Yes, we finally did it! our very first video!
Hi! Thanks for dropping by! 
Here at Walking Phrase, we answer
  your most pressing linguistic questions 
that you didn’t even know you could ask!
Let’s have a little celebration
 for this very special occasion.
 How about a drink? We suggest a cocktail.
Everyone knows what a cocktail is -
a mixed mostly but not always alcoholic beverage.
But do you know why we call cocktails cocktails?
Now the source of the word remains unclear…
there are several stories around the word “cocktail”.
The most common story has its roots in New Orleans in 1795.
In New Orleans pharmacist Amédée Peychaud, 
inventor of the Peychaud bitters,
held social gatherings at his pharmacy.
He mixed brandy toddies with the bitters
which we mentioned earlier
 and served them in an egg-cup.
In French, that’s a  “coquetier”. 
Over the decades it turned into cocktay,
and later transformed into the cocktail we know and cherish.
You know what else has a cock-tail?
Dickbutt.
And that leads us to - dick.
Just like cock,
dick is used as a pejorative term 
for the male sexual organ and, 
as figurative speech, for an awful person.
The story goes back to the days 
when Richard was one of the most common English names.
Well, according to Wikipedia 
Richard is still one of the most common names
in many Western countries.
Anyway...
[nobody has time for a long-ass name]
and naturally, Richard became Rick.
 And what rhymes with Rick?
You guessed right - [Dick]. 
Which is also why the nickname for Richard is Dick. 
Richard, or Dick, the incredibly common name, 
became synonymous for the everyman,
the normal guy in the street. 
Over time, the image
of the common fellow spiraled downwards
British soldiers made “dick” popular as a word for penis.
And what once was the neutral common everyman
became the common dick we know.
Now we’re not sure if Richard Wagner
had a nickname, but we do know that in some regards he was a major dick
being an antisemite and all.
But we're definitely sure that he composed the world-famous Ride of the Valkyries.
[EPIC MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
Simply epic.
But who are the valkyries anyway? 
We need to travel up north to the old vikings to find out.
In Norse myth-
No. Not the Marvel guys!
Thank you!
In Norse mythology, valkyries are female figures
who decide which warriors die in battle 
and which live.
The word "valkyrie" derives from Old Norse valkyrja, 
which is composed of two words;
the noun "valr", referring to the slain on the battlefield, 
and the verb kjósa, meaning "to choose". 
Together, they mean "chooser of the slain". 
The old vikings knew how to build a kick-ass mythology, 
and Richard Wagner knew how to make epic music out of it -
if you ask us that’s just awesome. 
Maybe even more awesome than awesome. 
You could say: Uberawesome!
Über, or uber, is used as a prefix in informal 
English to express emphasis. 
In German, über simply means over, above or across. 
Nothing awe-inspiring.
The prefix first came into English 
with Friedrich Nietzsche’s term of the “Übermensch”.
He used the word in his book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” from 1883. 
Übermensch in German means superhuman or superman, 
and describes a concept of an ideal human,
as a goal humanity should strive for.
The use of über seriously took off in the 2000s 
when films, video games and TV shows used it in the sense of “super”. 
So you can thank Friends -
What's that?
- ÜBERWEISS.
It's new, it's German, it's extra-tough!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer-
What does it want?
All of us dead.
But for now it looks like sunlight's 
keeping this Übervamp away.
Ice Age-
I suggest you watch your back
'cause I'll be chewing on it.
- Hey Übertracker!
Up front where I can see you.
help me...
and Team Fortress 2-
I AM ZE ÜBERMENSCH!!
for the überawesome gift that is Über.
Thank you for watching the first episode 
of Walking Phrase!
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