Wordmall

Post This

2012-01-28T08:39:00.002-05:00

Betty wrote, “I know that the word part –post- means after. How does that tie into the word postulate, a self-evident assumption or axiom that is used in geometry?”

There is no connection. With surprising frequency, word parts with no connection to each other accidentally wind up with identical spelling, the very same letter sequence, even though the meaning and the source are miles apart.

A classic example is the word part –ped-. It can mean foot (pedal), child (pediatrician), or soil (pedocal). Another example is the word part –in-. It can mean inside (instill), but it can also mean not (insane).

Back to –post-. Postulate comes from a Latin word that means a demand, a forceful request. Other words sharing that same root are expostulate, postulant, and postulative. The -post- that means later in time shows up in words such as post-game, postpartum, and postmortem. A slightly different shade of meaning, behind in position, shows up in postaxial, posterior, and postchoroid.

Post—the sturdy piece of timber—comes from another source entirely, and has no connection to the word parts above.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Tintinnabulation

2012-01-25T11:15:00.003-05:00

Charlie from Traverse City asked about the word tintinnabulation. At the core is the Latin verb tintinnare, to ring, clink, or jingle. If you say “tin-tin” aloud, you can hear that it is an approximation or imitation of a bell sound. That makes it onomatopoeia – the sound suggests the sense of the word. (Inescapably, I picture a belly dancer plying her finger cymbals.)

The OED points to the –bulation segment as a suffix of instrument. The Oxford English Dictionary also labels all variants of the word as pedantic. In other words, your average churchgoer isn’t going to remark that the bells are particularly tintinnabulent on any given Saturday or Sunday.

The word would probably have died out as being too arch or bookish had it not been for Edgar Allen Poe. In the late 1840s, he wrote a poem titled The Bells, and he found the word very useful in establishing the desired meter in stanza 1.

Hear the sledges with the bells -

Silver bells!

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,

In the icy air of night!

While the stars that oversprinkle

All the heavens, seem to twinkle

With a crystalline delight;

Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme,

To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells

From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells -

From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Clout the Lame Duck

2012-01-21T11:11:00.003-05:00

Florence noticed a subhead in the January 20 Traverse City Record-Eagle: “Can lame-duck governor [Perry] reclaim clout at home?” Two words caught her attention: lame-duck and clout.

Lame duck is a metaphor. The image is of an injured duck that cannot keep up with the flock. It was first used metaphorically in the 18^th century London Stock Exchange, where it stood for a broker who could not cover his debts. It turned into a political term in America in the mid-19^th century. It designated a politician who lost the November election, but who – in those days – would serve until March. This allowed for all kinds of mischief since he was no longer accountable to the voters.

The abuses were so widespread that they inspired Congress to add the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution in 1932; the States ratified it in 1933. This amendment shortened the time between election and installation. It also clarified Presidential succession in the event of death before inauguration.

The Oxford English Dictionary says that clout is “personal or private influence; power of effective action, weight (esp. in political contexts).”

Clout had a strange evolution. It came from an Old English word that meant a shred of cloth, a patch. It was a cousin of clod and clot, and their designation of a lump got thrown into the mix of clout. By 1400, it had come to mean a heavy blow, a cuff to the head. In pure speculation, perhaps that was because a blow could raise a lump. In 1950s America, it was used to mean political influence. I don’t know if he created the meaning, but Chicago columnist Mike Royko certainly made the word his trademark.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Pine

2012-01-19T11:37:00.004-05:00

Dorothy read a blog in which the writer said that he was “pining for the way things used to be.” Her question was, “how did pining come to mean yearning?”

Originally, this pine (which has no connection to the tree) was related to pain. It represented the torment or torture inflicted by an angry God as punishment to sinners dwelling in purgatory or in hell. It descended from the Latin poena, pain.

To pine eventually came to mean to waste away, to endure emotional or physical suffering because of starvation, disease, or grief.

Later, it sidetracked into shrinking and curing meat or fish by exposing them to the elements.

Finally, in the 16^th century, it came to mean to yearn, to languish with desire, to long eagerly. Shakespeare used it in Romeo and Juliet, when Friar Lawrence said,

"I married them; and their stol'n marriage-day

Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whose untimely death

Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from the city,

For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined."

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Balaclava

2012-01-13T07:28:00.003-05:00

Rob from Traverse City asked about the word balaclava The balaclava is a head covering that leaves only parts of the face uncovered. It is commonly referred to as a ski mask.

Balaclava is a city on the southern Crimean coast in the Ukraine. The town manufactured the distinctive head covering, which the British army distributed to their troops during the Crimean War (1853 – 1856). Not only did balaclavas protect soldiers from the cold, but they also served as helmet liners.

Today, balaclavas are a staple of winter sports, and race car drivers wear a flame-resistant version as a safety feature throughout the year. Balaclavas also seem to be the headgear of choice for bank robbers.

The Battle of Balaclava (1854) was memorialized by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in his Charge of the Light Brigade.

Oddly enough, two other articles of clothing have connections to the Crimean War. The raglan, an overcoat with loose armholes, was named after Baron Raglan, a British general. The cardigan, a knitted wool sweater that buttons or zips at the front., was named after the Earl of Cardigan, a British commander.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

2012-01-11T18:07:00.003-05:00

Susan came across the phrase, “a puckish sense of humor” and wondered where it came from. These days, it means a mischievous sense of humor, something characteristic of a prankster.

You will also hear it expressed as “a devilish sense of humor” or as “a wicked sense of humor.” In all three cases, we see a radically diminished or softened meaning. The original devil and wicked were industrial-strength words signifying unspeakable evil.

Puck came to us from a nexus of Scandinavian languages, where it meant an evil spirit. There was nothing playful or mild about the word in those days. By the 16^th century, it came to mean a playful goblin that haunted rural areas. It took on the name of Robin Goodfellow.

A hobgoblin named Puck appears in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

SIDEBAR: Midsummer Night's Dream

Links

2012-01-07T09:50:00.002-05:00

Thomas wrote to ask why certain golf courses are called links. The word link seems to have come from Old English, where it meant to slope. One of the features of a links course is sloping or undulating fairways.

This is the progression of the word link as presented in the Oxford English Dictionary:

§ Rising ground; a ridge or bank.

§ pl. (Sc.) Comparatively level or gently undulating sandy ground near the sea-shore, covered with turf, coarse grass, etc.

§ pl. The ground on which golf is played, often resembling that described above

Today, most people use links as a synonym for any golf course, but strictly speaking, a links course has the features of the original Scottish courses set on the west coast of the North Sea. They featured barren sandy soil, long bent grass and gorse, no trees, and nasty pot bunkers. What simulated links courses built inland lack is the raging wind and driving rain characteristic of the original.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Encaustic

2012-01-04T15:59:00.005-05:00

A caption on page D5 of the January 4, 2012, edition of the Wall Street Journal reads, “Part of an encaustic icon of Christ from between the sixth and seventh centuries.”

Encaustic comes from the Greek verb encauein (ἐγκαίειν), meaning “to burn in.” It refers to a method of painting that depends on firing the art piece. One ancient method used wax colors, then fixed them in place by means of fire.

In a wider sense, the word also applies to any process that relies on burning in the colors, such as enameling objects or painting pottery before firing. Bricks and tiles formed by using different colored clays also count.

Today, many abstract artists and mixed-media artists continue the tradition.

SIDEBAR: Getting Started in Encaustic Painting

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

3Q

2011-12-31T12:12:00.003-05:00

A caller wanted to know the significance of 3Q, which seems to be rising in popularity. It was new to me, so I started googling. This resulted in stumbling across the blog titled The View From Taiwan. In turn, that sent me to an explanation on the blog EastWestSouthNorth.

