About the Author

Jess Zafarris is the author of the etymology books Words From Hell, Useless Etymology (forthcoming, Chambers) and Once Upon a Word (Rockridge Press 2020). Jess is an educational content creator and blogger who focuses on etymology and word-history-focused deep dives and explanations on her TikTok channel @jesszafarris and website uselessetymology.com. Her master's and undergraduate degrees focused on the development of English through literature, as well as journalism, anthropology and language studies. She contributed to the tabletop game League of the Lexicon and the Writer's Digest Daily Calendar 2020. She has appeared on podcasts including Dear Hank and John, Social Pros, Failing Writers, Yeah That's Probably an Ad, and Author2Author. By day, Jess is a content and engagement director, journalist, editor, and social media strategist responsible for developing multimedia content for brands, publishers and media outlets such as Adweek, Ragan Communications, Writer's Digest, and Script.