Dear Pendant: Please tell me, and my son, about the origin of the phrase “the birds and the bees.” Thanks, CCH
Dear CCH: Hmm, Dear Pendant? Am I hanging around? Anyway, I assume you want the origin, not the meaning of the phrase. It's not really known. Some authorities say it goes back centuries and some say it started with Cole Porter's 1928 song Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love). One possibility is that it comes from John Burroughs, a naturalist who worked in the Catskills. He wrote a pamphlet called "Birds and Bees: Essays" in which he explained, in a way that children could understand, how nature worked. He talked about the instinct in nature to "build a nest" or a home and to take care of young. But I suspect that those who say it goes back centuries are right.
Dear Pedant: What is the origin of using the word "Dear" in the salutation for a piece of correspondence? It seems disingenuous when the letter is directed to a stranger. Best Regards, Katherine
Dear Katherine: It seems lost in the mists of time. "Dear" certainly had its modern meaning of beloved, precious, cherished and so on as far back as the 11th century, and letters carrying the salutation "Dear (name or title)" survive from pre-Shakespearean times. We are partly saved the disingenuity these days by the exploding use of email, where "Hi Katherine" is the common form. (I can't remember the last time I committed a letter to paper!)
Dear Pedant: Most people understand that a misogynist is a man that hates women. What is the term for a woman that hates men? I don’t mean Lesbian! Andy
Dear Andy: Misandrist. And in case you ask what is the male term for nymphomaniac, it's almost as though it is a women-only attitude or behavior, because there is no male equivalent for it. There are literally dozens of synonyms for nymphomaniac, but apart from something bland like "stud" we struggle to find a male equivalent.
Dear Pedant: Can you tell me where the word “Kite” comes from in relation to a cheque, (or check if you are American). Thanks, Andy Matthews
Dear Andy: It's far older than you might think. It first surfaced in 1805 to mean "accommodation bill", or a bill of exchange (which is what a cheque/check is). Hence, to fly a kite, meaning "to raise the wind" by such bills. And hence again, by derivation, a check/cheque, especially a worthless one. Read Edgar Wallace's The Gunner (1928) and you'll find it there.
Dear Pedant: One of your readers asked for the legal Latin for the phrase "it speaks for itself". You suggested ipso facto, but I think what he was looking for was res ipsa loquitur. Best, Retired Editor
Dear Retired Editor: Well I did say my Latin was non-existent! Many thanks for that.
Dear Pedant: A needle match?? Cheers, Nigel
Dear Nigel: First surfacing in Glasgow in 1934, needle match is a variant of needle fight, an important bout of biffo in which one or both bruisers have been needling the other, that is, urging him to fight by annoying or insulting him.
Dear Pedant: If & is an ampersand what is @ called? Chris
Dear Chris: First, an apology for the delay in replying. I have been on a short vacation. Second, as many tongues wiser than mine have said, this is a symbol in search of a name. English speakers call it "the at sign", which is fine for its place in an email address. In Danish it is "the elephant's trunk". In Chinese it is "the little mouse". In Russian it is "the little dog" and in Swedish it is "the cat's foot". The Dutch call it "the monkey's tail". French, Italian, Hebrew and Korean use "snail". Take your pick!
Dear Pedant: I have heard a co-worker use the phrase “out of pocket” meaning that she was not going to be available. I have heard “out of pocket” used in regards to expenses but not to someone’s situation. Please help!! John A. George
Dear John: Wow! We're really testing our regional knowledge now! This use of the phrase started in the southern and southwestern US, and is still more common there than elsewhere. It comes from the game of pool, in which an "out of pocket" shot - a player fails to sink a ball into a pocket - means a missed turn. Therefore, "I am not available" (to play my turn). The phrase was also used by US Afro-Americans in the 1940s-70s to refer to someone acting in an unacceptable or tasteless manner. But you didn't ask that ...
Dear Pedant: I have heard a number of individuals use the term "Kings X", however, I cannot find the meaning or origins of the phrase. Today a coworker used the phrase as follows: "She said she would take care of it, but King's X, I guess she changed her mind." Have you heard this before? Thank you. Tamela
Dear Tamela: It's actually "King's ex", not "King's X", and is also heard as "kings and crosses". It's a children's cry for truce, and is used simply as "kings" in the east and northeast of England, but as "kings and crosses" or "king's exes" closer to London. The Canadian equivalent is "king's ex", which would appear to have migrated south of the border to the US.
Dear Pedant: Is the correct expression to use up one's chip or one's chit? Melissa
Dear Melissa: It's a new expression to me, but I suspect chit is right. At gambling tables you can use up your chips, plural, but you can only use a chip, singular, not use it up. A chit, on the other hand, can be an order for, say, drinks in clubs or on a ship -- an open invoice that you sign for. That is something you could use up -- especially if you were thirsty.
Dear Pedant: Might you advise the origin of the slang terms "SWEAT LIKE A PIG" and “I COULD GIVE A SHIT”. Lester J. Mantell
Dear Lester: The first is an adaptation of the London Cockney phrase "to sweat like a bull", first recorded about 1880. The original makes sense -- bulls sweat -- but I don't know that pigs do.
The second is an interesting example of how US English is sometimes illogical. Here, "a shit" clearly connotes something of no worth, yet the phrase implies that you could give something of no worth. In British and Australian English the phrase is "I could not give a shit", indicating, logically, that you could not give even that. (A similar thing happens with "I could care less" (US) and "I could not care less" (BrE and AusE). There is no logic in the US version.)
Dear Pedant: What is the origin of the phrase, "get off the schnide" and what exactly does it mean?
Dear Mean: If you'd followed the suggestion on my homepage that you do a CtrlF and search for a key word you would have had an instant answer because I answered precisely this question some time back. This is what I said then: The verb to schneider (not schnide) means to win before your opponent has scored, to shut him/her/them out. Hence the noun, schneider, as in "The Nicks took four straight, a schneider". It comes from the German word meaning tailor, via Yiddish, and as you say is used in various card games to mean a clean sweep. How tailor=clean sweep, however, is something I cannot tell you, unless the connection was between cutting out an opponent and cutting out cloth - unlikely. What I can say is that yes, the sportscasters are using the old card-game term.
Dear Pedant: Is there a noun for the animal which is aestivating? And is there such a term for hibernating animals? Aestivation is the seasonal opposite of hibernation. When weather is periodically very dry or very hot, often at the same time, animals particularly in Australia go into a state of torpor. Some frogs can live for years under parched soil in the Australian outback and only emerge after a soaking rain (just a bit of trivia outside your realm of pedantry). Regards, Rosey
Dear Rosey: The simple and the obvious often stare you in the face: the first is an aestivator, the second a hibernator. And thanks for the trivia. Ribbip!
Dear Pedant: He was bowled by a beautiful yorker. What on earth is the derivation of "yorker"? Jos
Dear Jos: It's a good one, isn't it? Why not, "He was bowled by a beautiful londoner"? And therein lies the clue. No one is sure, but it is thought to derive from such a ball -- it pitches just under the bat -- having been invented by cricketers from Yorkshire. The term was first used in the 19th century.