If the construct had been invented in English, it would be 10Q. Say that aloud and you’ll notice that it is very close to thank you. 3Q originated in Japan. The number 3 is pronounced san, so it comes out as sankyou, an approximation of thank you.

You’ll find an expanded version (3Q得Orz) here.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Mayhem

2011-12-28T08:16:00.003-05:00

No doubt inspired by the name of the character in current Allstate Auto Insurance ads, an anonymous caller asked about the word mayhem.

There is some uncertainty about its origin, but it is a close relative of the word maim, to cause bodily harm and even disfigurement. Today, mayhem is taken to mean chaos and disorder caused by physical intervention.

Originally, it was a legal term (perhaps borrowed from Old French) that signified the infliction of physical injury on a person to such a degree that it compromises efforts at self-defense. The Free Dictionary by Farlex has this definition online: “1) n. the criminal act of disabling, disfiguring, or cutting off or making useless one of the members (leg, arm, hand, foot, eye) of another either intentionally or in a fight, called maiming. The serious nature of the injury makes mayhem a felony, which is called ‘aggravated assault’ in most states. 2) v. to commit mayhem is to cause gross harm in an uncontrolled fashion.”

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Happy Holidays

2011-12-24T10:46:00.001-05:00

icon art by Dona Sheehan

Dungarees, Jeans, and Denim

2011-12-23T12:56:00.003-05:00

Doug from Traverse City asked about the origin of the word dungarees. Those are the (usually) blue trousers made from a rough material. Most people refer to them as blue jeans.

The word shows up in English in 1613. It came from a Hindi word, dungri, which meant coarse calico. In turn, that word came from the name of the village that produced the material. The village was eventually subsumed by Bombay.

Jeans, by the way, is also eponymous. It was named after Genoa, Italy. Likewise, denim was named after Nimes, France, where the fabric was produced.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

August

2011-12-21T18:20:00.004-05:00

Ron wrote, “What is the origin of the word august? I heard somebody today refer to themselves as among the august group of speakers covered in a publication. When used in that context, is the accent on the second syllable? How is it related to the month August, and is the word gusto a cousin of august?”

AUG’ust is the pronunciation for the month, and auGUST’ is the pronunciation for the word meaning majestic, sublime, and revered. Both are ultimately indebted to a Latin verb, augere, which meant to increase, to magnify.

The name of the month, however, came through a more convoluted route. It was adapted from the name of the emperor Octavius Caesar. After his rise to power, he was entitled to the honorific augustus, worshipful and eminent. From that point on, he was known as Augustus Caesar—or, in the Latin style, Caesar Augustus:

“Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” [Luke II, 1-7, New American Standard Bible]

Gusto (relish or zest) is not related at all. It came from a Latin word meaning taste.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Put That In Your Pipe

2011-12-18T10:37:00.004-05:00

Vic wrote to tell me that he had a question about a word used in The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allen Poe. It occurs in this passage: "My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts."

Pipe in this case means a barrel, and a similar word existed in a large cluster of Germanic and Scandinavian languages. The tubular wind instrument is connected, the common ground being the shape. And all kinds of tubing—many with medical applications—are also referred to as pipes. The Oxford English Dictionary gives 29 separate definitions for the word, and some of those have subcategories.

Hollow cylinders of all shapes and sizes referring to streams, gorges, saddlery, machine sockets, hairdressing, jewelry, plants, animal traps, beehives, mining and geological strata, volcanoes, tunnels, confectionary, computing, and smoking use the word pipe. Talk about versatility. . . .

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

A Standing Affront

2011-12-14T09:37:00.003-05:00

Sally asked about the word affront. It means to insult someone right to his or her face, to offer overt and clear provocation. It tracks back to a Latin phrase, ad frontem, which means “to the face.” Confront, to stand defiantly in one’s face, shares the same Latin root. Outfront used to be a synonym for confront, but it hasn’t been used in over 100 years as far as I know.

§ § §

Also this week, Ron Jolly asked if there was a connection between state and status. The answer is yes. Both are based on the Latin verb stare, to stand. We even speak of a person’s standing in the community, which is a form of status. Other words and combining forms sharing the root are estate, prostate, statue, stature, static (as opposed to dynamic), station, statistic ,-stat, -static, -statical, and stato-.

The following is a sample of –stat- words not based on the Latin stare: angustate, aristate, cristate, crustate, degustate, ecstatic, funestation, gestate, gustation, hastate, intestate, reforestation, and vastation.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Invitation: Word Study

2011-12-09T14:48:00.002-05:00

On average, an adult knows about 40.000 words. Researchers in psychology and linguistics are interested in how these words are represented mentally. In this large-scale study we aim to build a network that captures this knowledge by playing the game of word associations. You can help us with this project by participating in this short and fun study.

The study consists of giving the first three words that come to mind for a list of 14 items. All ages and nationalities are welcome, but please note that we do require all participants to be fluent English speakers.

Our final aim is to collect the word associations for 45.000 words. To reach this goal, we are still looking for a large number of persons of all ages. Help us and send this link of our website to your family, friends or colleagues:

http://www.smallworldofwords.com

Prof. dr. Gert Storms, Department of Psychology, University of Leuven,

Tiensestraat 102, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Alley-Oop

2011-12-07T13:53:00.003-05:00

David from East Bay asked about the sports term alley-oop. It’s used in a couple of sports.

In basketball, it’s a play in which a leaping player catches a pass above the basket and immediately slams the ball in. Some contend that it was developed at Oklahoma Baptist University. Others attribute it to North Carolina State University.

In football, it’s a play in which the receiver runs into the end zone and leaps higher than his defenders to catch a deliberately high pass. This was developed by the San Francisco 49ers in their 1957 season. They used it several times that year, but Joe Popa reminded me that the classic instance of an alley-oop occurred during a game against the Detroit Lions on November 3, 1957. Y.A. Tittle threw a pass to R.C. Owens with only 10 seconds left on the clock and with the Lions 3 points up. The 6’ 3” Owens (who had played basketball in college) soared up and over his defenders and snared the ball.

The phrase was originally French (allez-oop). It may roughly be translated as “up you go,” and it was the cry uttered by a circus acrobat about to leap or about to give a fellow performer a leg up.

I’m not sure whether there was a connection to sports or not, but a very popular syndicated newspaper comic strip was named Alley Oop. It featured a time-traveling cave man.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Angry Words

2011-12-03T16:23:00.002-05:00

Kris and I were discussing words that show up frequently in headlines, but more sparsely in real-life conversations. She observed that ire fits that category.

Ire ranges from simple anger all the way to rage. It owes its existence to the Latin ira, anger. The Oxford English Dictionary labels it as chiefly poetic and rhetorical. Some recent headlines:

Israeli ads for expats prompt ire from US Jews
Catholic Mass changes raise praise, ire of parishioners
Delay in polar bear decision draws ire of Senate

Other words indebted to ira include irate (angry), iracund (full of wrath), irascent (leading to anger), irascible (prone to anger), and irascid (rare variant of irascible). But contrary to what your eye tells you, there is no ire in Ireland.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Fathom

2011-11-30T07:36:00.003-05:00

Mike from Glen Arbor asked about the word fathom, especially when it means to understand, as in, “I saw something in that lad's eye I never quite fathomed.” [Charlotte Brontë Villette III. xxxix. 221]

As the word existed in the original Germanic/Scandinavian forms, it referred to outstretched arms, especially arms outstretched to hug someone. If you measure the outstretched arms of the average adult male from tip of longest finger to tip of longest finger, the approximate length is six feet.

