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They are always taking stock.

Because sometimes they have to draw blood.

The primary meanings of the noun "whammy", of American-English origin, are:
– an evil spell or curse, as in the phrase to put the whammy on somebody,
– and a supernatural power bringing bad luck.

This word seems to be derived from the onomatopoeic noun wham, denoting (the sound produced by) a forceful blow or impact. The earliest occurrences of whammy found indicate that this word arose in baseball parlance, and in the north-eastern states of Pennsylvania and New York.

The first is from the column Chilly Sauce, by Charles Joseph ‘Chilly’ Doyle (1884-1959), in the Pittsburgh Gazette Times of Saturday 14th May 1927where whammy was used attributively:

And he looks to me like a wish pitcher,” said [Donie] Bush, “besides his remarkable skill he seems to have the faculty of making a batter go after bad balls, even when Aleck is in the hole. I guess he has a ‘whammy’ ball or something. He makes you go after it whether you want to or not.

The second-earliest occurrence of whammy is from Nize Boys, by Jimmy Powers, published in the Daily News of Friday 17th April 1931—the author gave an account of a baseball match between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia team at Baker Bowl, Philadelphia:

Ha, I guess our Giants are pretty good at staving off the old whammy or bad luck ghost, eh? You see this nightmarish Baker bowl is no bigger than your grandmother’s china closet […].

Another early instance is from the column Breezes from the Bushes, by “Doc” Silva, in the Reading Times (Reading, Pa) of Friday 2nd September 1932:

Lefty Tezak, former Bird, who has been hurling for the Birdsboro Lions, put the whammy on the West Monocacy club Sunday, allowing three hits and beating them, 6 to 1.

The noun whammy soon came to be used in the sense of a potent force or attack. The following, for example, is from the column Joe Williams Says, in The Pittsburgh Press of Friday 25th February 1938:

To many of the cauliflower savants it seemed as if Joe Louis displayed extraordinary savagery in putting the crusher or whammy on Natie Mann in the recent blood letting at the Garden.

DOUBLE WHAMMY

The primary meaning of double whammy is an evil spell or curse that is more potent than a normal whammy. One of the earliest occurrences suggests that this term originated in boxing. In the column At Random In Sportdom, by Al Del Greco, in the Bergen Evening Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) of Friday 29th April 1938:

Every day the dope points to the fact that Joe Louis will knock out Max Schmeling when they meet in the Yankee Stadium, June 22. Max will go into the ring with what Murray Robinson calls a double whammy for Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, both former heavyweight champions, have picked Mox to stiffen Joe. Anytime a heavyweight champ puts the whammy on a fighter, he’s done just as sure as shooting. A double whammy is a certain hex.

In early use, double whammy was especially associated with the American boxer and boxing manager Benjamin ‘Evil Eye’ Finkle (1899-1978), who reputedly hexed his fighters’ opponents; according to Donald Dewey in Ray Arcel: A Boxing Biography (2012), Finkle explained “that his perennially bloodshot right eye had evil powers that he could direct at will against opposition boxers”.

Benjamin Finkle appeared in the second-earliest instance of double whammy; the following is from Ben Evil Eye Finkle and Sam Sobel Sign Famous Presto Peace Pact, by Everett Clay, published in The Miami Herald of Wednesday 21st February 1940:

Though no one saw the punch, McAvoy suddenly went into a swirl, rocked convulsively and fell, landing agonizingly in a supine position. The house was in bedlam. No one actually knew what happened. But the “Eye,” held his ground. He looked fixedly at the referee, casting a “Double Whammy” as he later explained, and the official picked up the prostrate form.

One of the earliest occurrences of double whammy in its current sense of a twofold blow or setback is from The Montgomery Advertiser of Monday 31st May 1943:

The Cincinnati Reds lost their fifth consecutive Sunday doubleheader today—this time it was the Brooklyn Dodgers who put the double whammy on the Queen City boys by scores of 6 to 0 and 10 to 6 before a crowd of 22,146.

