WordWacky

Sex sells. It sells breakfast cereal and sports cars. It sells diets and beer. It sells software. Games. Shoes. Pickles. The City. And now words.

Here’s the etymology of umbrella, from Hot for Words:

[Editor's note: While this is technically not unsafe for work, I wouldn't want to be watching it when my boss came by and looked over my shoulder.]

There’s a new breed of sexy — actually, it’s an old breed, but it’s finally been noticed by the mainstream. But I’m not sure that Marina Orlova, a YouTube champion and Wired’s Sexiest Geek of the Year 2007, qualifies as geek sexy. I’m sure there are many of her devotees out there who care not one whit for philology — or any other ology, for that matter, but will watch and learn as long as there’s enough cleavage involved.

So how about some sex with your Kierkegaard? Why should sex be banished from the intellectual world? There’s not a carbon-based intelligence on the planet that can’t trace its roots back to sex. Are we so taken in by the Judeo-Christian split of the exalted and the base that we shun such unholy minglings? Cheeseburgers are evil. Unhand that jerky, it’s Friday!

Frankly, Marina’s not my type, but the ongoing video etymology series is a great idea, and she’s found a way to get a whole lot of viewers — 70 million YouTube views!

It’s not a question of the ends justifying the means, but more of a marketing coup. Even if I’m not the target audience, I have to respect the results.

Here’s a graphic of the top 300 most common words in this blog, as of yesterday.

Make one of your own at Wordle. [via Bombast and Thunder]

Maverick - “Etymology: Samuel A. Maverick died 1870 American pioneer who did not brand his calves.”

Barrow/borrow pits and the Mormon R - “Mormon settlers who came West from Missouri brought with them a dialect that pronounced the letter ‘o’ as ‘a’ if the letter were followed by an ‘r’…”

Linguists call the phenomenon ‘the Mormon R,’ and it used to be commonplace in rural areas of Utah and in eastern Idaho ..

So Fort Hall was pronounced Fart Hall … Orange was arange … And borrow became barrow…”

Israel: “Over the past three thousand years, the name ‘Israel’ has meant in common and religious usage both the Land of Israel and the entire Jewish nation. The name originated from a verse in the Bible (Genesis, 32:2 where Jacob is renamed Israel after successfully wrestling with an angel of God. Commentators differ on the meaning of the name. Some say the name comes from the verb śarar (’to rule, be strong, have authority over’), thereby making the name mean ‘God rules’ or ‘God judges’. Other possible meanings include ‘the prince of God’ (from the King James Version) or ‘El fights/struggles’.”

Immaculate: “The crowding of the cone cells at the back of the eye where the image forms has a consequence that when the eye doctor looks into your eye, the part where the cone cells are most dense looks a little more yellow.

About 150 years ago, or maybe a little longer, physicians gave this yellow spot a name.

They called it yellow spot;

But in the Latin they liked to use that came out as macula lutea.”

Budget: “A bougette was typically used for carrying coins around, so the term became linked with the money which you had available at any one time, hence ‘budget’.”

Hamartia: “Hamartia is an element of greek drama which stands for ‘missing the mark.’ In modern lit, hamartia refers to a character’s “fatal flaw” though some say this is an incorrect use of the term as intended by the Greeks.”

OK, so that last one doesn’t relate, but for those wondering, it’s a mild expletive of Norwegian origin, used quite a bit like one might use the terms, “Oy vey!” or “Jeez.”

The reason I’m grunting and groaning in my title is to represent the many ways one pronounces ough.

I started thinking about it because of this:

My wife and I have been looking for a place to transplant some bamboo, and we found this on Craigslist (sorry, no link — we may buy it yet). I got to thinking about the word trough, and its odd pronunciation of ough.

Depending on what brand of English you’re speaking, there are as many as fourteen different pronunciations for the morpheme, ough. Someone’s even made a sentence including them all, but all the sounds aren’t different in American English (we wouldn’t pronounce trough, “troth”):

Rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman John Gough strode through the streets of Loughborough; after falling into a slough on Coughlin road near the lough (dry due to drought), he coughed and hiccoughed, then checked his horse’s houghs and washed up in a trough.

Here are some other examples:

Uh - Poughkeepsie
Aw - Bought, brought, fought
Oh - Although, thorough
Off - Cough, trough
Uff - Enough, tough
Ooh - Through, slough
Ow - Bough, plough
Up - Hiccough

This quality of having so many possible pronunciations for one morpheme is notoriously frustrating for new English speakers, but can also be challenging for native speakers like me. In an English class my freshman year of college, I made some point that included the word, “antithesis,” which I pronounced as if my dear Greek Aunty, Thesis, were in town for a visit. Nobody but the professor appeared to notice. She smirked, which corrected me more loudly than if she’d spoken.