Dear Pedant: I've just recovered from the sting of your pedantic barb regarding the subjunctive mood and I'm back for more. In the Australian bush, if I were to ask for directions, the cow-cocky or grazier (rancher for US audiences) would crouch down on one heel, pick up a stick and scratch in the dust a rough diagram of the countryside, its fences, gates, bore-drains and homesteads etc. I've heard this diagram called a mud-map or, less commonly, a mug-map. Either sounds feasible: it's drawn in the dust or mud; any old mug should be able to understand it; it's done for the silly mug who's lost. Are you bushed (lost)? Regards, Rosey
Dear Rosey: Your cow-cocky or grazier would crouch down on one heel? They must have a wonderful sense of balance!
The second suggestion, mug-map, certainly has an attraction, but it's definitely a mud-map. It was first used in print, as far as I can find out, in a book called Chips and Splinters, by E.S Sorensen, published in 1919. No printed authority (dictionaries, books of slang terms etc) mentions mug-map. I suspect it's what's called unwitting paronomasia (punning to you and me) - or even a malapropism. As for whether I'm bushed, there are those who would suggest the world is bushed following a certain inauguration in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2005.
Dear Pedant: What would you tell us about the word "contempt" as in a law form, such as being in contempt of court. Thanks, John and Marilyn
Dear John and Marilyn: How long do you have? The law varies from country to country, but essentially contempt of court is a criminal offence and those found guilty can usually expect a big fine, or even jail. You are in contempt of court if you interfere with the administration of justice, scandalise a court (criticise a judge, for instance) or talk in court while evidence is being heard (known as contempt in the face of the court). Breaches of court orders can also result in contempt action. All that being said, remember this website discusses language, not the law, and if you need legal advice you should consult a lawyer or, at the very least, a legal website.
Dear Pedant: One of my friends at work is particularly fond of the saying "shit or get off the pot" - would I be correct in thinking this is an Australian saying? Tina from Cumberland
Dear Tina from Cumberland: I'm afraid not. It's a Canadian army catch-phrase from World War II. It was originally directed at a dice player unable to "crap out", but now of course has the broader meaning of "either do it or get out of the way and let someone else have a go" (or even just "make up your mind").
Dear Pedant: I would like to know the origin of the words: core, cals, swetener, sugar people, flaking, flake, beefed up, a la george, c moon, absobloodylutely, IMHO.
Dear IMHO: What a curious collection! I have never heard of cals, sugar people, a la george or c moon, although I suspect sugar people is drug-related. I assume swetener is a typographically challenged version of sweetener which comes, of course, from the verb to sweeten. As for the others: core, first used in the 14th century, is of unknown origin; flake and flaking, also first used in the 14th century, is also of unknown origin (cf Old Norse flakna, to flake off); to beef up was first used in the maritime world in the middle of the 19th century to mean "put more beef (i.e. muscle) into it"; and absobloodylutely is an example of tmesis, the insertion of a word or syllable into another, as in fundabloodymental or oribloodygin. As for IMHO, it is simply an initialism from the world of the chatroom: in my hunble opinion.
Dear Pedant: We are looking for the Origin of the phrase "Sweat like a Pig". Lori
Dear Lori: With its companion, sweat like a bull, it was first used by the Cockneys in London towards the end of the 19th century -- in the 1880s. While I can understand the allusion to bulls -- they are often beasts of burden, and sweat -- the connection with pigs escapes me. It was probably as simple as "sweating is smelly and pigs are smelly", therefore sweat like a pig.
Dear Pedant: When [did] the fencing term touché begin to be used in the English Language with its present meaning unrelated to the sport? Thanks, Larry
Dear Larry: Both the fencing and the figurative uses came into English about the same time, the early 20th century. I don't know that any authority has found the one preceding the other by more than - well, a parry and thrust!
Dear Pedant: In the Air Force we are used to inventing words and using confusing acronyms. One word that I can't seem to figure out is the word "reclama". We use it to signify that a request for personnel is being sent back to the requestor unfulfilled. Any idea what it really means? Frank
Dear Frank: According to the Pentagon it means a request to reconsider a decision or proposed action. It is also used to mean a protest against a cut in a budget or program. I cannot find its origins, but if I had to guess I would point to the Spanish words reclamacion, meaning "complaint", or reclamar, meaning "to reclaim".
Dear Pedant: Where did the baseball phrase "on deck" come from. Obviously, it relates to a ship, but how did the transfer of meaning take place? Thank you.
Dear Thank You: It's not just a baseball phrase. "On deck" can be used for anyone who is in charge or ready for action. Its figurative meaning was first used in the US, like baseball, and is a straight transfer from the nautical world, as you suggest. If you're on deck you're either in charge (the captain) or ready for action (the crew). You are not sleeping, cooking, etc, below deck.
Dear Pedant: Thanks for this service. Do you know the origin of the word "swig" as in to gulp? Thanks, Michael
Dear Michael: Aha! You didn't follow the advice on the homepage and try Ctrl F with the word. Had you done so you would have had an instant answer instead of having to wait. What I said to the previous inquirer on this (see several screens below) was: It was first used as a noun in British English in the mid-16th century, and as a verb, to swig, about a century later. In the US it has also given rise to swigger, one who swigs. Unfortunately, its origin is unknown, with none of the authorities (Oxford, Webster's etc) even hazarding a guess. Sorry. Take another swig and drown your sorrows!
Dear Pedant: Could you please tell me what the phrase "spinning on a dime" means and from where it originates? Sincerely, Suzanne
Dear Suzanne: I'm afraid it means just what it sounds like: to spin (revolve) on a tiny axis, to turn quickly on something as small as a dime. "The athlete was so agile he could spin on a dime." "This colt can spin on a dime." "An auto this big should not be able to spin on a dime, but it can."
Dear Pedant: what is the origin of words: tie, trousers, sweat suit, sneakers, ankle socks, gloves, robe, nightgown, handbag and briefcase?Please, answer me quickly. Thank you, Celso
Dear Celso: Are you serious? You want an instant answer on the origins of 10 words or phrases relating to apparel and accessories? Oh well, you asked for it: tie comes from the Old Norse taug; trousers from the Gaelic triubhas; sweat from Middle Dutch sweten and suit from Old French siute; sneakers from Old Norse snikja; ankle from Old High German enkil and socks from the Greek sukkhos; gloves from Old Norse glofi; robe from the hypothetical Roman rauba; night from the Sanskrit nakt and gown from Late Latin gunna; hand from the Gothic handus and bag from Old Norse baggi; brief from Latin breve and case from the Latin capsa. Be sure to put this newfound knowledge to good use, now.
Dear Pedant: Can you describe the origin of the word "Towhead"? I think most people understand it to mean blond, but I've never met anyone who could explain how it came about. FrancoRosso
Dear FrancoRosso: "Tow" (pronounced toe) is an old word for flax or hemp, originally from the Old Norse word for wool, to (pronounced toe). And flax, of course, is yellow. (And doesn't Debussy's The Girl with the Flaxen Hair sound better than The Tow-Headed Girl!)
