World Wide Words -- 19 Jul 08
Michael Quinion
wordseditor at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG
Fri Jul 18 09:14:37 UTC 2008
WORLD WIDE WORDS ISSUE 596 Saturday 19 July 2008
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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: Hyperborean.
3. Recently noted.
4. Q&A: Chequered past.
5. Sic!
A. Subscription information.
B. E-mail contact addresses.
C. Ways to support World Wide Words.
1. Feedback, notes and comments
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DORYPHORE The correct scientific name of the Colorado beetle is
Leptinotarsa decemlineata, not decimlineata, as I had it.
Eric Marsh said, "This item was timely for me as I've just become
acquainted with the Law of Prescriptive Retaliation (perhaps it
should be called The Nit-picker's Curse): corrections of linguistic
errors are themselves inevitably prone to error." Erin McKean, who
edits Verbatim Magazine in her spare time from being the editor of
the Oxford American Dictionary, has coined a close relative, which
is known as McKean's Law: "Any correction of the speech or writing
of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling, or
typographical error."
NOGGIN My piece on this slangy term for the head brought numerous
comments about its use in the building trades in various countries
for a horizontal timber brace or support. This is an ancient word,
originally spelled "nogging", meaning a timber frame filled with
brickwork; its origin is unknown. As an aside, several readers
pointed out that such noggins are called "dwangs" in New Zealand, a
word from Scots that Harry Orsman, in the Dictionary of New Zealand
English, noted is likely to be from Old Norse.
PONGLISH My brief note on Polish-English brought a comment from
Anna Bankowska in Poland: "I can assure you that 'Ponglish' - as a
phenomenon, not a word - is much older than the last few years. It
was born half a century ago, when after World War Two the first big
wave of Polish displaced persons got to Great Britain. I visited my
relatives in 1958 and I still remember this funny language, which
was even a subject of satirical sketches by our well-known poet
Marian Hemar."
Jimmy O'Regan, writing from Ireland, concurs: "Most of the words
you cite existed in Polish long before Poland joined the EU, mostly
due to the influence of American movies, the internet, and contact
with Poles who had lived in Chicago. For example, 'drink', as a
noun, means specifically an alcoholic drink with a mixer, such as
vodka and orange; the verb 'drinkowac' and the adjective 'drinkowy'
naturally follow. 'Highstreet' ('hajstrit') is the only word likely
to have been introduced to Polish via England. (Perhaps 'drawjwnic'
too, but it seems suspiciously unlike the usual forms of loanwords
in Polish, and the only references I can find to it are in English,
following the publication of the article you mentioned). Among
Poles living here in Ireland, there's also a tendency to adopt
Hiberno-English expressions such as 'slagowac' (to slag; to mock
someone) or even 'jak sie kipingujesz?' ('how're you keeping?')"
2. Weird Words: Hyperborean /haIp@'bO at ri:@n/
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An inhabitant of the extreme north.
Since today we have a pretty firm hold on geography and climate, we
find it a little strange to learn that the ancient Greeks believed
a race of people lived at the northern limits of the world, beyond
the place from which the god Boreas sent his icy blasts. According
to the poet Pindar, they occupied an earthly paradise, a land of
sunshine and plenty. They were untouched by old age or conflict or
disease, spending their days in song and dance and in worshipping
their god Apollo, who came every winter to visit them.
Hence "hyperborean", from the Greek words "huper", beyond, plus
"boreas", the north wind. It has been used in English for pretty
much the same idea - of a people who live in the extreme north -
though without the merrymaking, frolicking or warmth. We know too
well that the far north contains no earthly paradise but only ice,
snow, gales and bone-freezing temperatures. Hence appearances like
this, from D P Thompson (better known for The Green Mountain Boys,
about Vermont's struggle for independence), in Gaut Gurley, 1857:
It was the second week in May; and spring, delightful spring,
sweet herald of happiness to all the living creatures that
have undergone the almost literal imprisonment of one of the
long and dreary winters of our hyperborean clime, was
beginning to sprinkle the green glories of approaching
summer over the reanimated wilderness."
3. Recently noted
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HYPERMILING This US term for finding ways to reduce your vehicle's
fuel consumption has been sighted in the UK, having taken a couple
of years to cross the Atlantic. It has become much more popular in
recent months as a result of the sudden hike in oil prices, but it
can be traced back in print to an article in the magazine Mother
Jones dated January/February 2006 featuring Wayne Gerdes, who is
said to have invented the term. Hypermilers urge drivers to stick
to speed limits, avoid accelerating or braking hard and plan ahead
to take advantage of traffic conditions to maintain momentum. Some
hypermilers' tricks are dangerous, like tailgating big vehicles to
stay in their slipstream.
4. Q&A: Chequered past
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Q. I have heard the expression "checkered past" used for many
years. What is the origin of it? [Virginia N Beach]
A. Somebody with a chequered past, which is the British spelling I
naturally use as opposed to your American one, has had periods of
fluctuating fortune, though the focus is often on some past spell
of reprehensible conduct. For example, The Times wrote on 6 June
2008: "He joined the church as a fully ordained Baptist minister in
1996 after a chequered past as a gambler."
If the game of chess comes to mind, that's a good guess, though
it's not the twists of fate experienced by the players that are
meant, but the board it's played on. If American, you may also (or
instead) be thinking of the game of checkers, played on the same
board, which British players know as draughts (whose name, by the
way, is from the obsolete "draught" in the sense of a move in a
game).
Something chequered is marked like a chess board, with a geometric
pattern of squares in alternating colours. It's pretty much the
same word as "checked", both of which appeared in English in the
fifteenth century. The latter was frequently spelled "chequed" in
Britain until about a century ago but has now settled down to the
"ck" spelling everywhere. "Chequered" in the literal sense is less
common than it once was, although the chequered flag that's waved
when a racing car passes the winning post is well known.
That usage links us directly with its origin. "Chequered" came out
of heraldry: the first known example is in the Book of St Albans in
1486. That said - in modern language - that heraldic arms are said
to be chequered when they are made in two colours in the manner of
a chess board. The word came from French "escheker", derived from
late Latin "scaccarium", a chess board. Our "exchequer" is from the
same source and originally also meant a chess board, though it came
to be connected with finance through a table covered with a cloth
divided into squares on which the accounts of the revenue were kept
by means of counters.
The figurative idea behind "chequered" is of alternations of good
and bad, like the colours of the squares on the board. As well as a
chequered career, you can talk about a chequered history or a
chequered past.
5. Sic!
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A couple of readers joined me in puzzling over a sentence in an
article by the British prime minister Gordon Brown that appeared in
a supplement on climate change in the Guardian on Wednesday. The
paper's subeditors pulled it out to head the front page: "No one
can underestimate the scale of the challenge that climate change
represents." I'd have thought it was all too easy, myself. Did he,
or more likely his scriptwriter, mean "overestimate"?
Moira C Egan e-mailed from Toronto to tell us of a recent meeting.
"I was introduced to a public relations consultant. Soon into our
conversation, she said, 'You're not from Toronto, are you? I mean,
you speak so legibly!' 'Aha!' said I, 'You ought to hear my
handwriting.'"
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