The idea of hugging eventually drifted into the background, and the measurement of six feet moved front and center. That became the standard for sounding, measuring the depth of water by dropping a line knotted every six feet. Shakespeare used it that way in The Tempest: “Full fadom fiue thy Father lies.”

The idea of understanding something thoroughly arose by analogy, the idea being that you would dive into or plumb the depths of a person’s mind, and immerse yourself in his or her thoughts.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

In Droves

2011-11-25T18:35:00.003-05:00

A headline in Friday’s South Bend Tribune declared that shoppers were hitting the malls in droves. That’s an interesting word, although it has a bit of an old-fashioned flavor.

If you’ve ever read a western novel or seen a western movie, you’re familiar with the term cattle drive. To drive was to force animals to move in a desired direction. The action might involve beating or whipping or shouting; there was always some kind of intimidation. An old proverb observed, “he must needs go, whom the devil drives.”

Originally, a drove was a herd or a flock—a number of beasts, such as oxen or sheep—that were driven in a body. The person who drives a drove is called a drover. Eventually, drove came to mean a crowd or multitude of human beings, especially when moving in a body. In its latest incarnation, the driving force behind droves of shoppers is an impending holiday.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Trip the Light Fantastic

2011-11-19T12:06:00.003-05:00

Tom from Petoskey asked about the phrase, trip the light fantastic. Most of us know the phrase because of the song, The Sidewalks of New York, whose chorus contains this:

Boys and girls together / Me and Mamie O'Rourke,
Tripped the light fantastic, / On the sidewalks of New York.

We associate tripping with stumbling, with being clumsy, but in Chaucer’s time, it meant to hop, skip, or step nimbly. Milton’s L’Allegro contained these lines: “Come, and trip it as you go /  On the light fantastic toe.”

The word light is almost redundant, meaning as it does nimbly or gracefully. Fantastic meant in an imaginative or artistic manner. So we end up with, “to dance in a graceful way.”

SIDEBAR: The Sidewalks of New York

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

-vene/-vention

2011-11-16T08:17:00.004-05:00

My wife asked about a possible connection between words that end in –vention. The fact is, many of them are connected because they are based on the Latin motion verb, venire, (past participle ventus), which means to come. The –ion suffix simply turns a verb into a noun. It’s the prefixes that make the big difference.

Circum- means around, so to circumvene is to find a way around something.
Contra- means against, so to contravene is to come in conflict with something.
Con- means with, so to convene is to come together.
Inter- means between, so intervene means to come between actions or events.
In- means in or inside, so to invent means to come into a situation with a new idea.

There are some obsolete or rare words that share the same root.

advention: an extrinsic addition.
obvention: an incoming fee or revenue, especially one of an occasional or incidental character.
postvention: counselling and other social care given after the experience of a traumatic event, especially to those directly affected by a suicide.
subvention: a grant from government or some other authority in support of an enterprise of public importance.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
Amazon.com

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11/11/11

2011-11-11T18:38:00.002-05:00

Let’s jump on today’s bandwagon from the perspective of words. Two words—one Greek, one Latin—have influenced some words in English that bear the meaning eleven, In Greek, it was hendeca; in Latin, undecim. Both are the equivalent of 10 + 1.

hendecachord: a series or scale of eleven notes.
hendecacolic: consisting of eleven cola.
hendecagon: a plane figure having eleven sides and eleven angles.
hendecagynous: having eleven pistils.
hendecahedron: a solid figure contained by eleven faces.
hendecandrous: having eleven stamens.
hendecaphyllous: (of a leaf) consisting of eleven leaflets.
hendecarchy: government by eleven persons.
hendecameter: an 11 syllable line written with a trochee followed by a dactyl and 3 trochees in that order.
hendecasemic: (prosody) of the value of eleven moræ or units of time.
hendecad: a period of eleven years used to adjust the ancient calendar.
hendecathlon: an athletic event that requires proficiency in 11 different sports.
undecagon: a plane figure having eleven sides and angles.
undecennary: given, occurring, or observed every eleventh year, or once in every eleven years.
undecimal: characterized in some way by the number eleven.
undecimarticulate: having eleven sections.
undecimvir: The body of eleven magistrates in ancient Athens.
undenary: having a base of eleven.
undectet: an eleven-piece band.
undecuple: multiplied by eleven.
undecennary: given, occurring, or observed every eleventh year, or once in every eleven years.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Rush the Growler

2011-11-09T08:32:00.003-05:00

Janet called in to ask about the phrase, to rush the growler. The original growler was a metal pail, with or without a lid. Factory workers would hire children as young as 10 to go to a tavern, then haul the beer back to them. Fathers would send their children to the tavern with a growler at night after the parents got home from work.

The original growler held one quart of beer—four glasses—and the beer cost about 7 cents. When customers began to bring in oversized buckets, bartenders began to rebel, and eventually growlers were banned. Of course, Prohibition didn't hurt.

Here are a couple of contemporary accounts.

“The growler is the latest New York institution. It is a beer can, the legitimate outgrowth of the enforcement of the Sunday liquor law. Young men stand on the sidewalk and drink their beer out of a can, which, as fast as emptied, is sent to be refilled where-ever its bearer can find admittance.” [Trenton NJ Times, June 20, 1883]

“In New York a can brought in filled with beer at a bar-room is called a growler, and the act of sending this can from the private house to the public-house and back is called working the growler”. [Harper’s Magazine, July 1892]

No one is willing to be definitive about the origin. There are several suggestions, a couple of them patently ridiculous.

It causes drinkers to growl at each other as they scramble to get their buckets filled.
It refers to the growling stomachs of hungry factory workers.
When the beer sloshed around in the pail, it created a rumbling or growling sound as the CO2 escaped through the lid.
Growling represented the give and take between the bartender and the customer as to what constituted a full pail, the customer demanding to wait until the foaming head went down.

Finally, nostalgic memories of growlers led to this verse:

The old iron growler, the galvanized growler,

The much-dented growler which hung on the wall!

That coveted vessel was hailed as a treasure,

And always at noon, when I took it to fill,

Pa found it the source of an infinite pleasure,

As tired and thirsty he came from the mill.

How quickly he seized it, with hands that were eager,

And deeply he quaffed of the cold, quenching brew,

While I hung around like a guilty intriguer,

Hoping to have what was left when father got through;

The old iron growler, the galvanized growler,

The much-dented growler my infancy knew!

[William J. Fielding, Pebbles from Parnassus, 1917]

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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. . . And Counting

2011-11-06T19:07:00.002-05:00

Carlos asked about the relationship among the words recount, account, and discount. In all cases, the concept of enumerating or calculating is involved.

Account represents a reckoning, and money is usually involved. Eventually, it evolved into a statement explaining one’s actions, whether or not money was involved—in effect, any report or a narrative.
Recount can be a synonym for account: a narrative; or, as a verb, to enumerate what happened. Recount can also mean to count for a second time. Some commentators would like to see that meaning spelled as re-count.
Discount is a reduction from an amount already determined.

Basically, the –count segment is rather transparent: to enumerate, to calculate, to describe point by point. The word part came into English through the French, but the grandparent was Latin.

A county was the domain of a count, but neither word involved enumeration. Instead, they came from French/Latin words meaning an escort or retinue, since that’s one of the ways they served their monarch.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Pip-Pip Hooray!

2011-11-02T08:51:00.005-04:00

Mike from Cadillac asked about the origin of pipsqueak, something that he calls his young dog. It is usually applied to youngsters, especially human children. There are two elements. Pip-pip is an imitation of a repeated, short, high-pitched sound, especially one made by a car or bicycle horn. A squeak is a sound of a thin, high-pitched character made by animals or persons. Both would be characteristic of a childish voice.

Later callers spoke of the many meanings applied to the word pip. There are five noun forms and five verb forms with that spelling.