Dear Pedant: The word dime came from what French word?
Dear Word: It comes from the Old French word dime, oddly enough, which came from the obsolete disme, which came in turn from the Latin decima, meaning tithe, the noun form of decimus, meaning tenth.
Dear Pedant: In a song sung by Roy Buchanan, on the album of the same name, there is a song called Haunted House that contains the word "haint" and I cannot find out what this means. James
HAUNTED HOUSE
Jumpin' Gene Simmons
(Last verse)
Say yes I'll be here when the mornin comes
I'll be right here and I ain't gonna run
I bought this house now you know I'm boss
Ain't no haint gonna run me off
Dear James: "Haint" is southern US dialect for "haunt" and, by extension, "ghost". There are even Haint Hunters in West Virginia: http://www.geocities.com/wv_haint_hunters/
Dear Pedant: When someone overreacts, throws a tantrum or behaves in a very silly manner any nearby Aussie observer will invariably remark that they "carry on like a pork chop." The SMH asked its readers where the expression came from and the answer offered by a B.D. of Ambarvale was: Just throw a pork chop onto a sizzling hot barbecue plate and watch it fizz and spit. It really means to carry on in an over-the-top manner. Is B.D. of Ambarvale correct? Surely the expression would then be "to carry on like a pork chop on a barbie" Or is the traditional Australian truncation at work here too. SPaM (nothing against pork)
Dear SPaM: B.D. of Ambarvale - presumably from a vale of liquidambars - may be right, but most meat with fat still attached will fizz and spit. So why not "carry on like a lamb chop"? I suspect it is one of your Aussie truncations, but more probably from "carry on like a pork chop in a synagogue". A pork chop in a synagogue is embarrassingly out of place, so would certainly get in a tizz or act silly, which is, I suspect, a more common meaning than "to carry on in an over-the-top manner".
Dear Pedant: Where does the phrase "...wait for it..." come from? Does it come from a sports highlight show, or some higher-brow source? I want to know if I'm a clever parrot or not. thanks, jimbo hottentot
Dear jimbo: It's of unknown origin, but I suspect it goes back a lot further than sports highlight shows. I'd be surprised if it wasn't first used in vaudeville, with a performer cautioning the audience (or his fellow performers) as they start to laugh, anticipating the punchline. "Hey," he is saying, "you might be laughing too soon. My punchline might be something you're not expecting, so wait for it, wait for it."
Dear Pedant: Where does the term "40 winks" derive from? Max
Dear Max: The novelist George Eliot wrote in 1828 of "having 'forty winks' on the sofa in the library". It's the first known use in print. This passage seems to sum up thoughts about its origin: Forty used to be not only a precise number but also an indefinite term for a large number. There are frequent biblical references to 'forty days', which means no more than 'for a long time', and because of this frequency the number 40 came to have an almost sacrosanct quality. It is probably this sense, jocularly applied, that lies behind 'forty winks', a wink itself being a short spell of sleep. ("Wink" has been used to denote a short sleep since the 14th century. When you think about it, you do shut an eye when you wink, but only one. Why not "blink" for a short sleep, and "forty blinks"? It's a curious language!)
Dear Pedant: Which is the correct word to describe someone who doesn't mind their own business? NOSEY or NEWSY? Thanks, Liz
Dear Liz: It's nosey (or nosy, which I prefer). It comes from sticking your nose into other people's business. People can be newsy if they are in the news, but they might not be at all inquisitive.
Dear Pendant: I know what the meaning of the expression "Go fly a kite" means, but can you tell me when and where it originated? Many thanks, Mary Anne
Dear Mary Anne: First, while I certainly "hang about" from time to time, I am a Pedant, not a Pendant! Second, while I am sure you know the current meaning of the phrase - to test public opinion by tentative measures (from advertising copy-writers, about 1926) I doubt you know the original meaning: to raise money by means of accommodation bills (1808). An accommodation bill, or bill of exchange, was known as a kite, especially if worthless, so you could fly a kite or "raise the wind" by such bills. In Anglo-Irish banks it meant to cash a cheque (check) against non-existent funds. In about the middle of the 19th century it also came to mean "to depart a low lodging house by means of the window" (to do a runner).
Dear Pedant: Please advise where the term "sleep like a top" comes from. Max
Dear Max: Dictionaries seem to agree on one thing: "of unknown origin". Folk etymology suggests that when spinning tops are at the peak of their gyrations, they become so steady and quiet that they do not seem to move. In this state they are said to "sleep" and "to sleep like a top" means to sleep very soundly. I guess that will do until someone comes up with something better. (By the way, the first to use the phrase appears to have been Shakespeare, as is so often the case.)
Dear Pedant: Does the button on the top of a baseball cap have a special name? I understand that it does, but I don't have a clue what it is. I'm hoping you know and will share! Paula
Dear Paula: I'm afraid I must give you the same answer I gave an earlier Pedantphile who asked precisely the same question: I have no idea either! Maybe someone out there in the great Dear Pedant audience can help?
Dear Pedant: I would love to know the meaning of the term "off the schnide". I've heard it used by sports broadcasters for years and hope that it's not just them using poetic license with an old bridge term. I was told in bridge, to get off the schnide was to avoid being shut out. In sports, teams are often described as "trying to get off the schnide" to halt a losing streak. Can you help? OntheSchnide
Dear OntheSchnide: Well, yes and no. The verb to schneider (not schnide) means to win before your opponent has scored, to shut him/her/them out. Hence the noun, schneider, as in "The Nicks took four straight, a schneider". It comes from the German word meaning tailor, via Yiddish, and as you say is used in various card games to mean a clean sweep. How tailor=clean sweep, however, is something I cannot tell you, unless the connection was between cutting out an opponent and cutting out cloth - unlikely. What I can say is that yes, the sportscasters are using the old card-game term.
Dear Pedant: Hi. Please could you tell me the technical term for a word which has two completely different meanings. For example, live (as in the verb to live) and live (as in i'm watching live television). The word has to be spelt exactly the same in both meanings, so therefore not a homophone. Another (although slightly less exact) example is Reading, the act of following words on a page with one's eyes and also the rather undesirable town to the west of London.
Moreover, I read in Stephen Fry's book paperweight that "redatt" is an old Papuan word meaning, "an unwillingness to take part in evening games". Is this true and if so, why on earth did the people of Papua New Guinea have such a particular need for it? many thanks, Ben Farrant
Dear Ben: Words of the same spelling, but with different meanings, are homographs. So, lead (to guide) and lead, (the heavy metal) have different meanings, origins and pronunciations, but are spelt the same. (Whereas the past tense led and the metal lead are homophones, different spelling but same sound.) So your live/live are homographs.
As for the inimitable Mr Fry's redatt, which of the 700-plus Papua New Guinean languages did it come from? If it's true - it's possible - I guess the people needed it for the same reason we need "couch potato". After all, couch potatoes are unwilling to take part in evening games, aren't they?
