World Wide Words -- 18 Dec 04
Michael Quinion
wordseditor at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG
Fri Dec 17 18:33:21 UTC 2004
WORLD WIDE WORDS ISSUE 423 Saturday 18 December 2004
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Sent each Saturday to 21,000+ subscribers in at least 120 countries
Editor: Michael Quinion, Thornbury, Bristol, UK ISSN 1470-1448
http://www.worldwidewords.org US advisory editor: Julane Marx
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Contents
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1. Feedback, notes and comments.
2. Weird Words: Deray.
3. Sic!
4. Q&A: Swashbuckler.
5. Turns of Phrase: Micro-wind turbine.
6. Noted this week.
7. Q&A: Monkey's uncle.
8. Sic!
9. Catchword consequences.
10. Q&A: Smart Alec.
11. Sic!
A. Subscription commands.
B. E-mail contact addresses.
C. Ways to support World Wide Words.
1. Feedback, notes and comments
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HOLIDAY BREAK This issue is the last before the Christmas break.
If you are minded to celebrate it, every good wish for the holiday
season. World Wide Words will be back on 1 January 2005.
This issue is slightly different in style to usual, with more bite-
sized items you can browse between your holiday preparations. It
doesn't have much that's directly to do with Christmas, so if you
want to get into the linguistic seasonal spirit, these are some
pages to browse:
Boxing day http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-box1.htm
Daft-days http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-daf1.htm
Gooding http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-goo1.htm
Wassail http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-was1.htm
It's not too late to send a friend or relative a gift subscription
to World Wide Words. It's free, but it's the thought that counts.
Visit http://www.worldwidewords.org/maillist/giftsub.htm .
You also have just a few days to obtain as presents my recent and
successful book on the strange stories that people tell each other
about where words come from. It's called "Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and
Spuds" in the USA, and "Port Out, Starboard Home" everywhere else.
More at http://www.worldwidewords.org/posh.htm .
ERROR OF THE WEEK One "its" last week was given an inappropriate
apostrophe, which got past my internal proof reader (my official
proof reader is innocent, as I changed the text after she saw the
draft). Thanks to everyone who pointed it out ... plus your witty
and gently sarcastic comments featuring Homer nodding, a plethora
of senior moments and my need for a long holiday.
2. Weird Words: Deray
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Disorder, disturbance, tumult, confusion.
It may not at once come to mind, but this archaic word is a close
cousin of "array". The ending in both cases is a Germanic root that
means to prepare. "To array" originally meant to place in readiness
or to prepare - troops arrayed for battle were ready with all their
equipment; "to deray" is almost its opposite. You won't know the
verb, as it vanished from the language in the fourteenth century.
The noun lasted a little longer but likewise disappeared, only to
be dragged back into use in the early nineteenth century as what
the Oxford English Dictionary paradoxically describes as "a modern
archaism". At once that makes one think of Sir Walter Scott, and he
doesn't disappoint: from Redgauntlet (1824): "The whole front of
the house was lighted, and there were pipes and fiddles, and as
much dancing and deray within as used to be at Sir Robert's house
at Pace and Yule, and such high seasons." ["Pace" is an old
Scottish and northern English dialect term for Easter, also at one
time called "Pasque" or "Pasch", which is ultimately from the
Hebrew word for Passover that also gave us "paschal".] The fixed
phrase "dancing and deray" outlasted other appearances of the word,
though it is now defunct as well; it meant disorderly mirth and
revelry at a dance or some similar festivity.
3. Sic!
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On 10 December the Moncton Times & Transcript of New Brunswick,
Canada, had a story about counterfeit money, which Michael Bateman
feels could do with one crucial extra space: "Many of these poor-
quality fake bills were turned into police after being used at
retail stores, gas stations and fast food restaurants." Magic!
Laurie Camion mentioned "one of those obnoxious factoid boxes on
KNTV11": "SUV drivers, due to their tendency to rollover, are more
likely to die in accidents than other drivers".
4. Q&A
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Q. I recently saw a toy advertised as a swashbuckling pirate game,
and thought that the word mostly seems to be used in connection
with pirates - and that I have no idea what it really means! Can
you help? [Roger Downham]
A. In this case, I can.
A swashbuckler these days is somebody who engages in romantic and
daring piratical adventures with ostentatious flamboyance.
