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Code Switch: Word Watch Each week, we take a look at a word or phrase that's caught our attention, whether for its history, usage, etymology, or just because it has an interesting story. This week, we look into how we came to call cannabis "marijuana," and the role Mexico played in that shift.

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Code Switch: Word Watch

Unmasking The Meaning And Marital Disputes Behind Mumbo Jumbo

Scottish explorer Mungo Park was among the first Europeans to view the Mandinka tribe's masked dancers who were known as Maamajomboo. He translated the word as "mumbo jumbo.' This 1797 illustration from Park's book, "Travels In The Interior Districts of Africa" shows a view of Kamalia village in Mandinka country. DeAgostini/Getty Images hide caption

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DeAgostini/Getty Images

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Unmasking The Meaning And Marital Disputes Behind Mumbo Jumbo

May 31, 2014 • The term "mumbo jumbo" dates back centuries and traces its roots to West Africa. It is widely believed to come from the Mandinka people who make up the largest ethnic group in what is now Ghana.

Mirror, Mirror: Does 'Fairest' Mean Most Beautiful Or Most White?

An 1852 illustration shows Snow White's evil stepmother gazing into her magic mirror. Her famous question includes an ambiguous word: "fairest." Project Gutenberg hide caption

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Project Gutenberg

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Mirror, Mirror: Does 'Fairest' Mean Most Beautiful Or Most White?

May 18, 2014 • In sonnets and skin-whitening ads, the word "fair" stands in for both beauty and paleness. Once upon a time, it simply meant lovely; hundreds of years later, it gained the meaning "light-skinned."

Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You

This story may well sour any pleasant childhood memories of chasing after ice cream trucks in the summer. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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iStockphoto.com

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Recall That Ice Cream Truck Song? We Have Unpleasant News For You

May 11, 2014 • This is the story of why our beloved ice cream truck plays blackface minstrel music that sends kids dashing into homes in a Pavlovian frenzy searching for money to buy a Popsicle.

Segregated From Its History, How 'Ghetto' Lost Its Meaning

The pushcart market in the East Side Ghetto of New York's Jewish Quarter was a hive of activity in the early 1900s. Ewing Galloway/Getty Images hide caption

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Ewing Galloway/Getty Images

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Segregated From Its History, How 'Ghetto' Lost Its Meaning

April 27, 2014 • The original root language of "ghetto" is unknown. But its original meaning has long been clear. By the 17th century, Rome and Venice had segregated Jewish residents into ghettos.

From Foreign Garb To Fashion Fad, Pajamas Have Traveled Far

This photo from 1867 shows five Muslim men and a boy wearing different styles of pajamas in Bombay. Hurrichund Chintamon/British Library hide caption

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Hurrichund Chintamon/British Library

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From Foreign Garb To Fashion Fad, Pajamas Have Traveled Far

April 13, 2014 • The Persian and Indian garment was brought home by British colonials and made stylish for women by French designers. At first, PJs were seen as a cultural challenge to the American use of nightshirts.

The Journey From 'Colored' To 'Minorities' To 'People Of Color'

Can race and ethnicity be represented by the colors found in a crayon box? lilivanili/Flickr hide caption

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lilivanili/Flickr

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The Journey From 'Colored' To 'Minorities' To 'People Of Color'

March 30, 2014 • The words used to describe race and ethnicity are ever in flux. A favored term one decade becomes passé the next and not nice soon after that. But, the motivation for change remains constant: Respect.

When Vanilla Was Brown And How We Came To See It As White

Fun fact: The vines that vanilla beans grow on also produce orchids. Malcolm Manners via Flickr hide caption

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Malcolm Manners via Flickr

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When Vanilla Was Brown And How We Came To See It As White

March 23, 2014 • Vanilla has become a cultural metaphor for blandness and whiteness. But the flavor's history is rife with conquest and slavery and theft.

