World Wide Words -- 18 Dec 99

[Michael Quinion]

WORLD WIDE WORDS        ISSUE 171         Saturday 18 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. Review: Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM, Version Two.
3. Topical Words: Silicon.
4. In Brief: Hypermobile, Pornotopia, Skin.
5. Weird Words: Shenanigan.
6. Q & A: Crimony, Swearing on one's testicles, Nebbishy,
       Immense chemical names.
7. Administration: How to unsubscribe, Copyright.


1. Notes and feedback
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HOLIDAY BREAK  There will be no issue of World Wide Words on the
next two Saturdays, 25 December 1999 and 1 January 2000. The next
issue is due to appear on Saturday 8 January 2000. To reduce the
inevitable withdrawal symptoms, this issue is bigger than usual.

ERRORS  The wrong address was given in last week's issue for the
review of the Chambers Dictionary of Etymology; the correct URL is
<http://www.quinion.com/words/articles/chamdictetym.htm>. In the
piece on 'enormity', that word and 'enormousness' were wrongly said
to be adjectives rather than nouns. Apologies.

GROUNDSWELL  The appropriately named Michael Grounds wrote to say
that the history of the word could equally imply the reference was
to the change in a long ocean swell as it approaches land. Shoaling
water greatly increases the height of the waves while bringing
successive peaks closer together. As Jim McLoughlin pointed out,
this creates a choppy sea that makes even seasoned sailors queasy.
Mr Grounds mentioned a sailor's expression that describes the way
the swell alters: that it 'feels the bottom'. 'Groundswell' may be
another word for the same idea.

GANDY DANCER  And Scott Mason tells me I've got it all wrong about
this railway/railroad term. He remembers seeing film of a gang
working, and argues that the 'gander' part of the phrase (which
turned into 'gandy') had to do with the gang boss sizing up the
alignment of the rails by eye; his 'dancers' were the members of
the gang, who moved the rails into place by synchronised heaves on
levers according to his shouted instructions. Or does somebody know
different?

PANJANDRUM  The nonsense piece by Samuel Foote provoked several
readers to ask whether 'picninnies' and 'no soap' had also been
invented by him. It seems not. 'Piccaninny' was first recorded in
1657, possibly as a corruption of the Spanish pequeno or Portuguese
pequeno. The Foote piece has indeed been cited as the origin of 'no
soap', but - as I mentioned in the Q&A piece on the phrase the week
before - it's first recorded in America a century later. If the
panjandrum piece had been the source, we would expect to find some
evidence between these dates.

ENORMITY  R Whitney Mitchell quoted an early example of 'enormity'
from the litany in the _Book of Common Prayer_ of 1549: "From all
sedicion and privye conspiracie, from the tyrannye of the bishop of
Rome and all his detestable enormities, from al false doctrine and
herisy, from hardnes of heart, and contempte of thy word and
commaundemente: Good lorde deliver us". Mr Mitchell commented: "It
occurs to me that it takes enormous testes to perpetrate detestable
enormities". Ouch - but see Q&A below.


2. Review: Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM, Version Two
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Oxford University Press has just published Version Two of the
CD-ROM of the _Oxford English Dictionary_. The content of this new
version is identical to that of the original CD-ROM published in
1992; what has changed is the interface.

It looks completely different, now presenting a Web-based style -
it's essentially the same as the one you might see when the OED
goes online as a subscription service next Spring. It's much easier
on the eye than the old version, with better fonts and layout, and
with options to show or hide citations, pronunciations, and
etymologies. There are two separate search methods: one just for
headwords, and a second full-text search, which you can restrict to
definitions, quotations or etymologies. Wildcards can be used to
generalise your searches. Cross-references are now in the form of
clickable hyperlinks. The macro facility has gone; no great loss,
as it was easily the most difficult part of the old software to
use.

The application shows signs of suffering from code bloat, of which
the first is the double CD-ROM, rather than the single CD the
original was supplied on. And you will need a powerful computer to
run it on - at least a 200MHz Pentium with Windows 95/98 or NT4
(there is still no Mac version); an SVGA monitor capable at least
of 800x600 resolution in 16-bit colour; plus - and this will be the
killer for many people - spare disk space of at least 750Mb. The
installation routines copy the indexes and other files to your hard
disk, but a security feature requires you to have the data CD-ROM
in the drive at all times. Despite having so many files on the hard
disk, the application isn't especially fast.

If you don't already have a copy and can meet the specification for
a computer to run it on, this might be a good time to invest while
the special introductory price is in force (see below). There is an
upgrade available for existing users; if you already have the older
version, it may be worth getting it, but it seems a lot to pay for
relatively minor improvements.

[_Oxford English Dictionary_ (Second Edition) on CD-ROM, version
2.0, Oxford University Press, published on 16 Dec 1999 at an
introductory price of GBP175.00 (in UK/Europe, GBP205.63 including
VAT). After 31 Jan 2000, the price reverts to GBP250.00 (in
UK/Europe GBP293.75 including VAT). Upgrade price from previous
versions GBP51.06 (in UK/Europe 59.99GBP including VAT).]