Although now, wrapped in my wrinkled crone cloak I say, “These things happen,” and slough off such embarrassments, in that classroom I became a heat source, a silent, spinning, radioactive lump of carbon, burning a hole through the seat of my chair.

Uff, da!

Here are some etymology posts from the past week:

Gringo/folk etymology - “I’m pretty sure the dictionary is right about the word’s etymology. But I had learned a more colorful story: that Mexican-American vaqueros came into contact with Irish-American cowboys after the United States acquired first Texas, and then New Mexico and California. The Irish cowboys were constantly singing the song, “Green Grow the Lilacs.” The first two words of the song were slurred into gringo.”

Crunk - “Traditionally, crunk meant a hoarse, harsh cry. The term is often used as slang to mean intoxicated. Folk etymology suggests the modern usage of crunk originated as a portmanteau of the words ‘crazy’ and ‘drunk’ or having been ‘cranked up’ to a level of excitability at which one becomes ‘crunk’. Rapper Lil Jon defined crunk as a “state of heightened excitement.”

Good/Bad - “Here’s the Oxford English Dictionary’s etymology for good, which turns out to derive historically from ‘fitting, suitable’, not from ‘noble, aristocratic’…

The American Heritage Dictionary joins in relating good to IE ghedh- ‘to unite, join, fit’, also at the root of together and gather….

And here is the OED’s etymology for bad, which turns out to come not from “lower class” but from ‘homosexual’…”

Hocus - “The two-word phrase ‘hocus pocus’ seems to have entered the language a century or so before the word HOCUS as a stand alone. In medieval times, the Latin words spoken by priests in the Eucharist included ‘hoc est corpus meum,’ meaning ‘this is my body.’”

And more politics, for those so inclined:

Counterinsurgency - “The term counterinsurgency gained currency under President John Kennedy in the 1960’s, and referred initially to countering “communist inspired, supported, or directed insurgency, defined as subversive insurgency” by Soviet-aligned guerillas against western colonial nations. (When the US aided indigent forces in the overthrow of unfriendly governments it was called paramilitary operations.) As in the above quote the US involvement in Vietnam was called a counterinsurgency.”

Yesterday I wrote an e-mail to William Safire, the conservative writer and linguist who has contributed to a column in The New York Times Magazine, “On Language,” since forever. Reading up on him in Wikipedia, I am informed that he graduated from the same high school from which I dropped out. This strikes me as symbolic, though I don’t want to belabor that point too much.

I also found this piece of information:

After voting for Bill Clinton in 1992, Safire became one of the leading critics of Clinton’s administration. Hillary Clinton in particular was often the target of his ire. He caused a mild tempest when he called her a “congenital liar”; Hillary responded that she didn’t feel offended for herself, but for her mother’s sake. According to the president’s press secretary at the time, Mike McCurry, “the president, if he were not the president, would have delivered a more forceful response to that on the bridge of Mr. Safire’s nose.”

My letter was in response to the latter half of this Sunday’s “On Language,” subtitled “Misogynist.” In response to Hillary Clinton’s assertion that she had been subject to misogyny during her campaign, “It does seem as though the press at least is not as bothered by the incredible vitriol that has been engendered by comments and reactions of people who are nothing but misogynists,” Safire wrote:

The word misogyny has since its earliest recording in 1656 meant “hate or contempt for women.” The etymology of misogyny is straightforward: In Greek, miso means “hatred,” and gune means “woman.” A misogynist is a woman-hater. I thought Clinton’s choice of the word was in error, and that the word she meant was sexist, meaning “one who discriminates based on sex” - that she had been treated unfairly because she was a woman. When I looked up the word she chose in the Oxford English Dictionary online, however, I noted that the meaning of misogynist had changed slightly but significantly. In 1989, the definition was “hatred of women”; in the 2002 revision, the definition was broadened to “hatred or dislike of, or prejudice against women.”

Safire does not argue that there has not been “incredible vitriol,” yet he describes his immediate reaction to the word misogyny as incorrect, and only justifies her usage of the word as a synonym for prejudice. Thus, my letter, subject line: vitriol/misogyny.

Mr. Safire:

Relevant definitions of vitriol:

OED Online:
5. Virulence or acrimony of feeling or utterance.

Dictionary.com:
3. something highly caustic or severe in effect, as criticism.

American Heritage:
2. Bitterly abusive feeling or expression.

Worldnet:
2. abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will

What about “incredible vitriol” does not imply hatred to you? Bitterly abusive? Venomous?

I heard many such press and non-press attacks. Dismiss me as one of Hillary’s feminists if you will, but your column is misguided in implying that vitriol does not suggest hatred, merely prejudice. I understand that you eventually accept the usage, but you imply that it’s politicized.