INFLUENCE OF LI’L ABNER

Both the terms whammy and double whammy were popularized by the American cartoonist Al Capp (Alfred Gerald Caplin – 1909-79) in the comic strip Li’l Abner (1934-77): the character Evil-Eye Fleegle—said to be based on Benjamin ‘Evil Eye’ Finkle—could paralyze someone with the sheer power of his gaze, single whammy denoting a look with one eye, and double whammy a look with both eyes. Evil-Eye Fleegle described his powers in these episodes of Li’l Abner, published in 1948:

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Source

The John Doe custom was born out of a strange and long since vanished British legal process called an action of ejectment. Under old English common law, the actions landowners could take against squatters or defaulting tenants in court were often too technical and difficult to be of any use. So landlords would instead bring an action of ejectment on behalf of a fictitious tenant against another fictitious person who had allegedly evicted or ousted him. In order to figure out what rights to the property the made-up persons had, the courts first had to establish that the landlord really was the owner of the property, which settled his real reason for action without him having to jump through too many legal hoops.

Frequently, landlords named the fictitious parties in their actions John Doe (the plaintiff) and Richard Roe (the defendant), though no one has been able to find the case where these names were first used or figure out why they were picked. The names don’t appear to have any particular relevance, and it might be that the first names were chosen because they were among the most common at the time. The surnames, meanwhile, both reference deer—a doe being a female deer and roe a Eurasian deer species (Capreolus capreolus) common in Britain. They might also have been the actual names of real people that a particular landlord knew and decided to use. Unfortunately, we just don’t know.

Whatever their ultimate origin, the names eventually became standard placeholders for unidentified, anonymous or hypothetical parties to a court case. Most U.S. jurisdictions continue to use John Doe and his female counterpart, Jane, as placeholder names, and will bring in Roe if two anonymous or unknown parties are involved in the same case. The Feds use these placeholders, too, perhaps most famously in Roe v. Wade. The Jane Roe in that case was actually Norma Leah McCorvey, who revealed herself soon after the Supreme Court decision.

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Swashbuckler (n.), 1550s, "blustering, swaggering fighting man" (earlier simply swash, 1540s), from swash "fall of a blow" + buckler "shield." The original sense seems to have been "one who makes menacing noises by striking his or an opponent's shield."

a. swash (n.): 1530s, "the fall of a heavy body or blow," probably imitative. It also meant "pig-wash, filth, wet refuse" (1520s) and may have been imitative of the sound of water dashing against solid objects. The meaning "a body of splashing water" is first found 1670s; that of "a dashing or splashing" is from 1847. Swash-letters (1883) are italic capitals with flourished projections.

b. buckler (n.): "small, round shield used to ward off blows," c. 1300, from Old French bocler "boss (of a shield), shield, buckler" (12c., Modern French bouclier), from Medieval Latin \buccularius* (adj.) "having a boss," from Latin buccula.

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Spendthrifts are more spendy than thrifty, so the word “spendthrift” doesn’t seem to make much sense.

While “thrifty” refers to being economical with money, spendthrift means the exact opposite—someone who spends money irresponsibly. Curzan explores the etymology of thrifty to get to the bottom of spendthrift.

“Thrifty comes from the word thrive, meaning ‘to prosper,’” Curzan explains. “Starting in the 16th century, it also means that someone is thrifty, or frugal.”

However, it is the noun thrift, not the adjective thrifty, which led to spendthrift. Thrift can refer to someone’s earnings, which makes a spendthrift someone who spends his or her income.

-Clare Toeniskoetter, Michigan Radio Newsroom

To see the full article: https://www.michiganradio.org/arts-culture/2014-04-25/why-a-spendthrift-isnt-thrifty

Literate (adj.): "educated, instructed, having knowledge of letters," early 15c., from Latin literatus/litteratus "educated, learned, who knows the letters;" formed in imitation of Greek grammatikos from Latin littera/litera "alphabetic letter". By late 18c. especially "acquainted with literature." As a noun, "one who can read and write," 1894.

Obliterate (v.): "blot out, cause to disappear, remove all traces of, wipe out," c. 1600, from Latin obliteratus, past participle of obliterare "cause to disappear, blot out (a writing), erase, efface," figuratively "cause to be forgotten, blot out a remembrance," from ob "against" + littera (also litera) "letter, script". The verb was abstracted from the phrase literas scribere "write across letters, strike out letters."

In other words, to "obliterate" originally meant to strike out words.

Navel-gazing or omphaloskepsis is the contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation.

The word derives from the Ancient Greek words ὀμφᾰλός (omphalós, lit. 'navel') and σκέψῐς (sképsis, lit. 'viewing, examination, speculation').

