World Wide Words -- 02 Feb 02

[Michael Quinion]

WORLD WIDE WORDS         ISSUE 274         Saturday 2 February 2002
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Editor: Michael Quinion, Thornbury, Bristol, UK      ISSN 1470-1448
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Contents
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 1. Feedback, notes and comments.
 2. Weird Words: Quincunx.
 3. Out There: Internet Grammar of English.
 4. Q&A: Long arm of the law, Boodle bag, Ye gods and
       little fishes!
 5. Endnote.
 6. Subscription commands.
 7. Contact addresses.


 1. Feedback, notes and comments
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BOOTING COMPUTERS  Following the piece in last week's issue, Donna
Richoux e-mailed from the Netherlands (as did John Myers from the
USA) to point out that there is a famous Robert Heinlein science-
fiction time-travel short story of 1941 called "By His Bootstraps",
which may have influenced computer pioneers, many of whom were avid
SF readers. It may also have been linked with another sense, for a
type of amplifier which feeds part of its output back to the input.
This application of the term is actually a little earlier than the
computer one, as Bernard Robertson-Dunn pointed out, and it became
known rather more quickly, because computers at the time were even
more rare and exotic devices that were valve amplifiers.

The tall story about lifting oneself by one's own bootstraps does,
after all, seem to have a connection with Baron Munchausen. Some
versions of Rudolph Raspe's book include an incident in which he
hauls himself (and his horse) out of the mud by lifting himself by
his own hair. Donna Richoux found the story in a modern English
edition, and Gerd Heinlein (presumably no relation to Robert) also
pointed out that it appears in a German version by Gottfried August
Buerger. This is so similar an idea that it is highly likely that
it is indeed the source. But somewhere along the way the story
became modified to refer to bootstraps.

COARSE SLANG  Several American subscribers professed themselves a
little disappointed that the word I wrote about last week, and of
which I had warned the week before, proved to be less coarse than
they had expected. However, a profanity filter on an American site
bounced the newsletter with the terse explanation "dirty words".
Some software programs can be so prudish ...

IT'S ALL TOO TOO TWO ... Only one subscriber spotted, or at least
pointed out, that I had two Item 2's last week. Bruce Robb thought
the mistake would have been more suitable in this week's issue (it
being dated 02/02/02) ...


 2. Weird Words: Quincunx  /"kwInkVNks/
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Five objects arranged so that four are at the corners of a square
or rectangle and the fifth is at its centre.

Take a look at a dice, or the five of a suit of cards. In each case
the dots or pips are arranged in this distinctive shape.

The word comes to us from Latin, in which it literally means "five
twelfths", from "quinque", five, plus "uncia", a twelfth. The
latter word, by the way, is also the source of our "inch" and of
"ounce" (there are sixteen ounces to the pound that is used in some
countries today, but that's a medieval innovation - the troy pound
employed for precious metals and gems keeps the older twelve). The
Romans used "quincunx" as a symbol or marker for five-twelfths of
an "as", the latter being a Roman copper coin which at one time
weighed twelve ounces (which could be classed as an item of small
change only if you are halfway to being a giant).

Learned Englishmen brought it into the language in the seventeenth
century to refer to things arranged in this characteristic way. An
early user was Sir Thomas Browne, in his Garden of Cyrus of 1658;
this is a work of fantasy in which he traces the history of
horticulture down to the time of the Persian King Cyrus. The king
is credited with having been the first to plant trees in a
quincunx, though Browne claimed to have discovered that it also
appeared in the hanging gardens of Babylon. The diarist John Evelyn
soon followed Sir Thomas's lead - in his book on orcharding,
"Pomona", he suggested it was a convenient way to lay out apple or
pear trees. At about the same period, "quincunx" began to be used
in astrology to refer to an aspect of planets that are five signs
of the zodiac apart (out of the twelve).

If you need the adjective (although hardly anyone ever does), it's
"quincuncial".


 3. Out there
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The Internet Grammar of English is hosted at University College in
London (at <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/>). Its home page
describes itself like this: "The Internet Grammar of English is an
online course in English grammar written primarily for university
undergraduates. However, we hope that it will be useful to everyone
who is interested in the English language. IGE does not assume any
prior knowledge of grammar". At the moment, the site is free to all
comers, though this may not always be so.


 4. Q&A
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Q. I was in a deli recently when the girl behind the counter
dropped something between the cabinets. There was an officer
waiting on line and she said: "Do you think the long arm of the law
can get this out for me?" This has me wondering! Do you know the
origin of the phrase? [Carroll Phillips}

A. These days it's a cliché that can only be used in fun, as the
young woman in the deli did. It has a long history, but I'm not
entirely convinced that it was ever anything but a mildly humorous
expression.