3. Topical Words: Silicon
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The _Independent on Sunday_ remarked recently that "The more
fertile Silicon Wadi has become, the more money it has attracted,
generating still more start-ups, still more Shekels".

Through its use in computer chips, 'silicon' underpins our
civilisation to the extent that the word has become a metaphor for
information technology. And all over the world, it seems, local
entrepreneurs are trying to emulate the place where computer chips
were made practical and from where so many high-tech innovations
have come: Silicon Valley. This  area south of San Francisco is the
model for (and the envy of) anyone trying to create a home-grown
computer industry. As soon as people manage to set up a centre of
excellence somewhere, it seems that either they or the local press
at once invent a witty name that contains the word 'silicon'. It
gives a high-tech identity to an area that hasn't previously had
one, and it projects a cutting-edge image that attracts companies,
venture funding and engineers.

There are now so many such places around the world jumping on this
siliconisation bandwagon that Keith Dawson, who publishes an e-
newsletter called _Tasty Bits from the Technology Front_, has
coined the name 'Siliconia' for them. He has collected more than 50
examples, ranging from the 'Silicon Wadi' of Israel and 'Silicon
Alley' in New York (a play on Tin Pan Alley), through 'Silicon
Island', which has been applied to least five places around the
world (one of them Taiwan), 'Silicon Plateau', for Bangalore in
India, and 'Silicon Polder', for the high-tech companies of the
Netherlands as a whole.

Britain has three: 'Silicon Glen' in Scotland, roughly the area
between Edinburgh and Glasgow; 'Silicon Fen', the science park and
surrounding area at Cambridge, which indeed is on the edge of the
fens of East Anglia; and 'Cwm Silicon' around Newport in South
Wales ('cwm' being Welsh for valley, which is pronounced /ku:m/,
roughly 'coom'). Ireland has its 'Silicon Bog' (hardly a PR dream
name, I would have said, but never mind).

There are signs the fashion for 'Siliconia' is waning, with several
recent examples choosing names based on other technical-sounding
prefixes, such as 'techno-' or 'cyber-'. Not altogether an
improvement, you may feel.


4. In Brief
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HYPERMOBILE  A report by Professor John Adams argues that greater
teleworking in the future will encourage a move to the suburbs.
This will cause us to travel longer distances, and by car rather
than public transport, making us 'hypermobile'.

PORNOTOPIA  A blend of 'pornography' and 'utopia', a dismissive
term coined by Christopher Hart, literary editor of the _Erotic
Review_, for a state he regrets in which "brightly pixellated
images of every sexual act imaginable ... are available at the
click of a mouse".

SKIN  A cynical near-acronym for the fifty-somethings of the
current generation, who don't want to grow old as their parents
did. They want to spend their money and enjoy themselves. So
'SKIN': "Spending the Kids' INheritance".


5. Weird Words: Shenanigan
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Trickery, underhand action, intrigue, skulduggery.

You'll most commonly encounter this word in the plural. It seems to
have originated in California at about the time of the Gold Rush,
though it was first recorded in print only in 1855. In the years
since, it has been spelt in about a dozen different ways, though
recent dictionaries have settled on the version above. Where it
comes from is still a matter of substantial dispute; the first five
dictionaries I consulted gave four different origins (Oxford
Dictionaries - as so often - opting for the ultra-cautious "origin
unknown"). The word looks Irish, and there was no shortage of
Irishmen in the California diggings, so it's plausible to suggest
the Irish word 'sionnachuighm' as the source, meaning 'I play
tricks', which is pronounced roughly as 'shinnuckeem'. Others argue
it comes from an East Anglian dialect word 'nannicking' for playing
the fool. Others guess at a link with the Spanish word 'chanada'
for a trick or deceit, which is another half-way plausible source,
considering California's history. Yet another theory was put
forward in 1948 in _American Speech_ for an origin in German
'schinnagel' for a nail that holds the rim to the wheel, which
produced the German slang terms 'schinageln', to work, and
'Schenigelei', a trick. As the man behind the market stall said,
you pays your money and you takes your choice ...


6. 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 WWW Web site.]

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Q.  I cannot find a definition for the word 'crimony' anywhere.
I've encountered it twice: once in a _Far Side_ cartoon, another on
the Garrison Keillor radio program _Prairie Home Companion_. Both
times it seems to be uttered in exclamation, similar to "Holy
Cow!". [Frank Palmeri, USA]

A.  Most dictionaries that include it spell it 'criminy', or
sometimes 'criminey'. It's certainly a mild exclamation or cry of
astonishment, now very old-fashioned. It's much weaker in force
than when it was first used, back in the seventeenth century. The
usual explanation is that it is a form of 'Christ', much like
another somewhat dated mild expletive, 'crikey', which came along
later; but it's just possible that it's a variant form of 'crime'.
It might be related in some way to 'Jiminy' (as in 'Jiminy
Cricket'), which appeared at about the same time. This was possibly
a modified form of 'Gemini', but was equally likely to be based on
the Latin 'Jesu domine'.

