Yep, I folded over and laughed at my shoelaces when I found out that "cretin" is from the French word for "Christian".
Language is full of gaffes that time has failed to fix. For example, calling native Americans "Indians" and the American chicken-like bird a "Turkey", both based on thoroughly lost European explorers thinking they had run aground in some other corner of the world. It makes me wonder if, in some foreign languages, "European explorer" is the same word as their term for "dumb lost guys".
Darwin is my hero.
Language is full of gaffes that time has failed to fix. For example, calling native Americans "Indians" and the American chicken-like bird a "Turkey", both based on thoroughly lost European explorers thinking they had run aground in some other corner of the world. It makes me wonder if, in some foreign languages, "European explorer" is the same word as their term for "dumb lost guys".