The Surprising Origin Of The Word ‘Awful’ Might Just Change How You Use It

Posted on 22/08/2026 by Boris Clair

If someone called you “awful” today, you’d probably be offended. But travel back a few hundred years and that same word would have been high praise.

Awful has one of the more dramatic reversals in the English language. It began as something genuinely admiring and ended up as something quite negative in everyday use.

“The word ‘awful’ traces back to the Old English root ege, meaning dread, reverence or profound respect,” Sophie Vignoles, a linguist and head of learning content at the language learning app Babbel, told HuffPost. “That origin shows in its early use. It originally meant something that filled you with awe, describing anything that inspired wonder or terror, often tied to the power of God or nature, and it was a compliment. A mountain range or a storm could be called awful, and that was high praise.”

The word awful goes back to Old English, with experts pointing to a ninth-century citation attributed to Alfred the Great. The Oxford English Dictionary has many examples of “awful” in texts from the subsequent centuries – generally meaning things like “inspiring respect, mixed with wonder or reverential fear.”

Basically, awful was the sort of word people reached for when ordinary language failed to describe things so powerful, majestic and grand that they inspired deep reverence – like the divine.

So, how did it evolve to mean something simply negative?

“The shift happened gradually through the 19th century,” Vignoles said. “Awe itself is a mixed emotion. It carries wonder but also fear and sometimes a sense of insignificance, and over time, English speakers leaned into the fearful side rather than the reverent one. Awful stopped meaning inspiring and started meaning overwhelming in a bad way.”

“Awful” was a much more complex word than its modern “very bad” definition would suggest.

For a long time, awful captured the complexity of awe and its connection to the sacred and sublime. But language tends to simplify over time, and people gradually started emphasising the dread over the wonder. Eventually “awful” became a weaker, more casual word.

The slide was gradual enough that it drew complaints along the way. Welsh writer Hester Lynch Piozzi asserted in 1794 that the word should “be used with caution and a due sense of its importance”.

“I have heard even well-bred ladies now and then attribute that term too lightly in their common conversation, connecting it with substances beneath its dignity,” she wrote.

Over the next century, the word came into its more modern meaning of unpleasant, not desirable or just very bad.

This kind of drift where a word sheds one meaning and picks up another is known as semantic shift, and it’s one of the most reliable patterns in the history of any language. Just as “nice” shifted from something negative to something positive, awful also completely reversed course – but in the opposite direction of positive to negative.

Thus, a word that once described the sublime now describes the merely terrible. Awful’s close cousin “awesome” makes the reversal even more striking.

Interestingly, the word awful actually predates awesome by centuries, though the two had similar meanings for a stretch. As both words weakened in meaning over time, awesome shifted to a more positive connotation of “good” or “cool” while awful came to mean “very bad.”

“Awesome comes from the exact same root but took the opposite path, which shows how unpredictable this kind of drift can be,” Vignoles noted.

The awful/awesome split isn’t even unique within English. “Terrific” and “terrible” come from the same Latin root and once shared the same basic meaning: inspiring terror or dread. Today, terrible has kept that negative sense while terrific has traveled so far in the opposite direction that it’s essentially a synonym for wonderful. Thus we have another pair of sibling words that started in the same place and ended up miles apart.

“It shows that meaning is never fixed. It is negotiated by whoever is using the word at the time,” Vignoles said, pointing to Babbel’s research on the way American English has evolved in honor of the United States’ 250th anniversary this year.

“Awful is a useful reminder that English often trades one meaning for another,” she added. “This kind of reversal is not unique to English either. In Russian, the word grozny once carried a sense of majesty and awe-inspiring power. Ivan Grozny, usually translated into English as Ivan the Terrible, was not originally meant as a purely negative title. Over time, the word narrowed toward its harsher, more fearsome sense, much like awful did in English.”

So, the next time something is so bad it’s almost impressive, you should feel comfortable calling it awful, in keeping with the word’s original meaning. But if you find something so good it inspires awe, you should probably opt for a different word so as not to offend.