A respiratory disease of birds. v. To remove the scale from the tongue of a fowl affected with the pip.
Any of various varieties of apples, or any of the seeds of various fleshy fruits.
Each of the dots or symbols on a playing card, die, or domino; a small spot or speck; a small flower; the stars worn on the shoulders of an officer’s uniform to denote rank; a small spike or deflection on a radar screen; a voltage pulse.
An arbitrary syllable used for the letter p in telephone communications and in the oral transliteration of code messages.
A short, high-pitched electronic tone used as a signal; especially (a) one of a sequence of such tones broadcast over the radio as a time signal or (b) one of a sequence of such tones transmitted over a public telephone line as a signal to the caller to insert more money. v. To sound a horn or to emit a pip as a radio or telephone signal.
To chirp.
To defeat or to beat narrowly; to hit or wound with a gun; to fail an examination; to die.
Of a chick, to crack the shell of an egg when hatching; to give birth.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Stent or Stint?

2011-10-29T11:01:00.003-04:00

Roberta asked about apparent confusion between stent and stint. From my observation, the confusion is rather widespread.

The Old English form of stint meant to blunt or dull. Its forefathers were Scandinavian and Germanic words that meant blunt, short, stumpy, and scanty. The modern word ranges all over the landscape, but most of the meanings convey the idea of shortening, ceasing, limiting, or stopping altogether.

There are 9 different stents, totally unconnected, but the one most people think of is the medical device, a tube placed in a vessel to promote fluid flow and reduce constriction. There is some controversy over the origin of the word, but there is evidence that it was originally a dental impression compound invented by a 19^th century British dentist named Charles T. Stent.

We might use both in the same sentence by writing something such as, “Don’t stint on the stents during my angioplasty.” I think that the distinction is worth maintaining, but I acknowledge that Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary of the English Language (1961) had this entry: “Stent, also stint.”

SIDEBAR: National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: stent

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Fear

2011-10-26T15:42:00.004-04:00

Two types of fear came up in conversations on the same day – yesterday. Ron Jolly mentioned the service offered by the Mackinac Bridge crew, who will drive a car across the bridge for drivers who are afraid to do it themselves. This is classic gephyrophobia, a fear of bridges.

The second fear to be mentioned yesterday was the fear of needles, mentioned by a young neighbor who will be having his adenoids removed. (Good luck, Jonathon.) The fear of needles is known as aichmophobia, though belonophobia is sometimes used.

This prompted me to browse through the Fear section of my Word Parts Dictionary. Here are a few fears or aversions that I extracted.

accidents: dystichiphobia
beards: pogonophobia
cats: ailurophobia
dogs: cynophobia
emotions: thymophobia
flatulence: physaphobia
growing old: gerascophobia
hurricanes: lilapsophobia
infection: molysmophobia
jumping: catapedaphobia
kissing: philemaphobia
loud noises: ligyrophobia
mice: muriphobia
nosebleeds: epistaxiophobia
old people: gerontophobia
poetry: metrophobia
quarrels: rixophobia
razors: xyrophobia
snakes: herpetophobia
tornadoes: lilapsophobia
ulcers: helcophobia
vomiting: emetophobia
wasps: spheksophobia
x-rays: radiophobia
yawning: oscitophobia
zombies: basinecrophobia

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Bye and By

2011-10-21T15:21:00.003-04:00

John from Bass Lake brought up the subject of bye weeks in American football. Each NFL team plays 16 games out of 17 weeks in the NFL schedule. The game that they don't play is called their bye week, or open date.

John’s first issue was the proper spelling: should it be bye or by? It turns out that bye is what’s currently used, though it came from the preposition by, the one expressing passing without stopping or contact, thus signifying a state of avoidance.

Bye seems to have started as a cricket term, and it had a meaning quite specific to that game. As it was adopted by other sports as a descriptive term, it signified the team left out in a league with an uneven number of participants after every other team had been paired.

SIDEBAR: Walk on By (Dionne Warwick)

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Expeditious

2011-10-16T11:31:00.004-04:00

Sarah has been reading Ulysses Grant’s Memoirs for a history assignment, and wrote with a question about the following sentence: His problem was to get from Lookout Valley to Chattanooga Valley in the most expeditious way possible. Her question was, “Is expeditious connected in any way to expedition?”

Sarah indicated that she knows that expeditious means with speed and efficiency. And even though some expeditions throughout history were tortuously slow and difficult, the words are related, as are expede, expedite, expedient, and expediency. All of them owe their existence to a Latin word that means, “to free a person’s feet from fetters.”

Their opposites are impede, impedient, impediment, and so on. Those words come from a Latin word that meant, “to shackle a person’s feet.”

One strange word that popped up in the middle of my research because of its connection to foot (-ped-) was expeditate, defined as “to cut off from a dog three claws or the ball of the forefoot; to law.” A wretched practice, indeed, but my eye was caught by “to law.” That was new to me. It turns out that to law means “to mutilate an animal so as to render it incapable of doing mischief.” Fortunately, the practice seems to have died out in the 17^th century.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Tang

2011-10-13T13:30:00.003-04:00

Roberta wrote that she was watching a show on the Food Channel and caught a reference to the tang of a knife. She has always associated tang with a pungent taste, and wonders what the commentator meant.

The word tang has many different meanings. In spite of all the variations, tang¹ definitions have one thing in common: a projecting point. The tang of a chef’s knife is that unsharpened lower end of the blade that is encased in the handle. Other tools also have a tang; think of a chisel or a file or a sword. A full tang provides strength to the instrument and provides better balance when grasped in the hand.

Other definitions of tang¹ found in the Oxford English Dictionary include the tongue of a serpent, the sting of an insect, a pang of grief, the prong of a fork or an antler, the barb of a hook, the root of a fang or tree branch, a piece of superfluous metal found in a metal casting, a penetrating flavor or odor (often disagreeable, which makes me wonder why they named the orange drink powder Tang™), and a trace or touch of something.

There are four other tangs, all with separate derivations:

the ringing note produced when a bell or piece of metal is struck with force, or a tense string is sharply plucked
a coarse seaweed
the Madagascar hedgehog
the dynasty that ruled China from 618 to 906 C.E.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Paradigm

2011-10-09T17:48:00.002-04:00

Gary from Burt Lake commented on a buzzword of our day—paradigm—and the many meanings that it seems to bear. It came from a Greek word that meant an example, pattern, or model.

Originally, in English, it referred to a typical example of something. The Oxford English Dictionary includes a 1996 quote from Carl Hiaasen illustrating this: “I don't really care if he liked to play find-the-periscope with prostitutes, but I do care that he passed himself off to voters as a paradigm of Christian rectitude.”

Later, for English speakers studying classical Latin and Greek, it took on a grammatical meaning: a table showing the inflected forms of a particular verb, noun, or adjective, the exemplar standing as a representative of its class. For instance, the model for verbs ending in –are was amare, to love. The chart or paradigm for the present indicative active was

SING. PLU.

1. amo........amamus

2. amas......amatis

3. amat......amant

That same pattern would be applied to all verbs ending in –are.

In linguistics, a paradigm is a set of units which are linguistically substitutable in a given context, especially a syntactic one. For instance the verb form -will listen- may be preceded by I, you, he, she, it, we, or they. In rhetoric, a paradigm is a figure of speech in which a comparison is made by resemblance.

In the sciences, a paradigm is a conceptual model that attempts to explain and buttress the theories and practices of a particular era. More generally, it may be described as a world view. When new discoveries or understandings occur and a model must be tweaked, the general phrase used is paradigm shift.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Yacht

2011-10-06T15:44:00.002-04:00

Margaret saw a sign advertising the Little Traverse Yacht Club when she was on the road recently and wrote to ask about the word yacht.

