The term "moron" entered our vocabulary when Molière, in his play La Princesse d'Elide, gave a dim-witted character the name Moron.

The phrase, "Often a bridesmaid but never a bride," actually comes from an advertisement for Listerine mouthwash. The text was written by Milton Feasley and first appeared in 1925. The advertisement was so successful that it ran for more than 10 years.

Limousines originally got their name because they were first built in the Limousin region of France.

"Caterpillar" means "hairy cat" in Old French.

"Pez" (as in the candy) comes from the German, PfeffErminZ, meaning peppermint.

"Squash" comes from a Native American word, "isquoutersquash," which means "green thing eaten green."

Spain literally means "the land of rabbits."

The word "vanilla" litearlly means, "little vagina."

The word "gymnasium" comes from the Greek word gymnazein which means "to exercise naked."

The word "mafia" was created as an acronym for Morte alla francia italia adela, meaning literally "Death to the French is Italy's cry."

The word "avocado" comes from the Spanish word "aguacate," which in turn is derived from the Aztec word "ahuacatl" which meant testicle.

The "ZIP" in "ZIP code" stands for "Zoning Improvement Plan."

According to an old Egyptian text, a delicate nerve runs from the fourth finger of a person's left hand to their heart, thus explaining the origin why that finger is the "wedding finger."

If you knock on wood, the spirit in the tree will protect you.

Unusually for something on the internet most of these appear to be true. I've researched without snopes (out of deference to those who still have "issues") and the only ones I can question at all are

moron - is from Greek moros - stupid which is probably where Moliere got the character name from as well but I found no reliable reference to us having got it from him. (The play does have a character of that name.)

I've no idea about the "wedding finger" story but it sounds doubtful to me. I found a site claiming that the Greeks believed this story and one claiming it to be Egyptian. In fact the story is widespread on the internet but in most cases the wording is suspiciously similar suggesting to me that they all have a common source which may or may not be accurate.
It could be true though.

The mafia origin is unlikely and not supported by Either OED or American Heritage. The origin is more likely to be the from the Italian dialect word mafia meaning boldness.
Such acronym derivations are almost always specious back formations (as is the case with Port Out Starboard Home and For Use Of Carnal Knowledge, neither of which is an accurate origin.)

Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.

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I've researched without snopes (out of deference to those who still have "issues")

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For the record, I probably over-reacted to Snopes. I found an excellent discussion of theirs debunking the myths of lemmings, and I realized how important their work is. So, I formally no longer have issues with Snopes, and I am sorry if I came across too strong on that.

[I suppose I should have clicked their link at the bottom; that would have prevented my excessive ranting.]