging out hard-hit grounders, but it's not cultivating the earth. It's a sports team owned or controlled by a larger entity.

Maybe "farm" once meant to lease the rights or use of something, such as land, in exchange for a fee. After all, we still speak of "farming out" work or business to others. Bingo!

— keep at bay — Hmmm... One meaning of the verb "bay" is "to bark," e.g., dogs "bay" at the moon. Thus, when we fend off attacking dogs or other dangers, we're keeping them "at bay" so they're barking (baying) instead of biting.

— deer fly — This pesky pest bites not only deer, but a wide variety of animals, including humans. Ouch!

Perhaps "deer" once meant any kind of animal. Shakespeare, for instance, referred to "mice and rats, and such small deer." Bullseye!

If you suffer from arachnophobia or your name is Indiana Jones, you might want to stop reading now...

— cobweb — Funny, but this spider-spun network has nothing to do with any current meaning of "cob," e.g., a male swan, a stocky riding horse or the center of an ear of corn.

Could "cob" have once meant a spider? Yes! (Actually, "cob" is a shortened version of an even older word for a spider, "atorcoppe," which literally meant "poison head.")

— worm fence — This zigzag, horizontal fence of split wood rails is common in Appalachia. Each section of a worm fence is connected with adjacent sections at an angle for support and stability, so there's no need to dig post holes. This makes them faster and easier to build, especially where the soil is rocky. But why a "worm" fence?

Wait, this fence slithers across a field like a serpent. Perhaps "worm" once referred to snakes. Eureka!

Indy: Why did it have to be snakes?

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His new book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Photo credit: Makro_Wayland at Pixabay