Dear Pedant: Do you know the derivation of the exclamation "criminy"? Thanks.
Dear Thanks: It is generally accepted to be a euphemism for "Christ!" and was first used in the US in the 17th century. While we can trace "Jiminy" (also a ephemism for "Christ!") to Gemini, no one seems to know how the form "criminy" came about, although the OED's spelling of it as "crimine" suggests it might derive from the Italian for "crime".
Dear Pedant: What is the derivation of the word muggy?
Dear Muggy: It comes from the Old Norse word mugga, meaning mist or drizzle. In modern Norwegian and Swedish another relative, mugg, means mould or mildew. Muggy was first used in English in the 18th century.
Dear Pedant: Which is correct, ramshackle or ranshackle?
Dear Ranshackle: From the top: Ransackle, with no h, first appeared in the early 17th century. It was a verb meaning to search thoroughly, or ransack. It had a Scottish relative, ranshackle, with an h. Then in the late 17th century ramshackled appeared as an alternative to the past participle ransackled. Finally, in the early 19th century the adjective ramshackle, meaning disorderly, rickety, about to fall down, descended from ramshackled. So if you want to use an antique word for ransack, use ransackle or ranshackle. But if you want to convey the sense of rickety, falling down, use the modern version, ramshackle.
Dear Pedant: Howdy, What is the origin if the term: Turn Pike? Thanx, Gordon
Dear Gordon: Turnpike (possibly 1375-1425, late Middle English "turnepike") comes from turn - the verb we all know - and pike, a sharp point. Historically it was a spiked barrier fixed in or across a road as a defence against sudden attack and later (about the middle of the 18th century) came to mean a road at which a toll was collected at a toll-gate - presumably with some sort of barrier similar to the old spiked one to stop the traffic.
Dear Pedant: What's the origin of the phrase "out of pocket"? Thanks.
Dear Thanks: You don't say which meaning you are using. US Black slang from the 1940s-1970s used it not only to mean "acting in an unacceptable, tasteless mannner", but also to refer to a bad situation, bad news. In this sense it is thought to have come from pool jargon - an out-of-pocket shot forces a player to miss a turn.
If, on the other hand, you mean "having no money available, no funds", "having lost money by a transaction" or to designate expenses incurred in cash ("my out-of-pocket expenses"), then I think we have to rely on the obvious: money that has come out of the pocket, either deliberately or otherwise. My out-of-pocket expenses are those I pay out of my own pocket.
Dear Pedant: What is the origin of the phrase "hair lip the Pope?" I have seen it used in the context of something that is so shocking or unusual that it would "hair lip the Pope" but I haven't been able to find where this phrase originally comes from. Thank you, Matt
Dear Matt: First, it's "hare", not "hair". Second, it's a 20th century US phrase that means to destroy, to disfigure, to discomfit. It also occurs as "to harelip the Government, to harelip the Governor" and the like. It derives from the cleft lip being seen as a disfigurement. (The use of harelip for cleft lip is increasingly regarded as offensive.)
Dear Pedant: During a round of golf the other day, my golfing partner asked me if I knew the origin of the words "golf" and "fuck". Thinking it was a joke, I feigned ignorance. He proceeded to tell me that "golf" stood for Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden and that "fuck" stood for Fornication Under Consent of the King (a throwback to medieval times when sexual intercourse allegedly had to be sanctioned by the king). I told him that I thought his information was wrong and that I intended to ask The Pedant for a definitive answer. Max
Dear Max: And what did he say to that threat? What he told you is unmitigated CRAP (Claptrap, Rubbish And Piffle). Golf is officially "of unknown origin", but is thought by most experts to be related to the Dutch word kolf, meaning "club". It was first used in the Late Middle English period (1350-1469) when none of the words your friend cites for its origin had their modern spellings ("only" was "anlic", for instance, and "lady" was "hlaefdige", but we don't play "gahf"!). Your friend's "origin" for fuck comes under the title Oldies But Goodies. (Why did your friend not mention For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, an alleged police acronym, as well?) In fact the word, like golf, is officially "of unknown origin", but it may have sprung from the Latin futuo, the French foutre or the German ficken, all of which have the same meaning. It first appeared in print, by the way, in 1503, in a poem by the Scot William Dunbar.
Dear Pedant: I noticed in your responses, that you dealt with enquiries on Seachange twice, once about its origin, and the other about the British show's title "SeaChange" being a midcap word. My question is, what exactly does seachange mean? Marji
Dear Marji: First, SeaChange was an Australian show, not a British one. Second, seachange, in its literal definition, is a change brought about by the sea (Shakespeare, The Tempest Act I Scene ii line 403). Figuratively it's a notable or unexpected alteration or transformation. It's a radical change. In the TV show SeaChange the main character, a city woman lawyer, left her philandering husband and moved to a small town (which happened to be by the seaside) and changed from the frenetic life of the metropolis to the sedate - though not always calm - life of the hamlet. (No, not Hamlet!)
Dear Pedant: Since my Latin was about 50 years rusty when I ran across this phrase a year ago I trusted the meaning provided by the Catholic priest who was being quoted. The Latin phrase was 'Ite ut harenam pulsetis' and the priest was quoted as saying it translated roughly as 'Go pound sand'. However I've not been able to confirm this. Can you? Could it possibly be from the same genre as 'Illegitimus noncarborundum'? Secondly, have you knowledge of the legally known Latin phrase for 'It speaks for itself' and if so will you share it? Another pedant.
Dear another pedant (one's enough!): My Latin is non-existent, but I can tell you harena means sand and pulso means beat, strike, hit, so I suspect this is a real translation, rather than an 'Illegitimus noncarborundum" one. Second - and may I suggest second, rather than secondly? - I think the phrase you want is 'Ipso facto'.
Dear Pedant: When I was young, my father occasionally used to talk in a sing-song slang that he said he used to use as a young single man on the streets of working-class Collingwood, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Australia. For example, for WHAT DID YOU SAY? Dad would say OT-WAY ID-DAY OO-YAY AY-SAY? I would like to know if this is a known or identifiable slang language. Kind regards, Max
Dear Max: It certainly is, and it was not confined to your Collingwood. It's called Pig Latin, and as you demonstrate it takes the first letter of a word, attaches it to the end of the word and adds the syllable -ay. It works well with one or two syllable words that start with consonants - Ampa-tay ins-way uper-say owl-bay - but struggles with anything longer (Ollingwood-cay just doesn't work!) and with words starting with vowels, which just take -ay (in-ay, out-ay, over-ay). Pig Latin is only one of many "code" languages. Others include back slang - Apmat sniw repus lewob - and "eggy-peggy", in which another syllable is added to each syllable - using "ug" as the new syllable, our example becomes Tugampuga wugins sugupuger bugowl.
Dear Pedant: Where does the term "nosey parker" come from? Sally
Dear Sally: Nobody knows! The usual origin suggested is Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 16th century. He sent out detailed inquiries and instructions about his diocese and was thought of as a busybody. But nosey parker isn't recorded until 1907. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable suggests it was nose-poker, with poker used in the sense of poking your nose into other people's business. It's possible poker was changed to a proper name - but the Oxford English Dictionary does not mention nose-poker at all.