It has gone through innumerable spellings in English, but the word came through Dutch from the German. The German base was jagen, to hunt. The Dutch invented the swift vessel, designed to chase and hunt down freebooters and smugglers, in the 16^th century.

That German root also shows up in jägermeister, a popular German liquer. Traditionally, the drink was served at the end of a meal, based on the belief that it would aid the digestive process. Jägermeister may be translated as “master of the hunt,” and it was an honorific applied to foresters and gamekeepers.

In a military sense, jäger meant light infantry.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Vandalism

2011-10-03T11:24:00.003-04:00

Patti read about acts of vandalism being perpetrated in the Old Town area of Traverse City and wrote to ask about the origin of the word.

It represents a very deep tribal memory. The Vandals were a Germanic tribe that swept across Europe and northern Africa as the Roman Empire was crumbling in the 5^th century. They entered Rome itself in 455 and spent a couple of weeks trashing the city and carrying off everything that wasn’t bolted down.

Their reputation for looting and defacing led to the generic use of the term: wanton destruction or spoiling of another’s property. While the Romans had a word for Vandal, vandalism came into English through French in the 18^th century.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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“Ironic,” Isn’t It?

2011-09-28T11:21:00.003-04:00

John from Newberry asked if there is a punctuation mark to signify irony. On air, I focused on what a writer shouldn’t use, and that is quotation marks. To write something such as, My, what a “clever” remark, can best be characterized as smarmy, heavy-handed, and tacky. They’re like air quotes: the first time I saw Steve Martin use them, I chuckled; since then, I roll my eyes.

Off air, some down and dirty research showed that there have been attempts to invent an irony pointer. My feeling is that if you need to be whacked upside the head to recognize irony, you should switch to lighter reading.

At any rate, in 1899, French poet Alcanter de Brahm proposed a point d'ironie that would signal that a statement was ironic; he was later joined by Hervé Bazin. Alcanter proposed placing a question mark facing backward at the end of a sentence to declare the presence of irony. He seems to have lifted the mark from an earlier source, 16^th century British printer, Henry Denham.

However, Denham wasn’t concerned with missed irony. He focused on an equally unenlightened group of readers: people who couldn’t recognize a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question doesn’t require an answer; it is directive rather than genuinely inquisitive. What responsible adult wouldn’t help a child in trouble? would be an example.

In our day, a man from Washington, Michigan, is selling a typographical mark to install on your computer. He calls it the SarcMark. It looks something like the at mark @, but upside down and enclosing a dot. He’s asking $1.99. A spokesman for the firm was quoted as saying that this is not a frivolous enterprise. For instance, it would help deaf people recognize irony in closed captions. Perhaps. But if you are hearing-enabled and you need a prompt to recognize irony, you have a problem between your ears.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Don’t Eat the Confetti

2011-09-24T12:51:00.004-04:00

Listener Jim Dalyrimple wrote, “The word ‘confect’ intrigues me. Lots of languages use a similar word, ‘confet’, to mean candy. I've often wondered (having nothing better to do, apparently) how that relates to the word ‘confetti’, but I'm too lazy to look it up and figure it out for myself.”

Jim is referring to my blog of September 10, 2011. The word confect, meaning to build up or make ready, was the subject. Jim is correct about the candy bit: all of these words owe their existence to the Latin conficere. Spellings over the centuries and across various languages varied even though they are all first cousins. In Middle English, it was confyt; in Old French, we find confit; finally, in Shakespeare’s day, English settled on comfit.

It is a sweetmeat made of some fruit, seed, or root (such as ginger), and preserved with sugar. It’s usually round or oval in shape, and biting into it reveals the hidden core. Confetti is the plural for the Italian word for comfit, confetto. It became customary to throw imitation comfits at the bride and groom or at visiting dignitaries as a sign of celebration.

At first, the imitation comfits were three-dimensional. Often made of plaster, they would smash open and cover the participants in white powder. Eventually—probably as a matter of economy—they were constructed of two-dimensional paper punch-outs.

Sidebar: Historic Foods: sugarplums and comfits

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Gym

2011-09-21T15:08:00.003-04:00

Roger asked about the gym, as in gym class. It’s an abbreviation for gymnasium, and it’s been around since 1871. Gymnasium comes from a Greek word meaning “to train or exercise naked.” That’s enough to make me want to enroll in the Y.

The combining form gymno- is a particularly useful component in the vocabulary used in Botany, Biology, and Zoology. It carries the meaning bare or devoid of. Some examples are

gymnanthous: having naked flowers, devoid of both calyx and corolla.
gymnetrous: having a naked or smooth belly; applied to those fishes which have no anal fins.
gymnopterous: having naked wings, without hairs or scales.
gymnomonoˈspermous: having the seeds single and naked.
gymnorhinal: having naked or unfeathered nostrils.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Spel Chek

2011-09-18T20:14:00.003-04:00

My wife and I ate at the Hofbrau in Interlochen after attending another wonderful concert by the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, a fantastically good orchestra considering the relatively small size of the city.

As luck would have it, my seat was facing a wall decorated with posters from various breweries. One from Stella Artois caught my eye:

“Pleasently bitter with a refreshing finish – its drinkability creates a unique taste verses other European lagers.”

Not to be a nitpicker, but here’s a case where spelling matters in promoting a sense of competency, trustworthiness, and professionalism. I deliberately ordered another brand of beer as a silent protest. It reminds me of a sign that I saw in a local deli identifying muscle salad. There was no way in hell I was going to pay for that.

The Oxford English Dictionary lists 202 words ending in –antly and 300 words ending in –ently. The message is clear: always consult a dictionary before committing something to print.

Verses comes from verse, a form derived from the Latin vertere, to turn, because the writer turns to begin another line. Versus comes from a Latin word meaning against.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Confect

2011-09-10T14:02:00.003-04:00

The September 10, 2011, edition of the Wall Street Journal contained a verb that you don’t commonly see. It appeared in an article by Edward Kosner about books timed to appear during the 10^th anniversary of 9/11 (A Decade After). Here is the sentence:

“Pureeing their own research with published sources, Mr. Summers and Ms. Swan confect a circumstantial case involving protection money paid by members of the huge [Saudi] royal family to keep bin Laden’s terrorism outside the kingdom’s borders, intercession by Saudi cultural agents—likely spies—to help two of the hijackers in California, and stonewalling by Saudi intelligence after the attack.”

The context makes it clear that confect is a synonym for piece together or assemble. It is the participial stem of the Latin conficĕre to put together, make up, prepare, or complete.

Shades of meaning listed in the Oxford English Dictionary include

To put together, mix, compound (ingredients).
To prepare or make up by the combination of various ingredients; to compound.
To prepare for use as a relish or delicacy; to make into a comfit or confection; to preserve, pickle.
To prepare (food) for digestion or assimilation; to digest.
To make (out of the materials).

Related words include confection, confectionary/confectionery, and confectioner.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Harrowing Experience

2011-09-08T17:49:00.002-04:00

Jim from Charlevoix asked about the origin of the cliché, a harrowing experience.

The harrow was an early agricultural tool designed to break up clods of earth, turn the soil over, extirpate roots and weeds, and generally prepare the ground for planting. It was a heavy wooden or metal frame set with iron teeth and dragged by an ox or work horse—later, by a tractor.

By extension, a harrowing experience was one that caused great distress and emotional laceration, something that tore you up emotionally.

Harrow was also used as the name of a hinge, as a cricket term, as a synonym for castration, as the name of a defensive gate, as a gold-mining separation device, and as a diagonal arrangement of soldiers or birds in flight.

