586: ostracize and oyster Jul 16, 2016

To ostracize someone now just means to exclude someone from a social circle, but the term was once more specific. In ancient Greece, people seen as dangerous to Greece could be forced into exile by vote, as was the democratic way. The vote would be cast on potsherds made usually of shell called 'ostrakon', from which the word gained its origin. As well, the English word for 'oyster' is related, thanks to the connection to shells, and not because of mollusk-banishment.