                        -----------

Q. I just saw this on the Net and wondered if it was true: was the
word 'testify' based on men in the Roman court swearing to the
truth of a statement on their testicles? [Ron Ferguson]

A. I've seen that, too. This would seem as good a moment as any to
scotch the story. There really is a strong link between 'testicle'
and 'testify' (as well as 'attest', 'intestate', 'testament',
'contest' and other words) but those who swear by this belief have
completely misunderstood the relationship.

The Latin word for a witness was 'testis', which derives from an
Indo-European word for the number three. That was because the
Romans regarded a witness as what we would call a trusted third
party, one who stands aside from the dispute and can tell it how it
really was. The Romans did also use the word 'testis' in a
figurative way to mean testicle. The idea seems to have been that a
testicle was a witness to a man's virility. And that's the whole
story of the connection.

'Testis' sometimes appeared in the form 'testiculus', a diminutive
form; this was converted into English at the end of the fourteenth
century first as 'testicule' and then as 'testicle'. The Latin
'testis', with its plural 'testes', has continued in medical use to
the present day.

If you think all this is terribly far-fetched, think of the French
'temoins', a word for the testicles that literally means witnesses.

                        -----------

Q. Can you suggest the meaning of 'nebbishy'? It was recently used
in a review of the film _The End of the Affair_ thus: "Sarah's
husband, Henry, who is also Maurice's acquaintance, is a nebbishy
dullard who takes his wife for granted". [Sue Garlick]

A. It's an adjective formed from one of the most characteristic of
Yiddish words. It was originally 'nebech', a word of Slavic origin,
with the stress on the first syllable and the second ending in the
guttural 'ch'. In Yiddish it was originally an interjection,
roughly meaning "You poor thing!". Americans had trouble saying
this word when it first appeared in the English language at the end
of the nineteenth century, and they changed it to 'nebbish', with
'nebbishy' as the much less common adjective.

A 'nebbish' is an ineffectual man, someone timid, submissive, weak,
helpless or hapless, a nonentity. He's unlucky, but mainly because
he's a loser right through to the core. The word has strong
undertones of both pity and contempt. Leo Rosten, in _The Joys of
Yiddish_ (a book I can wholeheartedly recommend if you're even
moderately interested) quotes a Yiddish quip: "When a nebech leaves
the room, you feel as though somebody just came in". The _Random
House Historical Dictionary of American Slang_ cites a 1941 book:
"A nebbish person is not exactly an incompetent, a dope or a
weakling. He is simply the one in the crowd that you always forget
to introduce".

                        -----------

Q. I recently read of a chemical term which boasted an incredible
1,000+ letters. According to the brief piece, the word has appeared
only once or twice in journals. I'm obviously not a scientist
because the article went on to point out that such words can be
constructed exactly as one constructs molecular compounds. I'd
still like to know what it is. [from Michael Snyder; Phil Glatz
asked a related question.]

A. It's indeed possible to create words as long as you like for
complex compounds such as proteins, which consist of large numbers
of amino acids joined together. You just add the names of the amino
acids one after another until you run out of compound or, more
probably, time and patience. The longest one I've seen in print is
this, which makes even 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' look
tame:

methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalanylala
nylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalanylphe
nylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylpr
olylglycylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspar
tylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanylglycylalanylaspartylalanyll
eucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylalanylserylaspartylpr
olylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucylglutaminylaspa
raginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanylgly
cylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamyl
methionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysylhistidylp
rolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucylglycylleucylleucylmethionyltyr
osylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylphenylalanylasparaginyllysylglycyli
soleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalanyltyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteiny
lglutamyllysylvalylglycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanylas
partylvalylprolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphenylalan
ylarginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvaly
lalanylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylasp
artylalanylaspartylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminyliso
leucylalanylseryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylle
ucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycylvalylthreonylglycylalanylglutamyl
asparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolylleucylasparaginylhistidyl
leucylvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparaginylalanylal
anylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylse
rylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylasp
artylalanylglycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylseryla
lanylisoleucylvalyllysylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidy
lasparaginylisoleucylglutamylprolylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalan
ylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalylglutaminylprolylmethionyll
ysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine.

This is said to be the full name, 1913 characters, for tryptophan
synthase, a protein, which has 267 amino acids in it (I haven't
counted). I extracted this monster from _The Word Lover's
Dictionary_ by Josefa Heifetz, but it is also cited in _Mrs Byrne's
Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words_ by the same
author. If you want to break it down into its components, it
consists of many repetitions of the adjectival forms of the names
of amino acids, such as 'alanyl', 'methionyl', 'threonyl', and
'valyl', all of which end in 'yl', with one instance of 'serine' at
the end.

The results of such amalgamations can be as big as you like, but
they are for all practical purposes meaningless, and no biochemist
would ever use them in real life. It was the German influence on
chemical matters in the nineteenth century which left us with a
legacy in which we write 'dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane' as one
word (though we usually abbreviate it to DDT) and record such
compounds as 'dimethylsulphoniopropionate', 'octamethylcyclotetra-
siloxane', and 'ribolosediphosphocarboxylase' as long strings of
characters.


6. Administration
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