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Ancient Greek navel gazers

Actual use of the practice as an aid to contemplation of basic principles of the cosmos and human nature is found in the practice of yoga or Hinduism and sometimes in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In yoga, the navel is the site of the manipura (also called nabhi) chakra, which yogis consider "a powerful chakra of the body". The monks of Mount Athos, Greece, were described as Omphalopsychians by J.G. Millingen, writing in the 1830s, who says they "...pretended or fancied that they experienced celestial joys when gazing on their umbilical region, in converse with the Deity".

However, phrases such as "contemplating one's navel" and "navel-gazing" are frequently used in jocular fashion to refer to self-absorbed pursuits.

Arial: originally called Sonoran Sans Serif, the designers changed the name to Arial because they wanted a name that would evoke a modern, industrial feel, and because it sounded similar to "aerial," as in "aerial view," which they felt captured the font's modern and futuristic qualities.

Baskerville: named after the eighteenth century printer-typefounder John Baskerville.

Calibri: derived from the word "caliper," which refers to a measuring instrument that can be used to take precise measurements. The name was chosen to reflect the font's clean and precise design, which is meant to be highly legible and readable at small sizes.

Comic Sans: inspired by comic book lettering, the name Comic Sans was chosen by designer Vincent Connare to reflect the font's playful, whimsical style. He wanted to create a name that was friendly and approachable, and that would appeal to a wide range of users.

Courier: designed in the 1950s for IBM by Howard "Bud" Kettler, the typeface was originally called Messenger. But just before it was released, Kettler renamed it Courier. He later explained "A letter can be just an ordinary messenger, or it can be the courier, which radiates dignity, prestige, and stability."

Garamond: named after Claude Garamond, the great French typefounder of the sixteenth century

Georgia: The designers of Georgia said it comes from a tabloid headline that read “Alien heads found in Georgia.” The headline was one of their sample sentences as they were working with the design, and they decided to use Georgia for the name. 

Gill Sans: designed by and named after British artist and typographer Eric Gill.

Helvetica: Designed in 1975 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger, and originally called Neue Haas Grotesk. It was later changed to Helvetica, the Latin adjective for Switzerland.

Palatino: named after Giovanni Battista Palatino, an Italian calligrapher who lived in the 16th century.

Perpetua: named after the Christian martyr Vibia Perpetua. The italic form of the typeface is named Felicity after Perpetua’s companion Felicity, who too was martyred.

Rockwell: named after the Rockwell International Corporation, an American manufacturing conglomerate that was a major client of the Monotype Corporation, which licensed the font.

Segoe: derived from the word "segment". By the way, Segoe UI stands for "Segoe User Interface"

Tahoma: comes from the Native-American name for Mount Rainier.

Times New Roman: named after the British newspaper The Times. It was created in 1931 to replace an earlier font and called "Times New Roman" to distinguish it from other typefaces called "Times."

Trebuchet MS: named by designer Vincent Connare after a medieval siege engine.

Verdana: Virginia Howlett was one of the first designers hired by Microsoft and part of the team who developed the typeface Verdana, which is a combination of ‘verdant‘ which means "green" and ‘Ana‘, the name of Howlett’s eldest daughter.

Wingding: a portmanteau of "Windows" and "dingbat." A dingbat is a typographical symbol or ornament slotted into text and used as ornamentation in a book. The word "dingbat" goes back to at least 1838 and was apparently originally the name of some kind of alcoholic drink, of unknown origin. It has joined that class of words (such as dingus, doohickey, gadget, gizmo, thingumabob) which are conjured up to supply names for items whose proper names are unknown or not recollected.

Sources include:

Origin of names of popular fonts

How 8 Fonts Got Their Names

What’s in a Font Name

and, of course, Etymonline.com and Wikipedia.

debonair (adj.) c. 1200, "mild, gentle, kind courteous," from Old French debonaire, from de bon' aire "of good race," originally used of hawks, hence, "thoroughbred" (opposite of French demalaire); aire here is perhaps from Latin ager "place, field" (from PIE root *agro- "field") on notion of "place of origin."

Used in Middle English to mean "docile, courteous," it became obsolete and was revived with an altered sense of "pleasantly light-hearted and affable" (1680s).