Whose idea was it for the words "flammable" and "inflammable" to have the same meaning?
548458
USAGE NOTE   Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the presence of the prefix in– has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means “not flammable” or “noncombustible.” The prefix –in in inflammable is not, however, the Latin negative prefix –in, which is related to the English –un and appears in such words as indecent and inglorious. Rather, this –in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame. But many people are not aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only flammable to give warnings.
646236
pyro actually refers to the term fire\n\ntechnic is for skill\n\nmeaning skilled in the art of making fires
578919
Everyone is wrong except the guy who said it was from Anglo-Saxon.  "F..k" has a long pedigree in the Germanic languages.  It was found in Proto-Germanic about 2500 years ago as the verb *fukan 'have intercourse'.  This was not vulgar at that time and was a euphemism for some older word.  Ultimately, it comes from Proto-Indo-European *pug- "to strike", from which we get the borrowed Latin form pugilism 'boxing'.
397871
maybe it got coined from how wrenching it feels when one discovers they were irrefutably wrong.\n\nsorry, typo
63432
Fooly Cooly. Its a name that was derived from Japanese Furi Kuri. FLCL is the title name and the possible meaning is Rub and Push. There is actual no meaning to those words but those are really similar to saying "poke" or "rub". Its just a sound makes.
966518
I could find no real origin in any of my reference books, other than suggesting the analogy with firing a gun. However, one day, I was sent the following which appeared in the Clevedon, Somerset, Civic Society Newsletter for Summer 1996:\n"We discovered recently that the word 'fired', meaning discharged from a job originated on Mendip. It comes from Item 6 of the Laws of Mendip Miners. \n"If any man... do pick or steale any lead or ore to the value of xiiid (=13 pence), the Lord or his Officer may arrest all his lead and Oare House or hearthes with his Grooves and Workes and keep them in forfeit... and shall take the person that hath soe affeended and bring him where his house or worke and all his tooles and instruments are... and put him into his house or worke and set fire in all together about him and banish him..." Fired indeed!
620427
Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters), is famous for being the longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary, however, this is now only true of the first edition, the second edition contains a few even-longer words. The word itself was a joke word of the 18th and 19th century literati, stemming from an Eton grammar school Latin drill. \n\ndefinition: an estimation of something as worthless.
1186
Taken from the included link: "This phrase, in which French refers to "bad language", is employed when the speaker feels compelled to use an obscenity despite having listeners who might be offended.  It's a late 19th century euphemism which first appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1895.\n\nIt is thought that the term French is employed in this sense as it already had a history of association with things considered vulgar.  As far back as the early 16th century, French pox and the French disease were synonyms for genital herpes, and French-sick was another term for syphillis.  The OED also equates the adjective French with "spiciness", as in French letter for "condom", French kiss (1923) and French (i. e. "sexually explicit") novels (from 1749)."
238715
it means burn or burning for example: cauterize
274739
Middle English, from Middle French flaor, flavor, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin flator, alteration of Latin flatus breath, act of blowing
245313
It's for the same reason that a building can burn up or burn down, or that inflammable means the same thing as flammable, or that some people's nose smells and feet run while other people's nose runs and feet smell - the English language is wacky!
320706
If you search on www.dictionary.com and look up "flammable" it has a note at the bottom explaining exactly what why. Now, if you really don't feel like going onto that website here it is, "Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means “not flammable” or “noncombustible.” The prefix -in in inflammable is not, however, the Latin negative prefix -in, which is related to the English -un and appears in such words as indecent and inglorious. Rather, this -in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame. But many people are not aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only flammable to give warnings."\n\nThat is exactly what it says. However those are not my own words. Thank dictionary.com =]
418515
Most literally translating to "trying to get a reaction" out of somebody. Originated from a 16th century technique to determine death by literally blowing tobacco smoke into someone's anus (through a long pipe) - where a reaction indicated that the person was still alive.
482731
The application of the word to human intercourse dates at least as far back as Proto-Germanic times, about 2500 years ago.  The form was *fukan "to have intercourse".  It was not vulgar originally.  Indeed, it started life as a euphemism for another word (perhaps lost in time).  The original meaning in Proto-Indo-European (about 6000 years ago) of *pug- was "to strike" (*pug- is the ancestor word for *fukan).
684838
There are instances where the phrase is correct. For instance, many people have died in the new teen hobby called car surfing. They hang on to the roof of a car while its going 40 mph and up. Doing something that dangerous simply for fun is incredibly stupid. If someone died from that, they really have no one to blame but themselves. Therefore the term would be correct in that instance. This is just one example, but I believe the term does make sense.
788771
Dennys does so close! I went there one night when I was starving, and they were closed for cleaning! I haven't eaten at one since. Liars!\n\nThere is no difference before flammable and inflammable. That's one of those weird English words; I don't have a good explanation why. They both mean that the substance will ignite easily.
746659
not sure, its from a greek work electra or electrum I think for the word for amber since that was how they used to make sparks.\n\nAristotle talked about atoms as being tiny pieces of doorknobs that fell of as they were used.\n\nLucretius talked about it too.