How I Met Your Mother Actor Shares Why His Character Was So ‘Toxic’

Posted on 04/08/2026 by Boris Clair

Neil Patrick Harris, who starred as Barney Stinson in the smash-hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother, has opened up about his character’s “toxic” traits in an interview with The Times.

The 53-year-old became a household name after playing a rich womaniser in the CBS show, which was nominated for 28 Emmy Awards during its 2005-2014 run.

Fans have gone so far as to call his on-screen persona “an extreme womaniser, chronic liar and toxic manipulator”.

Speaking to The Times, Harris was asked about the “toxic” traits of his character.

Pointing out that the show’s entire story is narrated by the show’s protagonist Ted Mosby (played by Josh Radnor and Bob Saget), the sometime magician said: “None of the behaviours [in the show] are, you know, certified, or even true.

“So I had the freedom to be much more lascivious, much more ridiculous and overt than I imagine Barney probably actually was.”

He added that Barney “was always the devil on Ted’s shoulder”.

Earlier this year, Harris said in an episode of the behind-the-scenes podcast How We Made Your Mother that he’d often felt “insecure” playing the swaggering part and was worried he didn’t “nail” his scenes.

But, he added, “that insecurity absolutely played into the bravado” required.

“I’ve always felt Barney was kind of broken,” he explained.

“He wore armour. The suit was armour. He hid sincerity and vulnerability behind bravado because that’s how he survived.”

Neil also previously discussed reprising his role with Hilary Duff, who starred in spinoff How I Met Your Father, suggesting he wouldn’t play Barney again unless he seriously changed his ways.

“Barney’s antics, his overt delusions of grandeur, would likely get everyone in trouble. So, unless he’s changed his ways or joined a nunnery (insert an insert joke here), not sure if it’s in anyone’s best interest,” he said in his Wondercade newsletter, to which Hilary replied: “I’m pretty sure Barney would… be in jail in 2022.”

Animal Experts Reveal Stark Reason Why You Should Be Friendly To Crows

Posted on 03/08/2026 by Boris Clair

According to National Geographic, crows are some of the most intelligent birds in the world. They have also always been held in incredibly high esteem and are considered to be symbols of prophecy, transformation, change, and freedom.

However, as majestic and revered as these birds are, they are also not to be messed with.

According to Science World: “Crows are incredibly territorial during May and June. They are known to dive and strike humans not just once, but repetitively until the human in question has moved a good distance away from the nest.”

In fact… you may actually want to be a little more friendly with crows and even befriend one. Yes, really.

Why you should befriend a crow

So, maybe you don’t need to specifically befriend a crow but you definitely need to stay on their good side.

This is because a five-year study by scientists at the University of Washington has found they possess an unusually good memory for human faces linked to a stressful event.

Not only do crows remember the faces of humans for five years, but these clever corvids can also warn their friends and family about you, too. I don’t know about you but being the target of a murder of local crows sounds bloody terrifying.

However, if you do choose to buddy up with a crow, they’ll actually bring you gifts. They may be fiercely protective and hold a hell of a grudge but they are generous souls, too!

John Marzluff, conservation ecologist at the University of Washington said that crows take part in “gifting” by leaving behind keys, lost earrings, bones, or rocks, for the people who feed them.

How to befriend a crow

According to Pet Helpful, following these steps can help you to become friends with a crow:

Find food that the crows seem to like and keep it in stock. Crows tend to like nuts and seeds
Establish a regular feeding schedule so they know when to expect you and can create a rhythm with them
Don’t overdo it — you don’t need to feed them meals, just enough for them to know that you care and want to befriend them
Don’t overdo it. Don’t feed them so much or so often that they become dependent—just a handful of something to show you care.
Don’t just throw the food out there and walk away. Stay at a respectful distance to watch them eat. You may see them eat it on the spot, or they might choose carefully and fly off to cache it for later
Don’t get too close to them as they prefer to be standoffish and may feel threatened

Brb, off to invest in some nuts and seeds.

Most People Have No Idea What ‘PDF’ Stands For, But You’re About To Find Out

Posted on 01/08/2026 by Boris Clair

You’ve probably sent and opened thousands of PDFs over the years. But if someone asked you right now what PDF actually stands for, would you know the answer?