It seems to have appeared in the middle of the nineteenth century.
An example is from a lesser-known work of 1888 by Wilkie Collins
(better known for The Moonstone and The Woman in White) with the
title The Legacy of Cain: "It is my belief that I could have felt
no greater dismay, if the long arm of the Law had laid its hold on
me while he was speaking".

The phrase "long arm" for someone or something with a long reach is
rather older: "to make a long arm" is an old way of describing
extending your reach as far as possible. Other phrases use it
figuratively, as in "the long arm of coincidence".

There's also "strong arm of the law". That version is older, and
I've been able to trace it back as far as The Pioneers, by James
Fenimore Cooper, published in 1823: "You are not to credit the idle
tales you hear of Natty; he has a kind of natural right to gain a
livelihood in these mountains; and if the idlers in the village
take it into their heads to annoy him, as they sometimes do reputed
rogues, they shall find him protected by the strong arm of the
law".

"Strong arm of the law" was used very widely in the US in the
nineteenth century, always with serious intent (at least in the
numerous examples I've looked at). It, too, seems to have become a
cliché. Could it be that "long arm of the law" was created as a
punning alternative based on the near rhyme in its first word?

Both versions appear together in Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity
Shop of 1841: "The failure of a spirited enterprise in the way of
their profession ... caused their career to receive a sudden check
from the long and strong arm of the law". Dickens is here seemingly
making a joke by putting together the two forms of the phrase, so
suggesting both were already widely known by this date. But I can't
find an earlier example of "long arm of the law", so it's just
possible that Dickens invented it.

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Q. A friend has promised me a "boodle bag" of goodies. In context
she means an assortment of gifts, but I am sure that is not the
usual meaning. I remember hearing about "thieves making off with
the boodle", where "boodle" means loot or stolen goods. I know my
friend didn't steal the stuff, so why the two meanings? [Letitia]

A. "Boodle" has had quite a lot of senses down the years in
American English, by no means all of them associated with criminal
activity. "Boodle bag" was once quite well known in much the sense
your friend was using, dating at least from the 1920s, though it
has rather an old-fashioned sound to it these days.

"Boodle" comes from the Dutch "boedel" for possessions, property,
or a person's estate - in the very early days of American
settlement it was used exactly as in Dutch, for the possessions of
a deceased person. From there, it seems to have branched out in
several ways, all based on the idea of a collection of things or
people, often in the phrase "the whole boodle" (the more recent
"whole kit and caboodle" is an elaborated form, see <http://www.
worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-who2.htm>).

The criminal classes borrowed it - about the beginning of the
nineteenth century - for the loot, swag or booty that results from
a robbery. Later in the century, it turns up in the sense of
counterfeit banknotes. It is also used for money that has been
obtained by illicit means such as corruption, especially the graft
obtained by office-holders.

Your sense came along about the beginning of the twentieth century,
and seems to have been an ironic student usage that returned to the
older idea of a group of objects (with an undertone of goodies
illicitly obtained or held). Students used it for such things as
snack food, sweets, and ice cream, as well as parcels from home
containing cake, fruit, even spare clothes.

"Boodle bag" seems to have been a further elaboration, to refer to
the container in which this sort of boodle was held. It could also
be used specifically for a small pouch for keeping your money in,
often worn around the neck.

An example that connected "boodle bag" in this sense with the
bribery and corruption one appeared in "The Nation" on 29 August
1935: "In addition, he [Roosevelt] had at his command the biggest
boodle-bag of patronage in history, and on top of that he had the
blessing of the American people, bestowed in overwhelming fashion
at the polls just two months before the session began".

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Q. Someone who is not on the Internet has asked about the origin
of the interjection "Ye gods and little fishes!". Can you help with
its origin? [Harald Beck]

A. I can help a bit, but the mists of word history obscure its
early story. It's an elaboration of the older "ye gods!", an
exclamation that dates back at least to the seventeenth century in
Britain, a way of calling on higher powers in a mock-heroic way
without actually bringing the wrath of the Church down on you for
blasphemy.

However, "ye gods and little fishes" is characteristically
American, an example of the embellishment and ornamentation that
was common in the inflated language of the nineteenth century. I've
found several examples from the 1850s, which suggest that by then
it was well known. A good one appears in Early Indiana Trials and
Sketches by Oliver Hampton Smith, of 1858: "Mr. Tyler's friends in
their great devotion to their great chief, have compared him to
Napoleon. 'Ye gods and little fishes!' John Tyler and Napoleon
Bonaparte!".

But why the little fishes? Sorry, I've no idea, except there may be
a disguised Biblical reference in there somewhere. My suspicion is
that it was a catchphrase from a play or popular song that is now
lost to us.


 5. Endnote
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Tim was so learned that he could name a Horse in nine languages,
but bought a cow to ride on. [Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's
Almanack", Nov. 1750]


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