SIDEBAR: The Harrowing of Hell

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Michiganian or Michigander?

2011-09-05T09:41:00.003-04:00

Wilma McQueen wrote, “My question is about the use of Michiganders for Michiganians. When I was in the eighth grade we were taught we are Michiganians, not ganders. It stuck with me, and I do hear some use the term Michiganians to rhyme with Canadians, but, alas, I also hear too many who call us Michiganders, even radio personalities.”

Sounds like a gentle swipe at me or my co-host, Ron Jolly. But that’s O.K. The reality is that there is no official, sanctioned name. Like you, Wilma, the Michigan Historical Center tends to favor Michiganians, and it has appeared in their publications since the 1870s.

Resch Strategies, a Lansing-based public relations and communications consulting firm, conducted a poll on this very question. Michigan voters favored Michigander by a margin of 58% to 12%. Of the remaining 20% of responders, 7% said they use both, 11% said neither (Michiganite), and an apathetic 12% said they didn’t know and didn’t care. In addition, the poll revealed a geographical component: in all areas of the state, Michigander is the preferred term.

Michigander had an interesting origin. In 1848, Congressman Abraham Lincoln used the word in a speech lambasting Lewis Cass, former governor of Michigan, who was running as a Democratic presidential candidate. The word was a blend of Michigan and gander, implying that Cass was as silly as a goose.

So a word that started as a political insult is now the favored word to describe where we live.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Out of Whack

2011-08-31T16:34:00.003-04:00

Jane from Traverse City asked about the phrase, out of whack. Today, it refers to a situation or machine not operating as it should. It showed up in America in the late 1800s.

Originally, a whack was a smack or a blow. The word probably arose in imitation of the sound that such a hit would make. To take a whack at something was to attempt it.

Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the English Tongue defined whack as 18^th century underworld slang meaning “a share of a booty obtained by fraud.” Hotten’s Slang Dictionary [1874] included “to go whacks,” meaning to divide equally or to enter into partnership.

Britain contributed “the full whack,” meaning the maximum price or rate. The Mafia chimed in with “to whack someone,” meaning to murder execution-style.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Who Dat Which?

2011-08-27T09:53:00.003-04:00

Larry asked about rules for using who, that, and which. There are still grammarians who insist on brutally rigid distinctions, but the fact is that relative pronouns have waxed and waned in favor over the centuries and will continue to do so.

Currently, there is one point of general agreement. Most commentators say that who should be used when speaking of humans, and which should be saved for comments about nonhumans:

The person who did this damage is in deep trouble.

The motive which prompted him is irrelevant.

Many people would write that last sentence as, “The motive that prompted him is irrelevant.” That’s where much of the contention arises. That and which are practically interchangeable in many cases; personal preference and one’s sense of euphony come into play. Just take a look at this quote from the King James Version of the Bible: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” One sentence, two choices.

One other element comes into play, and that is the distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. A restrictive clause contains necessary information: The dog that bit me is being held for tests. A nonrestrictive clause contains extra information: The dog, which is a gray Schnauzer, is being examined at Wilson Veterinary Care.

Contemporary usage seems to prefer the word that in a restrictive clause, and the word which in a nonrestrictive clause. Notice also that punctuation acts as a signal. A nonrestrictive clause is encased in commas, dashes, or parentheses. A restrictive clause does not use them.

Daily exercise that increases the heart rate is good for you.

Exercise, which should be part of your daily routine, is good for you.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Shhhhhhhh!

2011-08-25T13:41:00.002-04:00

Helen was rereading Longfellow’s Evangeline after decades of being out of school when she came across an unfamiliar word: “A brief uproar too feeble to ascend by so much as an infantine susurrus to the ears of the British Neptune.”

Susurrus comes from the Latin susurrare, to whisper, to mutter, or to rustle. In the context above, it would mean an almost inaudible sound from a baby.

The root gave rise to susurrate, to whisper, susurration, a murmur or whisper (early on, malicious in nature), insusurration, an insinuation whispered into one’s ear, and susurrous, of the nature of a whisper.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Right in a Fortnight

2011-08-21T14:59:00.002-04:00

Esther from Honor asked about the phrase, “right in a fortnight.” The meaning is rather transparent: be patient for a couple of weeks and things will turn out OK.

First, let’s deal with the word fortnight. It is a contracted form of the Old English féowertýne niht, fourteen nights. The first instance cited in the Oxford English Dictionary comes from the year 1,000. There is an allied word, sennight, that came from two Old English words: seofon, seven, and nihta, the plural of niht, night.

The phrase “right in a fortnight” is listed in a dictionary of Australian slang. It supposedly started among Aussie soldiers during WWII.

Lowell from Interlochen speculated that “right in a fortnight” came from the 16^th century Gregorian Calendar change. The change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar was necessary because after centuries of use, the Julian calendar had fallen ten days behind real time. By decree, October 4, 1582, was followed by October 15, 1582. Since fortnight first appeared in 1,000, and since the complete phrase first showed up in the 1940s, any direct connection to the calendar change is dubious.

SIDEBAR: Gregorian Calendar History

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Betta or Beta?

2011-08-18T08:24:00.003-04:00

Bob from Glen Arbor asked about the name for a Siamese fighting fish called a beta. Bob wondered why a fish that was really an alpha, or dominant male, would be called a beta.

We got into a discussion of beta. It’s the second letter of the Greek alphabet, and it has come to represent the second in a series, a backup, or a second-generation version. It has been widely used in various sciences, and it is often applied to software that is in a test phase right before universal release.

After the show, I discovered that the preferred spelling is betta, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the Greek alphabet. Instead, it came from a Malay name, ikan bettah.

Never mind.

SIDEBAR: Betta Fish

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Tooth Skin

2011-08-14T10:53:00.003-04:00

Ron from Duck Lake asked about the phrase, “by the skin of your teeth.” Today, it signifies a narrow escape. The idea is also encapsulated in phrases such as in the nick of time, by a hair’s breadth, by a whisker, just squeaked by, and close shave.

This is a case in which a lowly preposition makes a huge difference. Conveying the meaning a narrow escape, we find the preposition by. The original wording, however, was “with the skin of my teeth,” and it signified deprivation and reduction, paring things down to the bone, and severe loss.

It shows up in Job xix.20. If you recall, Job was a test case used by God to show Satan that a perfect and upright man would not abandon God even if beset by terrible loss. Job started out as a prosperous man with an immense household, huge herds of livestock, and a large, happy family. Everything was taken from him to test his devotion.

Some of the English versions of Job were direct translations from the Hebrew, which means that the choices made by the translator were critical. The first translation to use the preposition with was the Geneva Bible of 1560: “I haue escaped with the skinne of my tethe.” This was repeated in the King James Version: "My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth."

Two other translations took a different approach using a Latin base (Jerome’s Vulgate Bible), and I think that they clarify the meaning. Wycliffe’s Bible had this: “Oneli þe lippis ben laft aboute my teeþ.” [Only the lips have been left around my teeth.] The Douay Bible of 1582 reads: "My bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth."

In other words, a severely emaciated Job had a narrow escape.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Catch-22

2011-08-11T14:06:00.004-04:00

Nephew Brian Sheehan asked about the term Catch-22. Catch-22 came from the 1961 novel of that name, and it appears that author Joseph Heller was the first person to use it. It refers to a no-win situation, a life-threatening obligation that one can’t escape, but I can’t find why Heller chose the number 22 instead of another. A catch is a snare or trap.

In the novel, a couple of WWII-era bombardiers are searching for a way to get out of their dangerous missions. Two airmen named Yossarian and Orr figure that a plea of insanity might do the job. They are disabused of that notion by flight surgeon Doctor Daneeka, who would have to pass on any such claim.