Perhaps the most plausible origin is the 1851 Great Exhibition in London's Hyde Park, where the rabbits were colloquially known as "parkers". So, huge crowds of nosey visitors, much like rabbits in the park.
Dear Pedant: Is there a technical term for words which sound the same, but are spelt differently & have entirely different meanings? (eg. great - grate; Thai - tie, etc, etc). If not, my colleagues & I think there should be! Regards, Claire (UK)
Dear Claire: There certainly is: homophone. Words that are alike in form are homonyms. They may be alike in sound (bail/bale, gibe/gybe/jibe, flour/flower) or alike in their written form - in which case they are called homographs - such as bear (carry, and large furry animal) or minute (one sixtieth of an hour, and very small).
Dear Pedant: What is the derivation of the word hoo-ha? Anne and Warren
Dear Anne and Warren: I love these take-your-pick questions! Try these:
1. A water-closet. One suggestion, probably not serious, is that it is the hoo of effort followed by the ha of satisfaction.
2. It's onomatopoeic, as in the two-tone warning horn of an ambulance: hoo-ha, hoo-ha.
3. A not uncommon Yiddish expression meaning "What's all this?", hence the usual meaning of fuss or commotion.
Oddly, the word in the early 20th century meant an artillery demonstration, but this use had become rare by World War II. Not so the usual meaning, argument, row, noisy fuss, which look like being with us for some time.
Dear Pedant: What is the capital letter called in the middle of a word? Like MacDonalds, McCoy, McCarthy. Thank you. Earl
Dear Earl: I am going to have to start categorising or indexing these pages. Same question asked and answered about 30 items below this one. It's a midcap.
Dear Pedant: Can you tell me the meaning of the phrase "no names, no pack drill". It sounds as though it might be a First World War or Boer War expression. Thanks, Rod
Dear Rod: It's a 20th century catch-phrase in common use. It means, "If I don't mention names, there can - or should - be no offence, no libel action, no one will get into trouble." You are right that it has a military origin, though I cannot pinpoint which war. I suspect World War I, when drill with a heavy pack was a common military punishment. A "civilian" phrase that means the same is "I don't want to get anyone into trouble by 'naming names'."
Dear Pedant: What is the origin of "spitting image"? Thanks, CC
Dear CC: Try these:
1. It should be "spit 'n' image", in which spit means "perfect likeness" and the n stands for "and". The trouble with this theory is that it is a clumsy redundancy: likeness and likeness.
2. When you polish something - brass, boots, whatever - you spit on it and then rub it vigorously until you can see your image reflected. Hence "spit 'n' polish" and "spit 'n' image".
3. It is really "spitten image" (spit, spat, spitten), and the spitten (an obsolete past participle) refers not to expectoration but to ejaculation. Hence, one is always the "spitten image" of the father, never the mother or other relative. In medieval times people believed the child was contained intact in the father's semen, so a son who resembled his father grew up to look just as he did when spewn from his father's body - a spitten image.
I suspect the third is the right theory. Consider "he is the dead (meaning exact) spit of his father". Same meaning, and a stronger pointer to the origin. (This theory, by the way, overtakes the rather silly and clumsy attempt I made to give the origin of the phrase 19 inquiries below this one.)
Dear Pedant: Can you please tell me where "kick the bucket" (slang for "die") originated? Max
Dear Max: The official origin concerns the 16th century method of killing a pig, in which the animal was suspended from a beam by the insertion of a piece of bent wood (for which the contemporary term was "bucket") behind the tendons of its hind legs. The dying animal naturally kicked out at the bucket. But I wonder if it might not have gained momentum from the bucket placed beneath a gallows to catch spilled excreta, and the almost certain "kicking" of the bucket as the body dropped through the trapdoor.
Dear Pedant: Can you tell me whether the "free" in the term "freeway" pertains to the fact that there is no toll charged or, more likely I think, to the fact that it is a highway free of intersections. This is an on-going debate heard here in California. Arthur
Dear Arthur: Here's a quick road map: turnpike (possibly 1375-1425, late Middle English "turnepike"); shunpike (1850-55, "shun" plus "(turn)pike"); freeway (1925-30, "free" plus "way"); tollway (1945-50, "toll" plus "way"). Now, the turnpike was usually subject to tolls. So the opposite was not freeway, but shunpike. We must conclude, if logic has anything to do with it, that freeway therefore comes from its being free of intersections, free of controls, not free of tolls.
Dear Pedant: I was seeking the correct verbal form of the word "euthanise" and found your website via Google search. I am gratified that we are in agreement that euthanise is preferable. In perusing the page, I note that one of your readers questions the name of the plastic clips at the ends of shoelaces. While you suggest "drexel", they do in fact have a proper name, which is "aglet" (sometimes spelled aiglet or aigulet). It comes from the Latin for "needle". See www.dictionary.com etc for references. Low Life
Dear Low Life: Many thanks. I have often wondered how people find these pages, but I guess if you use Google or another search engine for specific words that are used here they will pop up, albeit way down the list. And thanks for "aglet". That is something I have never wondered about!
Dear Pedant: One of our journalists used the word "boded" today in this context... "The development proposal boded well for the future of the city." The Macquarie Dictionary is confusing; it lists the word "boded" but says "bode" is the past tense of "bide". Is there any occasion when "boded" would be preferred to "bode" in contexts such as the one I mentioned above? Max
Dear Max: I think your Macquarie Dictionary has gone out on a bit of a limb. Other authorities do not list "bode" as the past tense of "bide", preferring instead the standard "bided" ("She bided her time.") This makes sense, since "bode" and "bide" come from different roots and mean different things. The word "boded" is legitimate in the context your journalist used. As another example, Alan Sillitoe, in (I think) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner: "Winnie laughed, an expression of mirth that boded no good for her husband."
Dear Pedant: When I was younger I heard the phrase "go eat bread". Is there such a phrase and if there is could you give me the meaning and origin? M
Dear M: It is not listed in any of the main reference books on slang and phrases, and crops up only five times on the Internet. Three of the five are actually to do with eating bread. Of the other two, one is the title of a song by a band called the Aptly Named, and the other is by someone writing in a guestbook, saying "I AM THE BEST KAZZO PLAYER EVER SO GO EAT BREAD." So, it does appear to exist, and appears to mean "jump in the lake". Perhaps its non-existence in reference books and rarity on the Net means it is confined to a small area, maybe only one county in one state.
Dear Pedant; Could you please tell me the origin of the phrase "nosey parker." I believe it is an English expression, but I don't know where it came from. Thank you, Laurie
Dear Laurie (and Dear Isabelle, who coincidentally asked the same question):
First, you should use a colon, not a semi-colon, after your salutation.
