Useless Etymology with Jess Zafarris

Join us for an evening of etymology with Jess Zafarris, the author of the new book Useless Etymology: Offbeat Word Origins for Curious Minds. Zafarris will enlighten us with a talk about the magic of words and etymology and how to wield word origins as a writer, reader, and citizen of the world.

Language is a living time capsule, full of twists, turns, and delightful surprises. In this talk based on her book Useless Etymology, author and podcaster Jess Zafarris will unpack the weird, wonderful, and sometimes scandalous stories hiding in plain sight inside the English language.

Ever wondered why we say “hello” or what “feisty” really means? Curious about Shakespeare’s influence on social media slang, or how words like “escalate” and “unfriend” are younger than you think? This session dives deep into the fascinating pathways words have traveled through history, technology, pop culture, and human creativity to land in our vocabularies today.

Jess brings her trademark humor and energy to uncover:

• Myths and misconceptions that refuse to die in popular etymology
• Unexpected cultural origins, from Arabic, Sanskrit, and Indigenous languages to Shakespearean English and meme culture
• Etymological “superpowers” you can use to decode unfamiliar words on the fly
• How “useless” trivia about words actually makes you a better communicator

Audiences will leave entertained, informed, and ready to impress friends, colleagues, and trivia-night teams with the secret histories behind everyday language.

Zafarris has built a devoted following of more than 96,000 TikTok users (@jesszafarris) who tune in to hear her talk about etymology. She also co-hosts the podcast Words Unravelled, which draws around 25,000 daily views and listens across YouTube podcast platforms. Her blog, UselessEtymology.com, has been educating curious word lovers for more than a decade.

This event is free an open to the public - life-long students and lovers of all things lexical are encouraged to join! Copies of Useless Etymology will be available for sale and signing after the talk. Please RSVP so we can anticipate attendance.

Also check out other Arts events in Chatham, Literary Art events in Chatham.