You’re not alone if you don’t. The word has become so embedded in everyday language that most people use it the way they use terms like “Wi-Fi” and “pm” ― automatically and without any particular thought about what the letters mean.

But it’s never too late to learn the answer to that mystery, as well as the interesting history behind those three letters. (And no, it doesn’t stand for “Please Download Fast” or “Pretty Delightful File.”)

“PDF stands for ‘portable document format,’ though I’m not sure anyone knows or cares anymore,” said Lisa Gitelman, a media historian and professor at New York University. “’PDF’ stands as the name of a digital file format on its own.”

She has written extensively about the PDF as a cultural and technological artifact, including in her book Paper Knowledge: Toward a Media History of Documents.

“The keyword is ‘portable’ because the format was designed to keep a document looking exactly the same, no matter which computer, operating system or device it was opened on,” said Madeline Enos, a language trends expert at the language learning app Preply.

“Before PDFs became widespread, sharing documents could be frustrating because fonts, images and layouts often changed depending on the software being used. The PDF solved that problem by preserving the original formatting, which is why it’s still one of the most trusted file formats over 30 years later.”

The origins of the PDF go back to 1991, when Adobe Systems co-founder John Warnock proposed a project called “Camelot” with the goal of developing a simplified way to view and print any document across devices and platforms, regardless of the software or hardware used to create it.

“At the time, the web was far less standardised than it is today, so creating a document that looked identical everywhere was revolutionary,” Enos noted.

Warnock’s Camelot project culminated two years after his original proposal, with the release of PDF 1.0, bundled with the first version of Adobe Acrobat.

The origins of the PDF go back to the early 1990s.

“PDF first appeared in the marketplace in 1993,” said Duff Johnson, CEO of the PDF Association. “Adobe, which invented PDF, continued its development until 2007, at which point the specification for PDF was handed to ISO for international standardization as a vendor-neutral technology.”

As the online environment has evolved significantly since the ’90s, so too has the PDF, Gitelman noted. Still, the file format remains an important standard.

“I once wrote an essay laying out four reasons for its enormous success,” Gitelman said. “First, PDFs offer page images – like facsimiles, like xeroxes, like microfilm, unlike word processing files or most proprietary eBook formats. This means they feel stable. They retain layout as well as content. Second, as page images, they are handy in publication workflows. Every book, every analog publication, has been a PDF somewhere in its life history. Third, they are easily transmissible across digital networks, even in low-bandwidth environments.”

The fourth and final reason: PDFs are searchable, she added.

Today, people still use the term PDF in everyday conversation, particularly in the context of work.

“We’ve certainly noticed that ‘PDF’ is used synonymously with ‘document’ and ‘file,’ as in ‘I sent him a PDF’ and ‘The email includes three PDFs,’” Johnson noted. “But the industry accepts such usage as the price of ubiquity.”

Many people also say “PDF file,” which is not quite redundant, as in the case of “PIN number” or “ATM machine.” But the term PDF does stand alone.

“Most people don’t stop to mentally unpack what the letters stand for, so adding ‘file’ simply makes the meaning clearer,” Enos said.

Still, the meaning is quite clear to most people these days.

“Most acronyms stay within specialist industries, but PDF made the rare jump into everyday language. Today, people don’t just recognise the letters – they also use ‘PDF’ as a verb,” Enos said. “It’s increasingly common to hear someone say ‘Can you PDF it?’ or ‘Just PDF that document,’ showing how technical abbreviations can become everyday words over time.”

This is a process known as lexicalisation, as the abbreviation became so familiar that it was accepted as a normal standalone word in the English language.

“While countless digital buzzwords have come and gone over the past three decades, ‘PDF’ has remained relevant because it describes a format rather than a trend,” Enos said.

The meaning of PDF has hardly changed over time, and it has gone international as well.

“PDF is one of the few digital abbreviations that has become almost completely language-independent,” Enos said. “Whether you’re in the UK, Japan, Brazil or Germany, the acronym ‘PDF’ is almost always recognised and rarely translated.”

Thus, PDF has essentially become a universal language in some ways.

