"fur bikini"

[Charles Doyle]

More consonant with Wilson esthetic sensibility, "unikini" does enjoy 12,100 Google hits--in comparison with 239,000 for "monokini."

Of course, as Larry noted, the perceived morpheme "bi-" in "bikini" results from reanalysis or playful false-etymologizing. It's not as if a word "kini" exists that ought to call for either a Greek or Latin prefix!

But what IS the etymology of "bikini"?  I would suppose the infamous atoll's name is Polynesian (meaning what, if anything, I wonder?). The English dictionaries report that the word came from the French--presumably the word as a common noun, a fashion term, rather than a place name. OED includes what's probably a nonce usage--or a metaphor--from 1947, in the sense of "a large explosion."

--Charlie
_______________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 15:28:03 -0500
>From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: "fur bikini"
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>

>
>And it should be, in order to be punning language-consistent, "unikini." I know that people say "unicycle, bicycle" and not "monocycle, dicycle." Hence, I realize that this reduces my observation to a mere pet peeve, but WTF? I had to get it off my chest. :-)
>
>-Wilson
>

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