The Twelve Nightmares of Christmas, Day 5: Today I Learned …

The word “mistletoe” is an Anglo-Saxon word that means “poop on a twig”. As far as we can tell, the name comes from the fact that in ancient times, it was thought that life could arise spontaneously from dung. Follow the logic here: mistletoe grows on tree branches. Birds poop on tree branches. Therefore, that’s where the mistletoe came from: bird poop. The words “mistle”, meaning dung, and “tan”, meaning twig, were combined to form the word “mistletoe”. Happy smooching!

Please enjoy this blast from the past: Lights Out: Christmas 2016

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