second thoughts on Nkinis

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated  Fri, 24 Dec 2004 01:29:55 +0100,  Chris F Waigl
<cwaigl at FREE.FR> quotes:

>  >As for the referents, neither a skimpy two-piece swimsuit nor either of
its
>  >parts would seem to have qualified as a novel invention, even in 1946.

I am hardly an expert on women's clothing, but I do not believe that
two-piece bathing suits, skimpy or otherwise, were at all common in 1946.

<snip>
>  («maillot de bain deux pièces»).

It is interesting that in English the word "maillot" (originally French)
means strictly a one-piece bathing suit that. leotard-style, covers the woman from
crotch to breastline.  Judging by the above line ("two-piece bathing
maillot") in French the word can mean any type of woman's bathing suit.

<snip>
>  BBG. DUCH. 1967, § 70. GALL. 1955, p. 112, 157. TEPPE (J.). Défense de
>  klaxonner! Vie Lang. 1961, no 114, p. 485.

To the best of my understanding of French, "Defense de klaxonner" means "it
is forbidden to sound a Klaxon horn".  I do not see what these words are doing
here, unless "klaxonner" means "to wear a sexy garment".  Also, since "k"
appears in French only in foreign words, "klaxonner" is a blatant example of
Franglais.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Perhaps someday the word "Nkini" will enter the English language, in which
case ADS-L will provide the coinage citation.

Coments on other letters:

an ADS-L member, who I will not cite by name, was I understand once suffering
chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins's lymphoma.  Said member wrote:

>(who in fact coward 1/3 of the way out of his own 4th B cycle a
>couple of years ago)

Forsooth!  Dr. non-Hodgkins will be ashamed of you!

>and for a third person example (with another eggcorn lurking not too
>subtly within):
>
>=========
>And most important Josephus had other reasons for rewriting them as
>doing so, since he coward out of a pack made with his comrades.

Not necessarily an eggcorn, since Josephus before he changed sides was a
member of a "pack" (cf WWII "wolf-pack") of Jewish fighters.

     - James A. Landau