World Wide Words -- 04 Dec 99

[Michael Quinion]

WORLD WIDE WORDS        ISSUE 169          Saturday 4 December 1999
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Sent weekly to more than 6,500 subscribers in at least 94 countries
Editor: Michael Quinion                      Thornbury, Bristol, UK
Web: <http://www.quinion.com/words/>    E-mail: <words at quinion.com>
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Contents
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1. Notes and feedback.
2. Turns of Phrase: Feebate.
3. Weird Words: Stylite.
4. Q & A: No soap, Gandy dancer, Malarky, Face the music.
5. Beyond Words: Oddest Book Title of the Year Competition.
6. Administration: How to unsubscribe, Copyright.


1. Notes and feedback
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HUNKY-DORY  Several experts have now joined the fray to argue that
the supposed Japanese origin is all hogwash. It seems that nobody
has ever found that street in Yokohama as suggested - it's just an
etymological legend.

TEACH YOUR GRANDMOTHER TO SUCK EGGS. As you might expect, similar
expressions occur in other languages. Lita Arkin wrote to say that
a Yiddish equivalent translates as "Here's the son teaching his
father how to make children".


2. Turns of Phrase: Feebate
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A blend of 'fee' and 'rebate', this is an idea that seeks to
improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution. For example, when
you bought a new car, you would pay an extra fee if it were an
inefficient user of fuel, or alternatively get a rebate if it were
energy-efficient. The neutral point would be set so that fees and
rebates balanced, so it became neither an inflationary measure nor
a disguised tax. Similar schemes have been proposed to reduce the
consumption of water and other resources and as a way to improve
the energy efficiency of new buildings. The term is mainly to be
found in the USA; it has been around since the early 1990s at least
(it appeared in Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign literature), and
limited schemes have been applied in some places, though usually
not under this name. Initiatives that penalise heavy users (gas-
guzzler taxes, for example) strictly aren't feebate schemes, as
there's no rebate element; others, like the British licence-tax
reductions for small cars, should equally fall outside its scope,
as there's no explicit balancing penalty. But environmentalists
seem to use the term loosely to mean any tax or charge that is
scaled to encourage economy; the word is still mostly to be found
in the jargon of such groups.

All policies that operate through mechanisms similar to fuel-
economy standards - policies such as "feebates" that tax vehicles
with lower fuel economies and subsidize vehicles with higher fuel
economies - lead drivers who purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles
to drive them more than they otherwise would.
                                         [_Environment_, Jan. 1997]

Governments could speed up this process, by insisting on higher
standards for emissions, or by "feebates", making those who buy
inefficient, polluting cars pay a fee used to rebate those buying
cleaner, greener cars.
                                            [_Guardian_, Nov. 1999]


3. Weird Words: Stylite
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A Christian recluse who lived on top of a pillar.

One of the most remarkable examples of religious self-denial, the
stylites were a group of ascetics who spent long periods of time
sitting or standing on top of narrow pillars. (The word comes from
the Greek 'stylos' for a column.) The best known of these pillar
hermits, pillar saints or pillar monks was the first, St Simeon
Stylites, who sat for thirty years from AD423 onwards on top of a
column some 40 cubits high. He was followed by several others,
including his disciple St Daniel Stylites and Simeon the Younger.
The 'stylite' sometimes allowed himself a roof or a small hut for
protection against the weather, but was otherwise exposed. Many
remained standing day and night, only prevented from falling by a
guard rail; some even stood on one leg. The record for stylitic
behaviour is probably held by the sixth-century St Alypius, who is
reputed to have remained on his pillar for 67 years without a
break, for the last fourteen of them lying down because his feet
could no longer support him. The practice died out shortly after
the turn of the last millennium.


4. Q&A
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[Send queries to <qa at quinion.com>. Messages will be acknowledged,
but I can't guarantee to reply, as time is limited. If I can do so,
a response will appear both here and on the WWWords Web site.]

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Q. Why do we say 'no soap'? [Anthony Pennock]

A. The word 'soap' has had several slang meanings down the years.
In the middle nineteenth century in the USA it was used to mean
money, though we don't know why. It's first recorded about 1860,
but by then was probably well established. So somebody who said "No
soap!" meant something like "No, I haven't any money" or "No, I
won't give you a loan". The modern sense - nothing doing, not a
hope, no chance - is a generalisation. Americans have kept 'no
soap' but have forgotten the sense of 'soap' that it sprang from.
The expression 'no dice' may have had a similar origin, probably
from gamblers being refused permission to play in a house or bar.

