Wordorigins.org

Dave Wilton

Dave Wilton is an independent researcher in historical linguistics, etymology, and slang origins. He is the author of Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends (Oxford Univ. Press, 2004). He is also the author of two recent articles in Verbatim magazine: A Hoagie By Any Other Name, on the various names for the sandwich (XXVIII/3, Autumn 2003) and Journo�s Boffo Lingo: The Slang of Daily Variety (XXX/1, Spring 2005).

Dave has an M.A. from George Washington University in National Security Policy Studies and a B.A. from Lafayette College in Government & Law.  Based in Emeryville, California, he pays the bills by working as a product manager for NVIDIA, the computer chip maker. Past experience includes service in the US Army and work as a defense contractor and arms control negotiator.

Dexter

Dexter is the staff assistant here at Wordorigins.org. His duties include reception and greeting of visitors, multiple daily perambulations, pursuit of delivery persons, mastication of assorted objects, and olfactory investigations.

Dexter holds a diploma in Basic Obedience from the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society.

The following persons have made financial contributions toward keeping the site and the discussion forum up and running. Many thanks to them.

• William James
• Jim Gorman
• Lionello
• Ozzie Maland
• OP Tipping

I do not respond to queries about individual words or phrases via email.

If you have a question or questions about specific words or phrases, please post them to the discussion board. I will respond to questions posted to the discussion board. Plus, there are many others who will happily respond as well. So you will likely get a response much faster than you would by asking me alone.

You are welcome to with comments about the site. I appreciate and enjoy any comments you have, ranging from praise (always nice to get), to suggestions for new content, to corrections of typos, and anything in between. Unfortunately, due to the volume of email I receive I cannot guarantee a response to every message, but rest assured I do read them.

If you wish to contact us other than electronically, you can send postal mail to:

Dave Wilton
Wordorigins.org
1500 Park Ave., #308
Emeryville, CA 94608, USA

If you have an issue with the content on this site, the best way to communicate this is by leaving a comment on the appropriate page or by posting a notice in the discussion forums.

Please, let us know about typos or other errors in the pages. General comments are also welcome.

To post a comment to the site or a message to the discussion forum, you must be a member of the site. You can click the membership link to the right to join or login to the site.