Second, nobody knows! The usual origin suggested is Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 16th century. He sent out detailed inquiries and instructions about his diocese and was thought of as a busybody. But nosey parker isn't recorded until 1907. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable suggests it was nose-poker, with poker used in the sense of poking your nose into other people's business. It's possible poker was changed to a proper name - but the Oxford English Dictionary does not mention nose-poker at all.
Dear Pedant: Is the word sod a Scottish word meaning bog? Someone told me that.
Dear That: No. It was first used in English in the 14th-15th centuries, and is thought to come from the old Dutch sode. The Scots adapted it in the early 19th century to mean a piece of turf or peat used for fuel.
Dear Pedant: Can you tell me the origin (and even the meaning) of "go pound sand"?
Dear Sand: I suspect it is a slightly insulting phrase, meaning roughly the same as "go away", "do something ineffective", or "leave me alone"; used especially when someone is asking for something. I have seen a slightly fuller version, from which this may be derived: "Go pound sand up your ass". As to its origin, one theory asserts it started when a Minneapolis-St Paul man tried to change his name to 1069. He took it to the US Supreme Court, which said, in a decision that is quoted to this day, "Go pound sand." Another version arises in David McCullough's Truman, which reports that on 12 October 1948 Truman commented to adviser Clark Clifford about a Newsweek poll of 50 reporters that gave Truman no chance to win the election: "I know every one of these 50 fellows. There isn't one of them has enough sense to pound sand in a rat hole." While it is unlikely that Truman coined the phrase, it seems likely he knew and used it. Filling rat holes with sand is menial work, and telling someone to pound sand down a hole would be like telling them to go fly a kite.
Dear Pedant: Can you tell me where the following words come from? 1. "windfall" 2. "O.K." Gabriel
Dear Gabriel: "Windfall" - and I assume you mean its definition as something unexpectedly acquired - is straightforward. It is a figurative use of the literal "something blown down by the wind". As for OK, how long have you got? Leaving aside the spurious derivations, a fashion developed among young wits in Boston and New York in 1838 of writing abbreviations based on intentional illiteracies. They thought it funny to write O.W. for "oll wright", O.K. for "oll korrect", K.Y. for "know yuse" and so on. O.K. first appeared in print on March 23, 1839, in the Boston Morning Post. Coincidentally, in 1840 Martin Van Buren, known as Old Kinderhook from his hometown in upstate New York, was running for re-election as president, and a support organisation was called the Democratic O.K. Club. So O.K. became a rallying cry throughout the campaign and quickly established itself as a word. (Van Buren lost, OK?)
Dear Pedant: Can you tell me where the phrase "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" comes from? Gabriel
Dear Gabriel: How long have you got? First, read this theory:
In the days when sailing ships had a cannon for protection, cannon required round iron cannonballs. The Captain or Master wanted to store cannonballs so they could be of instant use, yet not roll around on the deck. The solution was to stack them in a square-based pyramid next to the cannon. The top level of the stack had one ball, the next down had four, the next nine, the next 16, and so on. Four levels would provide a stack of 30.
The problem was how to keep the bottom level from sliding out from under the weight of the higher levels. So they devised a small brass plate ("brass monkey") with one rounded indentation for each cannonball in the bottom layer. Brass was used because the cannonballs wouldn't rust to the "brass monkey," but would rust and stick to an iron one. When the temperature falls, however, brass contracts faster than iron. As it got cold on the gun decks, the indentations in the brass monkey would get smaller than the cannonballs they were holding. If the weather got cold enough, the bottom layer would pop out of the indentations, spilling the entire pyramid over the deck.
Thus, it was, literally, "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey."
Now read this rebuttal: Not even the venerable Oxford English Dictionary records a usage of "brass monkey" like the one presented here. When references to "brass monkeys" started appearing in print in the mid-19th century, they did not always mention balls or low temperatures. It was sometimes cold enough to freeze the ears, tail, nose, or whiskers off a brass monkey. Likewise, it was sometimes hot enough to "scald the throat" or "singe the hair" of a brass monkey. These usages are inconsistent with the putative origins offered here.
Warships didn't store cannonballs (or "round shot") on deck around the clock, day after day, on the slight chance that they might go into battle. Space was a precious commodity on sailing ships, and decks were kept as clear as possible to allow room for hundreds of men to perform all the tasks necessary for ordinary ship's functions. (Stacking round shot on deck would also create the danger of their breaking free and rolling around loose on deck whenever the ship encountered rough seas.) Cannonballs were stored elsewhere and only brought out when the decks had been cleared for action.
Particularly diligent gunners (not "masters," who were in charge of navigation, sailing and pilotage, not ordnance) would have their crews chip away at imperfections on the surface of cannonballs to make them as smooth as possible, in the hopes that this would cause them fly more truly. They did not leave shot on deck, exposed to the elements, where it would rust.
Nobody really knows where the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" came from, but the "explanation" about cannonballs isn't the answer.
Dear Pedant: Could you please tell me why Americans call a toilet "the john"? Is it rhyming slang? Rabbit
Dear Rabbit: Americans are known for many things, but rhyming slang is not one of them. In fact the john started in Britain in the early 20th century among the upper and middle classes. In the middle of the century it was predominantly US, and returned to more general UK usage in the late 1970s. It is almost certainly a euphemism for or pun on jack, or Jack's house, which were used to mean toilet in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. I cite James Woodforde's Diary, 25 January 1779: "Busy this morning in cleaning my Jack, and did it completely."
Dear Pedant: We occasionally use a delightful vernacular word here in Australia - SWIG. You take a swig (long draught) from a bottle, usually. Can you please tell me the origins of this wonderful word? Kind regards, Max
Dear Max: It's not peculiar to Australia. It was first used as a noun in British English in the mid-16th century, and as a verb, to swig, about a century later. In the US it has also given rise to swigger, one who swigs. Unfortunately, its origin is unknown, with none of the authorities (Oxford, Webster's etc) even hazarding a guess. Sorry. Take another swig and drown your sorrows!
Dear Pedant: What is derivation of shamrock -- not signicance or meaning. Can't find.
Dear Find: Not, as you will have guessed, from "fake stone". Far more boring. It's from the Irish seamrog (Gaelic seamrag), which is, oddly, a diminutive of seamar, which means -- wait for it, wait for it -- clover! It's pronounced shem-rog, hence the English version, shamrock. First used in the 16th century..
Dear Pedant: Where does the term "hell for leather" come from?
Dear Leather: Meaning desperately or swiftly, the phrase was first used about 1875. A good early example is in Kipling, The Story of the Gadsbys, 1888: "Gaddy, take this chit to Bingle, and ride hell-for-leather. It'll do you good." It may have come from all of a lather, by leather, skin as affected by riding.
Dear Pedant: 1. What is the derivation of the word "cove" (e.g. "He's not a bad cove"). 2. Should we say, "I would have liked to have caught up with Bill while in New York" or "I would like to have caught up with Bill while in New York"?