Perhaps it is your article that is using words to politick.

Having now read the Wikipedia entry on Safire, I would only alter my letter to remove the word “perhaps.”

Update: Here is my response from William Safire, dated June 22, 2008:

Dear Lexicographic Irregular,

You were good to respond to my invitation for comments and suggestions. A great many other readers have pitched in, too. Although I can’t answer mail individually, I read every letter and am most grateful for yours.

Sincerely,

William Safire

The boldface is his.

Some favorite etymology posts from recent days:

Alcoholism - “The term “alcoholism” was first used in 1849 by the physician Magnus Huss to describe the systematic adverse effects of alcohol.”

Campaign - “I’d never noticed the similarity between the words campaign and champagne but their connection is indeed etymological, based on the Romans’ influence in France both in the naming of the region and getting wine making going there.”

Suicide Girls - “A Curbed reader points us to Forgotten NY, where, as part of an excellent walking tour of the Bowery, there are great details about the famous (and doomed) 295 Bowery, aka McGurk’s Suicide Hall…”

Kid - “The root of the noun kid – of 12th century Scandinavian origin – does indeed denote the young of a goat, or of a related mammal such as the antelope. But this definition is obviously not what people mean when they use the word to talk about children.”

Immigrant - “The word “immigrant” has nothing at all to do with legal status. It means, simply, to move from one place to another for the purpose of settling down.”

Months and Days - “March - Named for Mars, the Roman god of war. Originally first month in Roman calendar, as January and February did not exist until 153 BCE (the winter was monthless).”

I happened across a plea for the etymology of the word sidle in someone’s blog. Happy to oblige.

[Editor's Note: Did you know that your Seattle Public Library card grants you access to the online OED? Callou callay!]

si·dle

–verb (used without object) 1. to move sideways or obliquely. 
2. to edge along furtively.
–noun 3. a sidling movement.

In the 1300s the word is first seen, in one of those strange Middle English spellings (with some unsupported symbols omitted): “yf any connyng man of o Stande stille, or sidlyng can go”

Obviously the word is related to “side,” first used to mean “either of the two lateral surfaces or parts of the trunk in persons or animals, extending between the shoulders and the hips; the corresponding part in fishes, reptiles, etc.” around 725 AD.

The first known mention in its modern spelling was by Sir John Vanbrugh, way back in 1697: (more…)

Can you sue the world if you don’t like a word in general use? My instinct says no, but apparently someone is trying.

The people of the island of Lesbos are not pleased. It seems that one famous Lesbian’s sexual activities have trumped the accomplishments of the entire island. No longer can a straight woman from the Greek island say she’s a Lesbian without raising eyebrows. This is the complaint of a lawsuit filed against the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece. [via Deblog]

While the homophobic implications of this are undeniable, I have to say, I empathize for a few reasons.

• I’ve never liked the word, even though I will cop to the identity in certain settings. I prefer to call myself a dyke. It’s hipper, more in-your-face, less apologetic. While I am eternally grateful to the feminist lesbians of earlier generations for doing their absolute best to de-stigmatize the word, I’m not sure it worked. There’s something about the way the way it forms in your mouth that makes it sound a little like a disease, or like you’re trying to spit out a hair caught in the back of your throat. Is this internalized homophobia? Probably. But it’s how I feel, nonetheless, and I’m not alone.
• The activities of certain a soon-to-be-ex-President make me embarrassed to call myself an American. While I won’t equate bombing nations, destroying their infrastructure, claiming their natural resources, and watching the nation’s decline into civil war with, say, cunnilingus, I can understand how one person’s actions should not define that of an entire geographical region.

The man behind the lawsuit, Dimitris Lambrou, also mentions that she wasn’t really a lesbian dyke, anyway. New research (funded by whom, I wonder) has unearthed that Sappho had a family and killed herself over a guy. Two things to say to that: 1) So?, and 2) She should have stuck to women.

Despite my qualified empathy with the plight of the Lesbians, I will enjoy watching this initiative fail. For one thing, there are far more of us than there are of you. Your brand has been co-opted, people of the island of Lesbos.

Sorry?

It seems to me that there’s an inverse relationship between the number of letters and/or syllables in a word and how many different meanings it can have. Is this due to our tendency to nickname — that is, to shorten? Seems logical.

I had to look up the word that meant “having many meanings.” Polysemy itself has one. Good word to know, even if only 17 English speakers in the world will understand when you say it out loud.

I haven’t tried that yet. Let’s say it out loud together: “POL-ly-see-me.” Or the less personable version: “puh-LIS-uh-me.”

After Tatiana sent me this cool video of a pop-up book today, I began to ponder the polysemous word, pop (>30 definitions!).

I won’t bore you with all of the definitions of pop. Here are some favorites:

(more…)