People who have fun with the word, as a writer in the Guardian did
on Tuesday, usually talk about some film hero "buckling his swash".
A nice try, but there's no verb "buckle" hidden in it - the verbal
bit is actually "swash". You should really say the hero "swashes
his buckler", but it's not as good a joke.
A member of this breed centuries ago actually did little more than
that. A buckler was a type of small shield, held by a handle at the
back, whose main purpose was to deflect blows from the sword of
one's opponent. Its name is from Old French "(escu) bocler",
literally "(a shield) with a boss" (this last word, for a
protrusion at the centre of something, is itself from French).
Someone who swashes is dashing about violently or lashing out with
his sword, often in pretend fights. It seems to have been an echoic
term from the sound of swords clashing or banging on shields.
In the sixteenth century "swashbuckler" was created from these two
words to convey the idea of a swaggering, bullying ruffian or
undisciplined lout, who made a lot of noise but to little practical
purpose. It was most definitely not a compliment to be called one
in those days - a writer in 1560 described a man as "a drunkard, a
gambler and a swashbuckler".
The romantic image came along several centuries later.
5. Turns of Phrase: Micro-wind turbine
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When we think of wind turbines, the image is usually of a monster
windmill on a windy hilltop, generating megawatts of electricity.
But as one element of a variety of schemes to make our houses more
energy-efficient - along with good insulation, combined heat and
power gas central heating, and solar panels - comes the micro-wind
turbine. This is a tiny version of its big brother, one that can be
fixed to a convenient chimney or roof. They've been around for ages
on sailing boats and in some countries, especially the USA, have
become popular in rural areas away from power supplies as ways of
powering devices such as electric fences or public telephones. But
recently they have started to be promoted for domestic use in urban
areas in countries such as Britain. Objectors argue that it takes
too long to get back the cost of installation and that high average
wind speeds are required, which are often not available in heavily
built-up areas.
* From the Guardian, 20 Nov. 2004: Existing mini-turbines sit on a
pole at the bottom of the garden and are useless for townies.
However, new micro-wind turbines, no bigger than a TV aerial or
satellite dish, which can be mounted on a roof, are expected to be
available from the middle of next year.
6. Noted this week
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CROSS-WORDS Did you see the report that a liger was born last week
in a Moscow zoo? It's an odd coincidence that one is also mentioned
in this year's US indie film Napoleon Dynamite. A liger is a cross
between a male lion and a female tiger; though uncommon, zoos have
reported several similar births in the past decade alone and the
term is recorded from the 1930s. It has a lion's mane and a tiger's
stripes and can weigh up to 450 kilos. It's possible to get the
opposite cross as well, called a tigon. Some crosses between
species are well known, especially the mule (the offspring of a
male donkey and a mare, for which the counterpart is the hinny) and
the beefalo, a cross between a male bison and a cow. Others are
less common: a zeedonk is a cross between a zebra and a donkey, a
zorse between a zebra and a horse, and a wholphin between a whale
and a dolphin. The convention with most such names is that the male
animal contributes the first half of the word and the female the
second.
SPROUTINI A British television series is trying to rehabilitate
the derided Brussels sprout, one of the less happy ingredients of
the traditional Christmas dinner if it is overcooked (when cooked
properly, however, it's a delightful vegetable, though I prefer to
eat it raw myself). Among the delights to be suggested are sprout
ice cream, sprout crumble, and sprout and chestnut curry. The most
exotic creation by the presenter, chef James Martin, must surely be
the cocktail to which he has given this name, which uses deep-
frozen mini-sprouts in place of ice cubes.
7. Q&A
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Q. I've always been curious where "monkey's uncle" came from and
what it means. [Michael Josett; Chuck Emery]
A. What it means is nothing very profound. It's just an exclamation
of surprise: "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!"
It is thought to have been a reference to Darwin's Origin of
Species of 1859, in which he argued the close relationship between
humans, apes and monkeys. You may recall the famous debate between
"Soapy Sam" Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, and Thomas Huxley,
in which the bishop asked sarcastically whether "it was through
Huxley's grandfather or grandmother that Huxley claimed his descent
from a monkey."
Most reference books suggest the expression dates from the 1920s,
but I found this parody of Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha in James
Parton's compendium The Humorous Poetry of the English Language.