Dear New York: "Cove", a colloquialism meaning "fellow" or "chap", and first used in the 16th century, is thought by some to be from the Scottish cofe, which meant "chapman" (cheap man, or pedlar). Others swear it is from the Romany kova, meaning "thing" or "person". Take your pick! As for your No. 2, no, we should never say "I would have liked to have caught up with Bill while in New York". It's a common construction, but it is really a case of, shall we say verborrhoea? Your second version is acceptable, and so is "I would have liked to catch up with Bill while in New York."
Dear Pedant: Is it "euthanise" or "euthanase"? The Macquarie dictionary (our company's preferred reference dictionary) says both are acceptable as the verb form of "euthanasia". Cheers, Max
Dear Max: Oxford, curiously, offers only euthanize, with a Z. Euthanase is a back-formation from euthanasia, while euthanise at least follows the usual pattern of verb formation, adding -ise (brutalise, to make brutal; energise, to give energy). It also conforms to the non-US spelling of the bulk of such verbs (advertise, chastise, circumcise, compromise, exercise, improvise, supervise, televise etc). A quick search with an Internet engine throws up 566 for euthanase; 777 for euthanise; and 13,100 for euthanize, (clearly US). I would urge euthanise.
Dear Pedant: My friend and I were wondering what the name of the plastic clips on the ends of shoe laces are called. Also, what is the name of the button on the top of a baseball cap? Thank you for your time. J. Schmid
Dear J. Schmid: I am afraid I do not have a copy of Douglas Adams and John Lloyd's The Meaning of Liff, in which I am sure you will find the answers. Until you do so, you should call the plastic clips drexels, and the button on top of your cap an oodnadatta.
Dear Pedant: Please assist me with the origins of the following words -- muggy (humid) and skew whiff (dishevelled, crooked).
Dear Max: Muggy was first used in the 18th century, though "to mug", meaning "to drizzle", goes back as far as the 14th. Both come from the Old Norse mugga, meaning mist or drizzle. Skew is from the Old Northern French word eskuer (which is related to eschew). Skew-whiff was also first used in the 18th century, the whiff coming from a 16th century word meaning a puff or gust of wind, as though a gust has blown something askew. No one knows the ultimate origin of whiff.
Dear Pedant: Could you please help me with the origins of the following terms: 1. Dead spit (He's the dead spit of his father). 2. Nick of time (He arrived in the nick of time). Kind regards, Max
Dear Max: Contrary to the subject line in your e-mail, these are not Aussie phrases, though I am sure they are used in Australia. Dead spit comes from "spitting image", which is itself a corruption of "spit and image". Two origins have been suggested for this: first, that if you spit on your boots when cleaning them you can get such a shine that you can see your image in them; second, and more likely since the phrase means "an exact likeness, or resemblance", that it is just as if one person were to spit out of another's mouth. So, they are so alike their spit, as well as their image, is identical. "Dead spit" is simply the addition of "dead", in its meaning of thorough, unerring, certain, sure (as in dead shot). Nick of time comes from the old practice of putting a nick or notch in a marker, usually a piece of wood, to note attendance at something. If someone entered chapel just before the doors closed, he would be just in time to get nicked, and would be "in the nick of time".
Dear Pedant: Seachange. What is its origin and when did it first come into use? gg
Dear gg: Early stirrings of memory suggest Shakespeare, The Tempest ... Yup, I'm right, Act I, Scene 2, line 403. The ditty that starts "Full fathom five thy father lies" contains the lines: "Nothing of him that doth fade,/But doth suffer a sea-change/Into something rich and strange." Given that Shakespeare coined more than 1700 words, many of which are still with us (hurry, gust, obscene and, yes, pedant), I would not be surprised if he coined seachange. I must admit I can find no earlier reference.
Dear Pedant: Please tell me the meaning of the word Taliban. RuthAnn Simon.
Dear RuthAnn: Taliban is a Persian word meaning "students of Islamic knowledge".
Dear Professor Pedantic: What is the origin of the word "trivial"? (By the way, I already know the meaning of the word). Brutus
Dear Brutus: I suspect from your name that you might already know, but perhaps not. The word is from Latin tri-, three, and via, way, a place where three ways or roads meet; a place, therefore, where people would gather to exchange small talk. Did you also know trivial pertains to the trivium of medieval learning, which was the lower division of the seven liberal arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic), the upper four, or quadrivium, being arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music? Now there's some trivia for you!
Dearest Pedant: You can make an old man shine in the eyes of his grand-son if you have the answer to: Why do we call them ears of corn ... not hands or feet or elbows??? Now, grandpa knows that an ear is the seed bearing spike of a cereal plant but not why we call it that. Do you??
Dearest Grandpa: Speaking as one grandparent to another ... This may be too complicated for your grandson (you don't say how old he is), but the fact is the word "ear", when used for corn, is descended from a different line of words from the word "ear" when used for the things we hear with. If you trace it right back, through Old English, Old Saxon, Old High German and Old Norse you come to a Germanic base related to the Latin acus, acer, meaning husk or chaff. The word "ear" for those things on our heads descends from the Latin auris -- from which we also get "aural". So, two words that are spelt and sound the same have different meanings because they come from different sources.
Dear Pedant: I dined with an erudite gentleman the other day. He used the word "sconse" to describe that annoying habit some people (sconsers) have of taking scant interest in a conversation, preferring to look around the room while feigning interest in the conversation. I can't find the word in any of my dictionaries. Can you help?
Dear Help: Sconser is a hamlet on the isle of Skye. The name was used by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd in their hilarious "The Deeper Meaning of Liff: A Dictionary of Things that there Aren't Any Words for Yet", to mean "A person who looks around them when talking to you, to see if there's anyone more interesting about". How intriguing that it has now entered the language!
Dear Pedant: I was watching a televised address to the Australian National Press Club the other day and thought I heard the speaker say: "I'm whittering/wittering, let me get back to the subject." The word, I gather, means "getting off the subject", "wandering" etc. but I can't find it in any of my reference books. Can you assist? The speaker was the English presenter of the BBC Human Body series.
Dear Series: To witter was originally Scottish dialect, and means to chatter or mutter, grumble, or speak tediously at length on trivial matters. It's in the New Shorter Oxford Dictionary.
Dear Pedant: What's the difference between "wrongly" and "wrongfully"?
Dear Wrongfully: Apart from the fact that the first is an adjective and the second an adverb? Let's compare the two adjectives, wrongly and wrongful. It's a fine distinction. My OED says: Wrongly, (adj.), In a wrong, unjust or inequitable manner; unjustly, unfairly. For the second, it says: Wrongful (adj.), Contrary to law, unlawful, illegal. Of a person, not entitled to his or her position; holding office etc unlawfully or illegally. I hope that's clearer to you than it is to me!
Dear Pedant: I am having a running battle with a couple of my journos here at the Townsville Bulletin following the use of the word "marquee" in the following context...."Townsville women's basketball is on the lookout for two marquee players to join the team next year." I objected to the word on the grounds that I had never seen it used in that sense before. They in turn produced an Oxford dictionary meaning and a couple of mentions in other papers (sports stories). We use the Macquarie as our reference. It doesn't include a reference to that word in that context. Can you throw some light on the genesis of this word and if, in your opinion, it is in general use?
