This is your monthly PSA on behalf of all linguists that:
1. You can't just assert etymological links based on two words kinda resembling each other
2. You CAN, however, really easily google any etymologies you're wondering about! 
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Google licenses their etymologies from Oxford, so they're legit! Another legit etymology website (which compiles several reputable sources) is etymonline http://etymonline.com Or you can often get an OED subscription through your public library!
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When a linguist knows an etymology, it's because: a) they already looked it up some other time b) they've studied the other language(s) in question c) they looked it up right now very fast and you didn't notice
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Often words that look or sound similar are actually etymologically unrelated! Sometimes words that sound very different are actually etymologically related due to systematic sound change!pic.twitter.com/CHh1ZDqHqg
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Also: do not trust other people or random posts on the internet when it comes to etymologies! If an etymology sounds too good to be true, it probably is! You google the weather every day, for goodness sake just re-google etymologies before you share them!
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Just because someone is an expert in their domain DOES NOT MEAN that they aren't still passing around false etymologies that spread within their area Journalists: if an "expert source" gives you an etymology, ask them where it comes from! If they can't tell you, double check it!
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I do not know why journalists are so keen on calling me up just so I can read etymologies out loud to them that they could have googled, but at least I DO LOOK THEM UP Many experts on things other than language never look up their etymologies, they just pass along myths
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If you vaguely heard of an etymology and now you're not sure if you quite remember it exactly, don't repeat it anyway, just look it up again! Some days I look up the weather five times because I've forgotten it, this is fine!
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Gretchen McCulloch Retweeted Emma Manning
You should treat all unsourced etymologies with approximately the level of trust that you treat random "facts" in memes or random quotes attributed to Mark Twain If it's a real etymology, it will be easy to find a legit source saying the same thinghttps://twitter.com/EmmaSManning/status/1198762391309312000 …
Gretchen McCulloch added,
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Gretchen McCulloch Retweeted charlotte geater
Look I don't want to name and shame because this is incredibly pernicious, but the number of podcasts I've had to stop listening to because they credulously repeat bad etymologies... Pause recording, go look it up, edit in the right etymology, it's easy!https://twitter.com/tambourine/status/1198768072603185153 …
Gretchen McCulloch added,
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Seriously, fornication-under-consent-of-the-king those people, right?
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