“It’s a good example of how technology creates a shared international vocabulary,” Enos said. “Even people who don’t speak the same language often understand terms like PDF, Wi-Fi, USB and GPS, making them some of the closest things we have to truly global words.”

Why Do So Many People In Old Art Have A Long Second Toe?

Posted on 12/07/2026 by Boris Clair

Did you know that the (admittedly more recent) Statue of Liberty, the Venus de Milo, the Ancient Roman Boxer at Rest, and the Ancient Greek Laocoön and His Sons share a foot quirk in common?

In all of these iconic works of art, the characters depicted have second toes longer than their big toe – a phenomenon sometimes called “Morton’s toe”. The feature is also seen in Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and da Vinci’s famous Vitruvian Man.

It’s a quirk that’s been noted as far back as 1897, when a writer for the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal noted that in “early Greek art, where there is any attempt at careful modelling of the toes, the first toe is separated from the second, and in most instances the second toe is represented as somewhat longer than the first”.

Morton’s toe wasn’t really a “thing” in Ancient Egyptian art, though, Atlas Obscura added. That suggests it became a trend that stuck in the West.

So what’s going on?

Why might “Morton’s toe” be so present in ancient art?

Hands up: the short answer is, we don’t know for sure. But theories abound.

“Morton’s toe” affects anywhere from 4-30% of the global population.

The condition is sometimes called “Greek foot”, because over time, it’s become associated with Greek people.

That might explain its presence in predominantly Ancient Greek art – except that evolutionary geneticist Dr John H McDonald told USA Today, “I haven’t seen any evidence that so-called ‘Greek foot’ is more common in Greece than anywhere else”.

Another theory is that a longer second toe better fitted Greek ideals of beauty because it was more closely aligned with the mathematical rules of the Golden Ratio.

But not everyone thinks those numbers quite run, including in Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, where the famous fella’s second toe on his upper right leg extends to perfectly touch the curve of the surrounding circle.

Then, there’s the copycat theory

There’s another option, too: simple repetition.

Whether some influential artists thought the feature was especially pleasing or just happened to use a model with Morton’s toe, there’s the chance that it was adopted by some of the greats and then endlessly aped.

“Many Roman statues have Greek feet, simply because the artists drew inspiration from one another,” Atlas Obscura posited.

A document from the US National Parks Service (NPS) seems to say the same thing: “As Roman statues sometimes are copies of the Greek originals, the Roman statues often have ‘Greek’ feet.”

Indeed, the person who created the Statue of Liberty, whose second toe is longer than her first, was pretty open about his Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman inspiration.

“On her Greek/Roman feet, open sandals… define [the Statue of Liberty’s] heritage from the earliest days of civilization – we see her Morton’s toes,” the NPS added.

So THAT’s What The Three Lions On England’s Football Crest Mean

Posted on 02/07/2026 by Boris Clair

The three lions on the shirts of England’s football gear have become so strongly associated with the men’s national team that they’re nicknamed The Three Lions.

The women’s team, meanwhile, goes by The Lionesses.

The animals have been England’s official crest since 1863, when the Football Association was formed.

The lion is England’s national animal, and most of us know it’s also associated with royalty.

But why three – and why doesn’t the England team’s emblem match England’s non-football coat of arms exactly?

Why does the England football team’s shirt have three lions?

As we’ve said before, the crest was adopted by the Football Association when it was first founded.

But that’s because of a long, royal history of lions in England’s heraldry.

King Henry I had a lion on a red background on his coat of arms way back in the 12th century.

And when he married Adeliza of Louvain, whose father, Godfrey I, Count of Louvain, had a lion on his coat of arms, too, he added a second. That happened in 1121.

That meant King Henry I’s grandson, Henry II, was born with two lions on his coat of arms. But then he, too, married into a big-cat-coat-of-arms family: Eleanor of Aquitaine’s heraldic badge also contained a lion.

But, per the i Paper, it took Eleanor and Henry’s son, Richard the Lionheart, to combine the three lions into a single emblem.

That flag – three lions on a red background, or Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or – was used by every Plantagenet king until the ascension of Edward III in 1327.

How is England’s football emblem different from the royal one?