What Do Jay Z And Shakespeare Have In Common? Swagger

Jay-Z performs during his Magna Carter world tour this past January. Owen Sweeney/AP hide caption

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Owen Sweeney/AP

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What Do Jay Z And Shakespeare Have In Common? Swagger

March 17, 2014 • For our weekly word watch, we turn to "the idea of tremulous motion, swaying backwards and forward." Put another way, we are talking about swagger.

Quick! What Are The Origins Of 'Chop-Chop'?

A photograph of the Pearl River in Canton or Guangzhou, China, taken around 1870-1880. UIG via Getty Images hide caption

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UIG via Getty Images

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Quick! What Are The Origins Of 'Chop-Chop'?

February 24, 2014 • Citations dating back to 1886 hint that the phrase might come from a Cantonese word.

The Origin (And Hot Stank) Of The 'Chitlin' Circuit'

The Royal Peacock in Atlanta was one of the more famous venues on the Chitlin' Circuit. Libray of Congress hide caption

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Libray of Congress

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The Origin (And Hot Stank) Of The 'Chitlin' Circuit'

February 16, 2014 • This network of performance venues — nightclubs, bars, juke joints and theaters — formed during Jim Crow because black performers in the U.S. didn't have access to white-owned clubs. But what did chitlins have to do with it?

It Took A Eugenicist To Come Up With 'Moron'

Immigrants wait in a registration room on Ellis Island in 1912. Underwood & Underwood/Corbis hide caption

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Underwood & Underwood/Corbis

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It Took A Eugenicist To Come Up With 'Moron'

February 10, 2014 • "Moron" wasn't always hurled as an insult. The word was coined by Henry H. Goddard, a researcher and psychologist who intended it to be used as a medical term to quantify cognitive disabilities.

What Does 'Sold Down The River' Really Mean? The Answer Isn't Pretty

Slave auction in New Orleans, 1842, "Sale of Estates, Pictures and Slaves in the Rotunda, New Orleans." The nation's most active slave market was in New Orleans. Slaves who had been "sold down the river" were auctioned off to plantation owners. Encyclopaedia Britannica/UIG via Getty Images hide caption

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Encyclopaedia Britannica/UIG via Getty Images

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What Does 'Sold Down The River' Really Mean? The Answer Isn't Pretty

January 27, 2014 • Being "sold down the river" means you've been betrayed. It used to mean something far worse. NPR's Code Switch traces the history of the phrase and spells out its original meaning in the first half of the 19th century.

The Shakespearean Lineage Of 'Where The Magic Happens'

In this photo from 1993, television producer Aaron Spelling's Los Angeles home is shown. Spelling's widow placed the 56,000 square-foot house on the market for $150 million. MARK TERRILL/AP hide caption

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MARK TERRILL/AP

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The Shakespearean Lineage Of 'Where The Magic Happens'

January 14, 2014 • Who was the first person to call a house a "crib"? We trace the answer from the Bard to MTV's show, Cribs.

The Ugly, Fascinating History Of The Word 'Racism'

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School became a model for dozens of other boarding schools for Native Americans. The government would eventually make attendance compulsory for Native children. Library of Congress hide caption

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Library of Congress

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The Ugly, Fascinating History Of The Word 'Racism'

January 6, 2014 • The first recorded utterance of the word was by a man named Richard Henry Pratt, whose legacy among Native Americans and others is deeply contentious. His story illustrates problems with how the word is used today.

Why Being 'Gypped' Hurts The Roma More Than It Hurts You

The Three Stooges movie Gypped In the Penthouse is one of many pieces of media that uses the pejorative. Columbia Pictures hide caption

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Columbia Pictures

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Why Being 'Gypped' Hurts The Roma More Than It Hurts You

December 30, 2013 • You might know that the word "gypped" — often used to describe being cheated — comes from the word 'gypsy.' But less well known is the fact that it comes from derogative stereotypes about the Roma people.

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