Word To Use Today: granola.

 Granola is a fairly horrid word for a sickly-sweet baked musli (which is also a fairly horrid word: why the stuff attracts such revolting monikers I really don't know; but it's possibly because it resembles floor sweepings.

Mind you, floor-sweepings would probably be better for you).

Anyway, some people eat it for breakfast.

photo by Vegan Feast Catering

Things could be worse, though - and they have been. The stuff was originally devised as a commercial product by James Caleb Jackson in the USA of the 1800s, and he called it Granula, which sounds like a disease. Then W K Kellog came along and made the same stuff. He called his stuff Granula, as well, but he later changed it to Granola to avoid legal difficulties with Mr Jackson. 

The word Granola is still a trademark in Australia and New Zealand, but they tend sensibly to call it musli, anyway, so it doesn't bother them.

Word To Use Today: granola. This word is probably based on the word grain, and, at a guess, also tries to conjure up some of the delightful surprises of a tombola. The word grain comes from the Latin word grānum. The word tombola comes from the Italian word tombolare, to tumble.