pop quiz

[substitute]

What do these words have in common?

Arsenal
Ghetto
Lido
Gondola

Extra points for what the first three have in common.

Comments

[eyeteeth.livejournal.com]

They're all things you'd find in Venice. The Arsenal is Venice's famous old shipbuilding and munitions yard, the Ghetto is the district that used to be a Jewish ghetto, and Lido is the place with all the beaches. And gondolas are, well, gondolas.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

I'll accept that! The category was "words used in English that came from particular things in Venice" and the first three are actual places in Venice.

You win the bowl of hot tasty calamaretti!