Heller wrote, “There was only one catch, and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and he would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to, but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.”

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.

"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

SIDEBAR: Google Books

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BLT

2011-08-06T13:46:00.002-04:00

Jim from Elk Rapids asked a strange question: “Could you discuss the origin of the elements in a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich?” I take it that it’s not an agricultural question.

Bacon comes from a Germanic word that meant the back. Meat from the back and sides of a pig were cured by salting or by drying, thus producing bacon.

Lettuce came from a Latin word that meant milk. That may seem unlikely at first glance, but it referred to the milky juice that some varieties of lettuce will exude upon cutting.

Tomato came from a Mexican word that meant the vegetable that we know and love. In American slang, a tomato once referred to an attractive young lady. Come to think of it, lettuce and bacon (bringing home the bacon) once were slang terms for money.

SIDEBAR: Procul Harum, Bringing Home the Bacon

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One Hand Clapping

2011-08-03T11:32:00.003-04:00

When we say that something is plausible, we mean that it is reasonable, probable, and believable. In other words, it is in the realm of the rational. The origin of the word, however, involved the realm of the emotional. It signified something that met general approval and acceptance. It was so pleasing, in fact, that it might be met with applause. The word came from the Latin plaudere, to strike or to clap the hands.

Another word that came from the same Latin verb is plaudits, an expression of approval. Again, that could well involve applause. The spelling was originally plaudite, a command that meant “give these folks a hand.” It was the customary request from actors at the end of a play in old Rome.

Two surprising words that come from the Latin word meaning clapping are explode and implode. Originally, a disapproving audience would drive an actor off the stage by hooting, shouting, and clapping so loudly that he couldn’t be heard and had to beat a hasty retreat. While explode was an outburst, implode was an inburst.

There’s an obsolete and rare word also based on plaudere that might be useful even today, especially in the stands at sporting events. The word is supplode, and it meant to stamp with the feet – to applaud underneath.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me . . . ?

2011-07-30T08:45:00.003-04:00

The Latin verb pungere, to prick or sting, produced three connected sensory words in English: pungent, piquant, and poignant.

Pungent originally referred to the kind of pain that comes from stabbing or piercing, whether literal or figurative. In the 17^th century, the additional meaning of “forcefully or trenchantly expressed” was added, soon followed by “intensely flavored.”

Piquant started off as a sharp object, especially the spine of a hedgehog. It progressed to a sharp taste, then to wounded feelings. “Fascinating or charming” eventually crept in.

Poignant took a side trip through French, which influenced the spelling. It started as a reference to taste or smell, transferred to physical pain, then settled on mental feelings: grief, regret, or despair. Along the way, sorrowful tenderness (paradoxically, a pleasurable pain) worked its way in.

Related words include compunction, expunge, punctual, puncture, and punctum.

Pun Gent: a man addicted to paronomasia.

SIDEBAR: Recipe for sauce piquant

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Giddy with Enthusiasm

2011-07-27T16:53:00.003-04:00

Three words are linked in a curious way: swindler, giddy, and dizzy.

A swindler cheats and defrauds people for his or her personal gain. Originally, the word meant a giddy person. Giddy people were believed to indulge in flights of fancy, in gossamer schemes, in flights from reality. Eventually, the schemes were seen as nefarious, and the cheating element crept in.

At first, giddy meant possessed by spirits; that was the original explanation for insanity. There was a connection to the word god, pointing to giddiness as the result of being taken over by a god. When finally secularized, it came to mean silly or foolish. [Although it is not etymologically connected, the word enthusiasm also started out as “possessed by a god.”]

In Old English, dizzy meant foolish or stupid. In the 14^th century, the idea of vertigo was introduced. In Latin, vertigo was a whirling or turning that resulted in a loss of equilibrium.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Where There's Smoke

2011-07-23T08:25:00.004-04:00

Smoke is defined as the visible vapor given off by burning or smoldering material. The word goes back to Old English, and it was derived from Dutch, German, and Danish models.

More interesting are the words that relate to smoke in a covert way. I'm speaking about terms that usually come from Latin or Greek forms not easily recognized by most people. Let’s run through some examples.

acapnia: diminution or deficiency of carbon dioxide in the blood. It comes from two Greek elements—a-, meaning without, and kapnos, meaning smoke.
capnomancy: divination by observing rising or swirling smoke.
chipotle: a dried and smoked ripe jalapeño pepper, dark reddish-brown with a strong, piquant flavor, used in Mexican cooking. Its source is the Nahuatl chil-, chilli, and poctli, smoke.
fumacious: fond of smoking. The source is the Latin fumare, to smoke.
fumitory: related to tobacco smoking.
fumivorous: feeding or living on smoke, a perfect adjective for a fire fighter.
misocapnic: opposed to tobacco smoke.
perfume: we associate it with the aromatic mist or liquid used to mask body odor, but originally it referred to fumigation, a cleansing process using smoke.
typhus: the infectious fever. It comes from a Greek word, typhos, that meant smoke, but another meaning of typhos, stupor, is directly related to the fever.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Conversational Fillers

2011-07-20T11:35:00.003-04:00

Bill asked about conversational fillers, citing if you will as an example. Every language seems to have them. In English, um, er, well, sort of, actually, basically, you know, and like are among the most common.

When they are overused, they can be well, you know, like, annoying as hell. I remember a teacher who overused surely, which he pronounced as shirley. Before his class, we would form a pool to predict the number of shirleys that would show up that day. [Leslie Nielson clip]

Sometimes fillers can be a sign of unfamiliarity with the subject, nervousness, or a challenged vocabulary, but they can also serve a useful purpose. For instance, a conversation involves two inescapable elements: give and take, send and receive, speak and listen. When we have finished a statement, our ensuing silence is a signal to the other party to respond. If we are thinking ahead and are not ready to relinquish our turn, we may use a filler to indicate that we are not finished.

Other useful roles for fillers include

memory searches
softening or strengthening a statement
restating for emphasis
expanding a thought
switching ideas midstream
bringing in peripheral, but connected, thoughts

So, while overuse of conversational fillers can be distracting and counterproductive, a measured use can help manage a conversation and direct the listener’s attention.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Eleemosynary

2011-07-16T16:59:00.003-04:00

This tracks back to a Greek word meaning pity. The Greek word ἐλεημοσύνη [eleemosyne], an expansion of the shorter word, meant compassionateness. The modern sense pertains to an act motivated by charity.

The word alms is inextricably bound up in the word eleemosynary. It signified a dependence on alms for survival. In Old English, alms was spelled aelmysse, making the connection with the original Greek more obvious.

The word pittance now means a very small or inadequate amount of something, but originally, it, too, was connected to the word alms. Originally, it was alms in the form of food given to monks or paupers—the product of pity.

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Nit

2011-07-13T10:41:00.003-04:00

Jeff wrote to say that he gets the meaning of “Gotcha Journalism,” but wonders about related charges of nitpicking coming from conservative politicians.

Nitpickers are said to make a big deal out of minor issues. Lacking major complaints, they quibble over insignificant items. Originally, a nit was the egg of a parasitic insect like the louse. Later, by extension, it referred to the parasite itself.

Shakespeare used the word nit to designate an insignificant, inconsequential, and contemptible person.

Love's Labour's Lost, iv. i. 146: “And his Page . ‥ Ah heauens, it is most patheticall nit.”
Taming of the Shrew, iv. iii. 109: “Thou Flea, thou Nit, thou winter cricket, thou.”

Eventually, the term hit America. Humorist George Ade once wrote, “I don't read Books. I am an Intellectual Nit.”

