Question: The other day I read that the NATO campaign in Kosovo isn't exactly turning out to be the "juggernaut" that its planners had hoped for, or something to that effect. What exactly is a "juggernaut" and how did such a bizarre-sounding word come into English?Answer: A juggernaut is any massive relentless force, campaign, movement or object that crushes whatever is in its path; in Britain, the term is also used to mean "a large heavy truck." The word came to English as the result of the travels of a Franciscan missionary called Friar Odoric.
In the early 14th century, Friar Odoric returned to Europe from the Far East and published a journal of his experiences. In that account, he told how in India he had seen an enormous carriage that carried an image of the Hindu god Vishnu (whose title was "Jagannath," literally, "lord of the world") through the streets in religious processions. Odoric reported that some worshippers deliberately allowed themselves to be crushed beneath the vehicle's wheels as a sacrifice to Vishnu. The story was probably an exaggeration or misinterpretation of actual events, but it spread throughout Europe anyway. The tale eventually caught the imagination of English listeners, and in the 19th century, they began using "juggernaut" (an adaptation of "Jagannath") to refer to any massive vehicle (such as a steam locomotive) or to any other enormous entity with powerful crushing capabilities.
Question: A person who is an especially enthusiastic and loud-mouthed advocate of some movement or principal is often called a "tub-thumper." Do you know why that is?
Answer: Think of a preacher with his voice raised at the height of an impassioned sermon, pounding the pulpit with his fist for emphasis. In the 17th century, pulpits were sometimes called "tubs." For example, the English writer John Dryden once wrote, "Jack Presbyter shall here erect his throne, Knock out a tub with preaching once a day." The original tub-thumpers were preachers or public speakers who would literally thump their fists on the "tub" in front of them. The earliest known evidence of the compound dates from 1662, when it was used by a writer named Hugh Foulis to describe "a sort of people ... antick in their Devotions." Pulpits are rarely called "tubs" nowadays, but "tub-thumper" has stuck with us a colorful name for any passionately vociferous champion of a cause.