It's said to be from Punch but is undated; however, it must have
appeared in that magazine before 1881, when the book came out:
Out came sundry comic Indians
Of the tribe of Kut-an-hack-um.
With the growling Downy Beaver,
With the valiant Monkey's Uncle.
This may be just an accident of invention, but the date fits.
8. Sic!
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This sentence in the Chicago Tribune for 10 December was spotted by
Nancy Shepherdson: "Investigators believe the blaze was touched off
accidentally through extensive witness statements and examination,
said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity." It gives a
whole new meaning to the phrase "incendiary comments".
A story on news.com.au on 13 December featured the English couple
who had sold a stone carving from their garden the previous Friday
for 175,000 pounds: ""He and his wife - who had no idea how much
the limestone carving of Saint Peter was worth - decided it would
make a fitting tombstone at the bottom of their garden for Winkle,
the stray tabby cat they had adopted after he died." Dave Morris
found this and comments, "I know some people like quiet pets, but
adopting a dead cat seems a little extreme."
Alan McAlpine Douglas e-mailed from Sussex: "Seen as part of a
Toys-R-Us advertisement in the Daily Telegraph in Nov 2004:
'Pictures are for illustrative purposes only.' You don't say ..."
9. Catchword consequences
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Harry Campbell of Glasgow was inspired to e-mail by the piece in
the issue of 4 December to textonyms, the semi-random set of words
that arise when you're creating a text message on a mobile phone in
predictive mode.
"I love games in which the linguistically random juxtaposition of
two words creates a startling, amusing or satirical resonance. One
such game was - I believe - invented by the British humorist Paul
Jennings in a newspaper column. Anyone who browses a dictionary is
struck by the pairs of catchwords heading each page, thrown up at
random by the flow of the text: "Brando bravura" (Collins English
Dictionary), "Mons Veneris Monthly" (American College Dictionary),
or "dashing dauphin" (Collins Millennium Dictionary). I've been
using this game, which I call Catchword Consequences, as the basis
for a collaborative online novel. You browse through a dictionary
jotting down promising collocations, and then weave them into a
narrative. See http://flapdragon.worldonline.co.uk/catchwds.htm ."
I tried this with the Shorter Oxford and immediately came across
"faddish fag", "indefeasible indentation", "masterless mastodon",
and "scrambling scandaroon" (this last word is seventeenth-century
slang for a swindler or fraudulent dealer, I learned). However, my
ingenuity fails me in trying to weave a story around them.
When you get bored over the holidays, and television has failed
you, why not try this? Apart from its being fun, it might persuade
some non-users to actually open a dictionary!
10. Q&A
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Q. Who was smart Alec? Why and how was he smart? [Julian Jacobson]
A. For many years, Smart Alec or Smart Aleck was thought to be no
more than a generic character, first cousin to Clever Dick. For the
truth, we are indebted to Professor Gerald Cohen, who has traced
him to a real person (for the full story, see G L Cohen, Studies in
Slang, Part 1, 1985). The original was Alex Hoag, a celebrated
thief in New York in the 1840s.
Hoag worked with his wife Melinda and an accomplice called French
Jack to fleece unwary visitors to the city who were looking for a
little fun. It was common for prostitutes and their pimps to steal
from customers once they had fallen asleep, so much so that the
more worldly ones took the precaution of putting a chair under the
door handle so the prostitute couldn't quietly slip out or the pimp
slip in. Hoag invented a modification of the scam called the panel
game, by which he could get into the prostitute's room through a
hidden door at a suitable point in the proceedings.
By the time the mark had woken up and realised he had been the
victim of a crime, Hoag and his associates were well away. It was
the reputation that he gained for not getting caught that earned
him the sobriquet "Smart Alex". Over time, Hoag was forgotten and
his name was modified to its modern form.
11. Sic!
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Andrew Ray writes: "I've just seen a brochure for Honda powerboats,
the strapline on which reads 'Honda Marine: best on water'. This
distinction is helpful as my previous Honda, a Honda 50, went best
on a road."
"I found out that the Queen Mother had died while sitting in the
bus station in Birmingham." Jim Barrett found this in Queenan
Country by Joe Queenan and remarked, "Nice to know that the royals
support public transport."
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