Has it really come to this? Are our cities and counties so overburdened that emergency services have to start hiring themselves out as movers (and possibly shakers)? I was quite surprised this morning to be driving down the Interstate only to marvel at this ambulance pulling a farm trailer. Perhaps they were transporting livestock, perhaps not. I expect there is some totally logical reason for 'haul', but I wish I knew what it was. I was not even aware that ambulances came equipped with trailer hitches. I will start paying more attention now as I drive. Just one more thing to obsess over.Kvell -- Verb: to be extraordinarily proud. Rejoice. Amalie's grandparents naturally kvelled when they learned she had won a journalism award at school.
Did You Know? We are pleased to inform you that the word kvell is derived from the Yiddish (you swear?) kveln, meaning "to be delighted," which, in turn, comes from the Middle High German word quellen, meaning "to well, gush, or swell." Yiddish has been a wellspring of creativity for English, giving us such delightful words as meister ("one who is knowledgeable about something"), maven ("expert"), and shtick (I always thought it was spelled "schtick") ("one's special activity"), just to name a few. The date of the appearance of kvell in the English language is tricky to pinpoint exactly. Among the earliest known printed evidence for the word in an English source is a 1952 handbook of Jewish words and expressions, but actual usage evidence before that date remains unseen.
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