We call someone a "card” when they're especially funny or clever. However, that particular meaning of "card" comes from a much longer history of using the word to describe people with particular qualities.

Beginning in the 1500s, figurative uses of "card" grew out of card games. A “leading card,” for example, was the card used to start a round, and eventually came to refer to a strong point or advantage.

Fast forward to the 1830s, and "card" could describe someone who embodied a particular quality. You could be a “knowing card” or, more positively, a “sure card," i.e., someone you could depend on.

By the 1850s, "card" was also being used for someone who was clever or ingenious, and eventually for someone who was funny, eccentric or a bit of a character. That's the sense behind saying someone “is a card.”

There are plenty of other expressions built around the language of card games. “Trump card” dates to the 1820s, with "trump" being a shortened form of "triumph." And “playing the ___ card” emerged in the late 1800s as a way of introducing a topic in hopes of gaining sympathy or a political advantage.

Over time, that expanded into disparaging expressions such as “playing the gender card” and “playing the race card.”

To hear more about the "cards" our language holds and why someone who's a "card" might also be a "character," listen to the audio above.

If someone asks how things are going, "hunky dory" is a cheerful, easy way to communicate that things are going just fine. Its origin story is a little less straightforward.

The phrase dates back to the 1860s, although no one is quite sure where the “dory” part came from. One theory suggests a Japanese connection, perhaps a street there frequented by sailors, but there isn't convincing evidence for that. A more likely possibility is that “dory” is simply a meaningless reduplication, like the “dokey” in “okey-dokey.”

“Hunky” has a more traceable history. In 19th-century New York, children playing tag used the Dutch word “hunk” for home base. You could be “on hunk” or “reach hunk,” meaning you were safe.

By the 1850s, “hunk” was being used as an adjective to mean ”safe” or “in a good position,” and by the 1860s “hunky” could mean “safe and sound” or “in good condition.”

Green’s Dictionary of Slang has evidence for “hunky-dory” as far back as 1863, while the Oxford English Dictionary has it back to 1866. There have been variations over the years, including “honky-dooley,” “hunky-dunky” and “hunky-dokey.”

While “hunky” might now make you think of an attractive, ruggedly handsome man, that meaning didn't appear until the 1960s. That same decade brought us “peachy keen,” another way of saying things are going well.

There are plenty of other ways to say you're doing just fine, including “right as rain.” For more on that expression and others, listen to the audio above.

Long before there was office gossip around the water cooler, there was gossip around the "scuttlebutt."

Today, "scuttlebutt" is another word for rumors or gossip. But the expression originally referred to a cask of drinking water kept on the deck of a ship — a place where sailors naturally gathered to chat.

The word combines two older terms. "Scuttle" has been used since the 1500s to mean to cut or bore a hole in the bottom or the sides of a boat or some other vessel. By extension, it can also mean to sink a vessel deliberately, because that's what happens if you drill holes into it. "Scuttle" can also mean to destroy or smash.

The "butt" in "scuttlebutt" doesn't refer to anatomy. It's probably a borrowing from French and Latin, and it refers to a large cask used to store liquids. In the 1400s, there's evidence of "butts" of wine or beer or cider. To get to the liquid inside, you had to scuttle a hole into it.

By the 1800s, we have evidence of "scuttlebutt" referring to a water cask with a hole cut into it that sailors used to get drinks. As crew members stopped by throughout the day, it became a natural gathering place to swap news, tell stories, and spread rumors. Anyone who's ever worked in an office with a water cooler can likely identify.

Starting as early as 1901, "scuttlebutt" had taken on its more general meaning of gossip or rumors. If you'd like to hear more about the origins of "scuttlebutt," along with the stories behind words like "scoop" and "the skinny," listen to the audio above.