Dear Use: I don't follow basketball, but I must say it's the first time I've heard of the word being used in that sense -- whatever sense that is. I checked the two-volume New Shorter Oxford. It's not there. I tried the new, big and authoritative Australian Oxford. It's not there. Both give the standard "a large tent used for social or commercial functions". Anyway, since I've never heard of it (and I AM widely read) and no dictionary I can find, including Macquarie, recognises it, I'd tell your journos to get off the court. (Which Oxford were they using? What does the word mean?)
UPDATE: A Dear Pedant correspondent writes: I believe the term originates as a reference to the theater marquee, which often on its front listed titles and "name" actors. Perhaps marquee players are those deserving of listing as stars. Sounds good to me!
Dear Pedant: I have been asked by one of my editors if there is a term to describe the practice of using a capital letter in the middle of a word. A modern example is SeaChange (the popular TV show). Another is the name LeRoy (obviously derived from the French "le roi").
Dear Roi: Often the simplest and most obvious answer stares us in the face: it's a midcap (from which, I daresay, we will soon find the verb to midcap a word and an adjective, a midcap word.
Dear Pedant: With all the hoohah (what about that one then?) about hopefully, it's worth looking at regretfully and regrettably. Why not neologise hopably into the language and hopably it'll catch on! Marianna
Dear Marianna: Objections to hopefully are based on the assumption that it is and can only be an adverbial adjunct of manner, but no one would seriously doubt that in most contexts (Hopefully, your e-mail will arrive tomorrow), it expresses the hopes of the person communicating. It is an attitudinal adverb (or disjunct) that contributes interpersonal meaning to the statement. It is not alone. What about, for instance, frankly? Frankly, your e-mails are wonderful. Is anyone seriously suggesting your e-mails are also being frank? As for regretfully and regrettably, the feeling of regret in the latter is more straightforwardly expressed: I must regretfully admit ... Regrettably is more academic and implies that regret is called for. It puts in the writer's evaluation of a situation, and a view s/he hopes the reader will endorse. Regrettably falls into the hopefully class of attitudinal adverbs, most of which end in -fully, which is why regretfully gets mistakenly used for it. And after all that hoo-ha, I can tell you no one knows how hoo-ha originated (though it first surfaced early in the 20th century).
Dear Pedant: Can you tell me the derivation of the word BLACKTHORAY. I found it in the following context: From those uncompromising sledge-hammer articles one would picture a huge, powerful blackthoray son of the sod with a voice like the roar of the Atlantic on the rocks of Denegal, whereas you were presented to a gentle little fellow with a gentle, winning manner.
Dear Manner: With great respect to your source, there is no such word. It is either an indecipherable neologism -- and there's not much point in them! -- or it is a typographical error. May I suggest blackthorny?
Dear Pedant: I am interested in any information you can supply about the origin of the word MEAP as in meap tides. Thanks.
Dear Thanks: They are actually NEAP tides, not "meap". They occur just after the first and third quarters of the moon, when there is least difference between high and low water. The word is from the Old English nep, but etymologists have no idea where it came from. The curious thing about it is that it disappeared from use between about AD 1150 and the end of the 15th century. No one knows why.
Dear Pedant: I am in the newspaper business and regularly lock horns with our editorial people about style. One such debate involved the word "adrenalin". I was annoyed to see it spelt "adrenaline" in the paper and took issue with the journos. One of the learned journos - quoting Oxford - pointed out that "adrenalin" is a proprietory name for a product derived from "adrenaline", which in turn is secreted by the adrenal gland. News Ltd generally uses the Macquarie dictionary as an arbiter in these matters. Macquarie says the spelling is optional but prefers "adrenalin". Can you throw any light on this debate?
Dear Debate: I'm with you. While "adrenaline" might be the secretion of the adrenal gland, the product "Adrenalin" has become so widely used that no one could quibble - except your learned journo, who sounds even more pedantic than I - with its lower case use. After all, who now caps compact disc, duco, frisbee, jacuzzi and the host of other trade names that have, through constant use, become generic? English is a living language - tell your learned journo not only to live a little, but also to consult the just-issued Australian Oxford Dictionary, published by the Australian National Dictionary Centre at the ANU. What does it say? adrenalin (also adrenaline)!
Peddy babe: Whence -- oops! that word again! -- the term "to boot", as in "I had a good day, and I talked to Hermes to boot." Maddy.
Dear Maddy: Boot is a curious word, but one of its meanings is advantage or profit. So, Samuel Pepys in his famous diary wrote: "For two books that I had, and 6s 6d to boot, I had my great book of songs." It probably derives from the Aryan bhad, meaning good or useful.
Dear Peddles: Whence the word "pshaw"? Is "whence" hopelessly outdated?
Dear Outdated: Like pish, pshaw is simply what linguists call "a natural exclamation" (expressing contempt, impatience or disgust in this case). Its first recorded use was in the late 17th century. As for whence, it is not outdated, but experts agree its use now falls in the "formal" category. You won't find it in Main Street.
Dear Pedant: Should it be legal to kill instantly anyone who uses the word "hopefully" at the beginning of a sentence?
Dear Sentence: While the word does, indeed, mean "full of hope", making meaningless such things as "Hopefully, it will rain today", no one these days seriously doubts that the word in such contexts expresses the hope of the person speaking. English is a changing language (thank goodness!) and "hopefully" nicely illustrates that. It is used by admired and careful writers -- and hopefully this will help its acceptance.
Dear Pedant: Taliban, taliban, Taliban, taliban. Which is correct? I have seen all four used, in many publications. I am stumped because, perhaps contrary to popular opinion, the "taliban" are neither a political party nor a religion. It is, in fact, an Islamic student union that encompasses many different strands of Islam, and even that is dependent on who you speak too. Help me please.
Dear Taliban: First, I am confused by your saying you have seen "all four" used, yet you list only two versions, one with a capital T and the other lowercase. Second, as I understand it, the extremist movement had its origins in Islamic seminaries, and to that extent could be called a student union. But it has surely gone far beyond that now, since it controls two-thirds of the country and runs the ramshackle government in Kabul. In that context, it must take a capital, Taliban. The capitalised version also appears to be the most widely accepted in the print media. Third, watch out for the difference between "too" and "to".
Dear Pedant: What is the origin of the American word "shucks"?
Dear Wink: I'm sorry to have to pass this on, but all authorities agree on this: origin unknown. I can tell you it was first used as a term of self-deprecation ("Me, beautiful? Aw, shucks!") in the middle of last century. (And it's no good seeking the origin of "shuck" in its meaning of the husk of an ear of corn or the shell of an oyster, because the answer is the same: origin unknown.)
Dear Pedant: What is the meaning of "pedant"? Sneaky
Dear Sneaky: A pedant is a person who is schoolteacherly, a person keen not only to ensure that the language is used correctly, but also to display his or her learning. Someone who makes a tedious show of learned precision.
Got a question about word origins? Ask me here: dearpedant@hotmail.com
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