This is the allusionist in which I Helen Zoltzman passed the linguistic

pattern coming up in today's show Olympic etymology or the Etymilimpics.

If Port Mantowing is one of the events. On your marks, get set, go on with the show.

Welcome back to the Etymilimpics where the meaning of the sport is the sport.

And of course sport itself from the French day sport a used to mean an amusing and fun past time.

That's right Matthew, something to remember football fans supposed to be fun.

That meaning was 700 years ago though, a lot has changed in 700 years. Look how much easier it is to get a soy latte now.

And there's a very excited crowd out there.

I can only describe the atmosphere as electric.

That's because sports commentators can only describe atmospheres as electric.

Helen, it's the only adjective I ever learned.

And you can hear the roar of the spectators out there in the stadium.

Stadion in Ancient Greek, originally a unit of measurement, a fixed length of a race course.

The original track at Olympia for the first recorded Olympic Games in 776 BC was one stadium in length.

So I guess when they were building this stadium, Helen, they said build it the length of a stadium.

And then the builders probably said back how long the stadium and they say well it's one stadium long.

The length of a stadium is a stadium.

Actually Matthew, a stadium was a 600 foot running race according to the historian Herodotus.

Oh Helen, I hate to contradict you, but I think you'll find that it was actually celebrity labourer Hercules who walked 200 steps and then called that a stadium.

Was that one of his 12 labours?

It was very much the album track of his 12 labours.

Here's another fact for you Matthew, if we do use the term fact to mean piece of historical information over which there is much conjecture.

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