The Football Association would have had to ask for permission to use the Three Lions emblem due to its royal associations. But it doesn’t exactly match the royal version.

Firstly, the colours are different – England’s football badge is blue and white, while the historic version was red and gold.

And the England football badge has 10 Tudor roses on it. “The reason for the specific amount of roses is unknown,” the BBC said.

England’s football badge also used to have a crown on top. But in 1949, that was removed so as to distinguish it from the England cricket team’s emblem.

The star above the lions is a relatively new addition, representing England’s 1966 World Cup win.

Hans Zimmer Almost Never Scored The Lion King — Until He Spoke To His Daughter

Posted on 01/07/2026 by Boris Clair

I’m going to be honest – I didn’t even realise the legendary composer Hans Zimmer was behind The Lion King’s famous soundtrack until I heard him talk about it on Classic FM.

Not only did he work on the 1994 classic, but he actually won an Academy Award for Best Original Score (alongside two Grammies and a Golden Globe) for his contribution.

Still, he shared on Classic FM that he had been reluctant to take the role at first.

“I didn’t want to do Lion King, you know, cartoons – why am I doing cartoons?” he recalled.

Until 1994, the composer’s work had appeared in live-action classics like Thelma & Louise, Rain Man, A World Apart and Driving Miss Daisy.

“And, oh my God, they might turn [the songs] into musicals. I don’t really like musicals,” the film legend said he thought at the time.

However, Zimmer changed his mind because his daughter, who was six at the time, had never been able to go with him to the premiere of any of the movies he’d worked on, because “all the movies with Ridley Scott are not necessarily child-friendly”.

So he agreed to make the film – but when he sat down to write, more family matters came up for Zimmer.

“My dad died when I was six years old, and here I am sitting in front of this cartoon, and it’s about the death of a father – with fart jokes, admittedly,” he revealed.

“And I realise… it’s a complete lie that children get over this stuff. They don’t get over it, they just find out really clever ways of hiding this stuff.”

The composer shared he couldn’t “hide” his feelings anymore, and “I basically wrote a requiem for my dad, and it became a really serious piece.”

That made it “deeper than your normal cartoon,” both for him and The Lion King’s viewers.

Zimmer has since been credited in mutliple other Disney titles (including Pirates Of The Caribbean, and, perhaps even more surprisingly still, Muppet Treasure Island).

Experts Explain Why You Sneeze When You Walk Outside

Posted on 01/07/2026 by Boris Clair

I don’t have hay fever, but based on how I react to walking outside on a hot day, I’d forgive you for believing I do.

For some reason, getting off the train into the sun, opening my door onto a ray-soaked street, and even leaving a tree’s shadow into a bright spot triggers a huge, eye-watering sneeze – and until now, I had no idea why.

But it turns out it might be my genes, per the Cleveland Clinic.

It sounds like I’m experiencing a “photic sneeze reflex,” also known as “autosomal dominant compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst syndrome” (ACHOO syndrome – teehee).

What is a “photic sneeze reflex” or ACHOO syndrome?

An extract from Medical Genetics Summaries says that “Affected individuals report a ‘prickling sensation’ or sneezing in response to a bright light.”

It’s elicited by going from a darker area to an area of brighter light (like stepping into sunlight from indoors), or simply having a bright light shown to you.

This can be “uncontrollable.”

How common is it to sneeze at bright lights?

“About one in four individuals who already have a prickling sensation in their nose will sneeze in response to sunlight, but ‘pure’ photic sneezing is far less common,” Medical Genetics Summaries shared.

If one parent has the condition, their child has a 50% chance of developing it.

But the Cleveland Clinic says we don’t know exactly how many people have the condition.

On average, they add, it seems to be about 15-30% of us: white people, especially white women, may be more likely to have the trait.

What causes sneezing on exposure to bright lights?

It’s a genetic issue, but we don’t know yet which genes are responsible.

It happens because of a misfiring in a facial nerve that goes from your eyes to your nose. The constriction of your pupils as your eyes adjust to the light triggers the sneeze.

Is sneezing at bright lights dangerous?

It can be if you’re operating heavy machinery or driving: “for example, exiting a road tunnel on a bright day.”

