Here's one for the word nerds. I was wondering where the word HOOLIGAN comes from and whether it's related to the Old English word "hloo", meaning gang.
It turns out that it's is a relatively recent coinage, appearing in the 1890s. It's origin is murky but believed to be derived from the Irish surname Houlihan and used in a comedy sketch to describe a fictional, very rowdy, Irish family. It caught on from there and is still used widely today.
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