Another way to help make new words easier to remember is to examine their origin. Today, using examples, I want to talk about two words of foreign origin, foreign to English that is.

First, kowtow.

This, as you may well know, is from the Chinese"叩头", which describes the erstwhile practice of people knocking their forehead on the floor (preferably making audible noises, I hear some elders say) in meeting an emperor or some big potato or other. This word, though long out of fashion (along with the act itself, thank goodness) in China, is still alive and well in the English language due, obviously, to its exotic nature.

"Google Kowtows to China", purrs one headline (The Register, UK, January 26, 2006). Other recent headlines include: The Supreme Court Kowtows to the Dictator: Civil Rights and Capitalism Take it on the Chin (associatedcontent.com, July 5, 2007); BBC "Kowtows" to Queen, Photographer for Botched Promo (Xinhuanet, July 13, 2007).

And of course, the Economist seems to be particularly fond of the word's unique descriptiveness. From my notes:

1. The BBC's AllegedKowtow(a headline of a story "arguing over the coverage of the Litvinenko murder", July 19, 2007).

2. Only English-speakers, it seems, are expected tokowtowto name-changers' whims (Goodbye, Bangalore, November 9, 2006).

3. That money will notkowtowto Mr de Villepin or anyone else in the French government (French Business, June 29, 2006).

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