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SALTY took a circuitous route to get to where it is today. It first appeared in the 1440 Latin-English dictionary Promptorium Parvulorum as a translation of the Lain salsus, which means both ''salty'' (tasting of salt) and ''salted'' (covered or preserved in salt).

AMORAL - having or showing no concern about whether behavior is morally right or wrong; being neither moral nor immoral specifically: lying outside the sphere to which moral judgments apply.

The ''meat (of the order)'' is the middle of the lineup, usually the strongest hitters. A rookie, popularized by the baseball movie, Bull Durham; implies more brawn than brain. An easy out, typically evident during a strikeout.

PERTINENT - borrowed from French pertinent, from Latin pertinens, present participle of pertinere (''to extend, stretch out, belong, relate, pertain, have concern'') from per (''through''') + tenere (''to hold'').

YIKES - exclamation of alarm or surprise, by 1953; perhaps from yoicks, a call in fox-hunting, attested from c. 1770.