Pilots might need to be more cautious, too.

How can I stop sneezing at bright lights?

There’s no cure for ACHOO syndrome, but you can make the journey from darker spots into lighter areas easier on the eyes.

Shielding your eyes with a hat or sunglasses might help.

And the Cleveland Clinic recommends we “Use the ‘transverse philtral pressure technique,’ which involves applying pressure to the area between your nose and your lips.

“If you’re doing it right, it should look like you’re giving yourself a moustache with your finger,” they said. This may interrupt the sneezing signal.

I’m learning so much more about myself than I expected today…

Toy Story 5 Sneakily Addressed A Decades-Long Plot Hole

Posted on 29/06/2026 by Boris Clair

Though it seems to have divided critics, Toy Story 5 has proven an undeniable box office success. It’s achieved the franchise’s biggest ever opening weekend, raking in over £227 million in the two-day stretch.

We loved the new installment – entertainment editor Daniel Welsh described it as “a return to form for the beloved animated series [and] for Pixar in general, after a hit-and-miss run for the once-untouchable studio”.

And as ScreenRant pointed out, the movie should satisfy long-standing viewers on another front too: it addressed a decades-long plot hole.

Buzz Lightyear doesn’t know he’s a toy for much of the first 1995 Toy Story movie. He truly believes he’s a Space Ranger and tries to contact his Space Command.

But that leaves a problem fans have previously pointed out on sites like Reddit: if Buzz doesn’t think he’s a toy, why does he freeze when Andy (the human owner of the toys) enters a room he’s also in?

All the other toys stop moving and talking whenever a person can see them, presumably so they can keep up their secret activity unnoticed.

But, some fans have argued, if Buzz saw himself as another human, it didn’t make sense for him to maintain the illusion of inanimacy.

Toy Story 5 seems to have given us an answer.

The new movie begins with a batch of Buzz Lightyear toys, all of which (though they’d probably prefer “of whom”) think they’re real Rangers.

Like Andy’s Buzz Lightyear, they try to contact their Space Command and can’t get through. Instead, they end up in a shipping crate in a shipyard.

When a worker gets close to them, all of the toys freeze.

And once they come back to life, one of them asks: “Why did we freeeze?”

Nobody has an answer, though one Buzz muses: “fascinating”.

It doesn’t fully explain the plot hole. But it does address it, and it shows that freezing isn’t a conscious choice for the toys – meaning Buzz probably froxe because he didn’t have any other option.

The Common Household Item That Can Help Your Fruit Last Longer

Posted on 24/06/2026 by Boris Clair

Unfortunately, this is how my week goes: I buy my groceries on Sunday, enjoy them until Wednesday, and then realise that I’ve bought way too many fresh fruits and veggies that have now turned brown in the bowl.

The worst culprit is bananas. And while I love using the older ones for banana bread, sometimes I wish I could keep them firm and yellow for longer than two poxy days.

But it turns out I could have been enjoying their creamy, unblemished centres for longer – if only I’d wrapped the stalks in tinfoil.

Why does wrapping banana stalks in tinfoil keep them fresher?

It’s down to a gas called ethylene. This is responsible for the enzymatic browning (basically, “going off”) of bananas.

It’s the same substance that causes fruit to ripen, which is why placing unripe fruit in the same bag as a banana can encourage them to mature.

Bananas have a lot of ethylene, and one ripe banana can affect the others in the bunch.

Trapping the gas with tinfoil may help to stall the ripening process, which leaves bananas brown and mushy over time.

The American Statistical Association checked to see whether cling film or tin foil did a better job – and tinfoil won.

We should refrigerate our bananas, too

If you’re out of tinfoil, according to fruit company Dole, simply chucking your bananas in the fridge can stall the ripening process.

They say that the anti-browning effects are so strong, you should only place your bananas in the fridge when they’re at a perfect ripeness.

Martha Stewart’s site suggests that “bananas can be stored on a kitchen counter until they are ripe, and then they can be stored in the refrigerator for at least two days more or until the skin becomes black”.

This is because while refrigerating bananas will keep their flesh from ripening, it may also blacken their skin prematurely.

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