Nit also shows up in nitwit, defined as a stupid, foolish, or idiotic person. Wit refers to the mind, the seat of cognition. The first citation mentioned in the OED is from The Los Angeles Times, 5 June 14: “After her trip to Virginia Miss Helen Morton was quoted as saying that Chicago men were ‘nit wits’.”

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Cuff

2011-07-09T10:16:00.003-04:00

Dona asked about the word cuff, as in, “If you kids don’t knock it off, I’m going to come out there and cuff your ears.” It means to beat, strike, or buffet. The origin is labeled uncertain, but the OED reminds us of the existence of kuffen, a German criminal slang word meaning to thrash.

The other verb use is an abbreviation of handcuff, to manacle one by the wrists. The cuff involved there came from a word meaning a mitten or glove, particularly the section that covers the wrist.

Cuff also means a blow with the fist or an open hand; it shows up in fisticuff. Other unconnected noun uses include a contemptuous slang term meaning a miserly old man, a Scottish variant of scruff (the fleshy part of the back of the neck), and an abbreviation for Cuffee, a personal name.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Without Feck

2011-07-06T19:06:00.002-04:00

An online description for Turner Classic Movies described Rebel Without a Cause this way: “Volatile teens with feckless parents witness tragedy.” Feckless parents: you don’t see that every day.

The –less segment tells us that something is missing. What is missing is feck, described by the Oxford English Dictionary as an apparent aphetic of the word effeck, an old variant of effect, in the sense of “to become operative or to prove effective.” (Aphetic refers to the loss of a short unaccented vowel at the beginning of a word.)

Feckless first referred to physical objects, and it meant valueless or futile. Applied later to human beings, it came to mean lacking vigor, energy, or capacity; weak or helpless. Feckless parents, then, would be irresponsible parents, unable or unwilling to carry out their duties.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

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Austerity

2011-07-01T17:02:00.004-04:00

Ron Jolly brought up the word austerity on last Tuesday’s program. The original Latin and Greek words were sensory words. They meant harsh to the taste, producing an astringent sourness in the mouth. The word austere, the root of austerity, referred to any substance or condition that made the tongue dry and rough.

As time went on, it could be applied to any person or situation that was harsh, stern, or rigorous. That led to the meanings self-discipline, self-restraint, and ascetic. Eventually, it settled into lack of luxury or adornment.

During World War II, it referred to the simplicity in clothing and food necessitated by rationing and a shortage of goods. Recently, we have read of riots in Greece because the government is trying to inaugurate fiscal austerity measures that will cut spending and increase taxes.

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Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

500th Airing of Words to the Wise

2011-06-28T15:25:00.005-04:00

The 500th airing of Words to the Wise, my weekly radio program on WTCM-AM, Traverse City, Michigan, will broadcast live at the Open Space in Traverse City during the National Cherry Festival.

The date is Tuesday, July 5, 2011, and it will air on AM-580 at the usual time -- 9:00 to 10:00 am, EST. If you are within driving distance of Traverse City, come to the Open Space to join the live audience.

Anywhere else in the world, you may listen to live streaming audio at wtcmradio.com, or you can catch the podcast at a later date and time at the same address.

This Blog Was Written By Me

2011-06-25T09:19:00.003-04:00

Ken wrote that he is constantly annoyed by his computer’s grammar checker because it scolds him every time that he uses the passive voice in a verb. What’s the big deal, he asks.

The active voice of a verb shows that the subject is doing something: Carrie swats flies. The action moves from left to right in the sentence, a standard occurrence in English. An active voice verb is preferred because it is direct, vigorous, and less wordy.

In the passive voice, the subject is acted upon: The flies were swatted by Carrie. The action bounces from right to left, as it were, and the construction seems murky, evasive, and clunky. Politicians love the passive voice because it allows the weasels to direct attention away from themselves: Mistakes were made is less accusatory and damning than I goofed up.

Compare these examples to see why the active voice is usually better:

(A) My dog loves rawhide. (P) Rawhide is loved by my dog.
(A) Cars need gasoline. (P) Gasoline is needed by cars.
(A) I hate spinach. (P) Spinach is hated by me.

However, the passive voice is not always inferior. Sometimes we need to emphasize the object instead of the subject, and sometimes we don’t even know who the subject is.

The synagogue has been vandalized three times this year.
In the last few years, smart phones have been purchased at a phenomenal rate.
My new bicycle was stolen yesterday.

We could use the vague someone as subject in two of the sentences above, but that wears thin after a while. As for your grammar checker, Ken, I’d turn it off. I keep my spell checker on to catch typos, but even that isn’t perfectly programmed.

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
Amazon.com

Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Louche

2011-06-22T11:05:00.003-04:00

Barbara from Bay View called in to inquire about a word she encountered while reading a book. The word was louche, and it means dubious, shifty, or disreputable. Sometimes it expresses a secret admiration for the decadence of the underworld.

Its origin is rather delightful. It came into English from a French word that meant squinting. In turn, the French word came from the Latin lusca, one-eyed. It represents the facial squinch that some people exhibit when they encounter something that they disapprove of.

A few examples will illustrate its use.

Catherine Hiller, 17 Morton Street: “Contrary to the louche reputation she cultivated, especially with her sisters, Perri did not go after every man she wanted. She had her standards.”

Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Crime Without Murder: “A prosperous macquereau sipping Vichy water in a Paris nightclub represents an unmistakably louche appearance . . .”

Henry James, The Golden Bowl: “Mayn’t it have all the air for them of a really equivocal, sinister bargain between us—something quite unholy and louche?”

Punch, volume 298: “And the doorways are increasingly being filled by even more disreputable types—drunks, beggars, freeloading hacks. So much for the council’s cleanup campaign. There are certain louche habitués of Soho who swear that the sleaze is all part of the charm.”

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Later in the show, Derrick from Elk Rapids called in to say that louche is a term used in mixing absinthe. A web site titled Absinthe Fever explains it this way: “The absinthe ritual of La Louche is a process of adding iced water to absinthe, which dilutes the drink and slowly transforms its colour from the original emerald green to a lighter, opalescent shade of milky green. More often than not, the water is poured over a lump of sugar placed on a perforated spoon that rests on the top of the glass.”

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
Amazon.com

Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

A River Runs Through It

2011-06-18T15:03:00.003-04:00

Terry came across a reference to fluvial deposits, and asked about the origin of the word fluvial. It refers to a river and comes to us from the Latin fluvius, river. It doesn’t seem to be used all that much these days, having been supplanted in that phrase by alluvial (L. alluvium, washed against).

Other words indebted to the Latin fluvius include

fluviated: marshy or overflowed by a river
fluviatic: growing or living in streams
fluviatile: formed or produced by the action of rivers
fluviose: flowing
multifluvian: entered by many rivers

The Latin amnis also means river, and it led to the obsolete terms

amnicolist: one who dwells near a river
amnigenous: born or bred in, of, or near a river.
interamnian: lying between or enclosed by rivers

Then there’s the Greek potamos, river. It shows up in

hippopotamus: the African “river-horse”
Mesopotamia: the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
potamian: a freshwater turtle
potamic: relating to rivers
potamography: the geographical description of rivers
potamology: the branch of science that deals in rivers
potamometer: an instrument for measuring the force of a river current
potamophilous: river-loving
potamoplankton: plankton found in rivers and streams
tychopotamic: occurring occasionally in or near rivers

Finally, we have the Latin riparius (riverbank) and its cousin rivulus (little river). They are responsible for

riparian: related to the banks of a river
ripary: a river or stream
rivage: a coast, shore, or riverbank
rivulet: a small river or stream

Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
Amazon.com

Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.

There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.

Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org

Pure Michigan

2011-06-15T15:08:00.001-04:00

Better than a thousand words: Pure Michigan, up north style.