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Q. Help settle a family argument about 'gandy dancer'. Most
dictionaries define it as a railroad worker, but state that the
origin is unknown.  Most encyclopaedias don't list it at all. I
seem to have once read that the origin relates to the first
automated track-laying machine manufactured by the Gandy
Corporation of Chicago. [Peter Piecuch]

A. There's much doubt and confusion about this wonderful expression
for a member of a track-laying or maintenance crew. It is first
recorded in 1918. Since then it has had various slang meanings,
including a petty crook or tramp, an Italian, a jitterbug, or a
womaniser or active socialite. But the original sense referred to a
worker who tamped down the ballast between the ties using a special
tool. This involved vigorous stamping on the tool while turning in
a circle, an action which might be taken to resemble dancing.

The tool was seemingly called a gandy, but where the name came from
is a mystery. It would seem it was based on some bit of railway
slang now lost to us. The idea that it referred to a Chicago
business named the Gandy Manufacturing Company - which supposedly
supplied a variety of tools to railway workers - seems to rest on a
reference in a book called _Railroad Avenue_ by Freeman H Hubbard,
published in 1945. Several people have searched for this business,
but have failed to find any trace of it in railway trade journals
or Chicago city directories of the period. However, a number of
otherwise reputable works continue to give this as the source.

Some writers have suggested that gandy may be a corrupted form of
gander, from the nodding heads of the workers using the tool,
implying that the tool was actually named after the gandy dancer
who used it. But this is no more than guesswork, I'm afraid.

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Q. What is the history of 'malarky' or 'malarkey'? [Bill Hogsten]

A. It is originally American slang, meaning humbug, foolishness or
nonsense. In the early days it was variously spelt, not just in the
ways you give but also as 'malaky' or 'mullarkey'. Nobody is sure
where it comes from: it just appears out of the blue in the 1920s.
Some say it derives from the Irish word mullachan for a strongly
built boy, hence a ruffian. My personal theory, based on one of the
early spellings, is that it comes from the Irish surname Mullarkey,
presumably a person of that name, in the same as does - for example
- hooligan. But who, or when, or where, I've no idea.

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Q. Do you know the origin of 'face the music'? [Paula Nigro Brown,
USA]

A. So far as we can discover, the expression was originally an
American one. The first recorded use is in the _Congressional
Globe_ for 4 March 1850: "There should be no skulking or dodging
... every man should 'face the music'". It seems then to have had
the meaning of facing hardship or danger. Only in the 1860s did it
take on the sense it now usually has, of taking the consequences of
one's actions, or suffering due punishment for some transgression.

It seems to suddenly burst into popular consciousness in 1850, with
many examples to be found in the years that immediately follow
(this suggests an origin as a catchphrase in popular writing or
music, but none has been traced). One school of thought says that
it comes from musical theatre. A nervous or inexperienced performer
would have to summon up all his courage to face the audience, which
would require him also to face the musicians in the orchestra pit,
a cynical and world-weary group who had seen everything.

A second theory is that it is of military origin, though no two
writers agree on what that might be. Explanations include a soldier
taking his place in the ranks during an assembly, so facing the
military band; a cavalry man trying to keep his restless horse
quiet while the band is playing; or a soldier being drummed out of
his regiment.


5. Beyond Words
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The results have just been announced of the annual competition run
by _The Bookseller_ for the oddest book title of the year.

The winner was _Weeds in a Changing World_. Runners-up were _Guide
To Eskimo Rolling_, and _Procrastination and Task Avoidance:
Theory, Research and Treatment_. Other shortlisted titles included
_Good Practice with Violence_, _Lakeside Car Parks_, _Toothpick
Culture and Icecream Stick Art_, _Women and Wasteland Development_,
and _Betel Chewing Equipment of East New Guinea_. The superb _Male
Genitalia of Butterflies of the Balkan Peninsula_ had been the
favourite but the judges seem to have suspected the title had been
made peculiar on purpose, a trick outlawed by the rules.

This competition has in the past thrown up much engaging stuff: the
all-time best seems to be the 1996 winner, _Greek Rural Postmen and
their Cancellation Numbers_. Some other past winners are _How to
Avoid Huge Ships_, _Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality_,
_Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice_,
and _The Joy of Sex: Pocket Edition_.

Other titles shortlisted in past years include _God's Chewable
Vitamin C for the Spirit_, _The Prostate: A Guide for Men and the
Women Who Love Them_, _A Method for Calculating the Size of Stone
Needed for Closing End-Tipped Rubble Banks in Rivers_, _Attractive
and Affectionate Grave Design_, _Wood Carving with a Chainsaw_,
_Male Genital Organs and their Improvement_, and _Postal Rates in
Iceland 1870-1997_.


6. Administration
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