World Wide Words -- 15 Mar 08
Michael Quinion
wordseditor at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG
Fri Mar 14 18:06:22 UTC 2008
WORLD WIDE WORDS ISSUE 579 Saturday 15 March 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: Pinguescence.
3. Recently noted.
4. Q&A: Grog.
5. Q&A: Denigrate.
6. 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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AIR LOOM The Sic! item that mentioned this phrase appearing on the
cover of a magazine devoted to Volkswagen campers was disputed by
several readers, who told me that it wasn't an error but a pun. Ian
Dalziel e-mailed, "I have the magazine here. The featured van is a
1961 camper with an air-cooled engine, like the Beetle it was based
on. It was given to the current owner by his grandfather, which is
where the pun comes in, unfortunately." Anthony Massey thought it a
poor example of the type, "A pun as ghastly as that must be, as we
sometimes put it in the newsroom, 'someone perpetrating an act of
journalism'." Tim Osburn strongly disagrees with that view ("It's
pretty clever, I think!"), though as he is a mechanic who works on
old Volkswagens, that's understandable.
The item provoked several readers to ask what heirlooms had to do
with looms anyway. The ancient sense of "loom", in Old English more
than a thousand years ago, was that of a tool or implement of any
kind, perhaps from an even older root that meant something in
frequent use. An heirloom was any such item that was handed down to
descendants.
IVY LEAGUE Morgiana Halley pointed out that the association of ivy
with the walls of ancient seats of learning is older than the first
appearance of "ivy college" in 1933. It was satirised by Tom Lehrer
in his song Bright College Days of 1959: "Bright college days, oh,
carefree days that fly, / To thee we sing with our glasses raised
on high. / Let's drink a toast as each of us recalls / Ivy-covered
professors in ivy-covered halls." The phrase "ivy-covered halls" in
particular is substantially older than either expression. The first
example I can find is in Red and Black by Grace Smith Richmond,
published in 1919: "He had his ticket and a sleeper reservation -
it was fifteen hours' journey back to the old ivy-covered halls
which had grown dear in his memory."
BETWEEN VERSUS AMONG A surprising number of readers queried my use
of "between" in last week's issue, because they felt that "among"
was the right word. I'll comment next time.
2. Weird Words: Pinguescence /pIN'gwesns/
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The process of becoming fat; fatness, obesity.
My lesson for this week is taken from a book of 1847, Lectures on
the Principles and Practice of Physic by Thomas Watson: "Shut a
healthy pig up in a small sty, and give him as much food as he is
willing to eat, and you ensure his rapid pinguescence." How true,
even today.
The chance of "pinguescence" turning up in any book you're reading
is extremely small. The Oxford English Dictionary comments that it
is "literary or humorous in later use", though the archives suggest
that any such later use is rare. And yet, with the panic about the
obesity epidemic currently sweeping the developed nations, it might
be a good time to bring it back into circulation.
The word is from Latin "pinguis", fat, which - directly or through
its relatives in Latin - has given English a number of words, such
as "pinguedinise", to make fat, "pinguedinous", fatty or greasy,
"pinguefy", to make greasy or saturate with oil, and "pinguefying",
fattening or greasy. All are rare.
3. Recently noted
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COMPUTER The Oxford English Dictionary announced this week that it
is changing the way it revises and publishes entries. Until now,
this is been largely alphabetical (from a start in M, the revision
has now reached Q). In future, every other quarterly revision is to
be of important words across the whole alphabet whose meanings or
application have developed most over the past century. The Chief
Editor of the OED, John Simpson, has written about this shift of
approach in an article accessible via http://wwwords.org?ODRV .
Updated entries in this week's revision include aircraft, American,
climate, culture, economy, electricity, evolution, the F-word, gay,
genetic, heaven and hell. Another is "computer". Its definition in
the revised entry shows how complex the term is for lexicographers
to grapple with. A brief definition has no chance of getting across
the range of meanings, but the result is a mini-essay:
An electronic device (or system of devices) which is used to
store, manipulate, and communicate information, perform
complex calculations, or control or regulate other devices
or machines, and is capable of receiving information (data)
and of processing it in accordance with variable procedural
instructions (programs or software); specially a small, self-
contained one for individual use in the home or workplace,
used especially for handling text, images, music, and video,
accessing and using the Internet, communicating with other
people (e.g. by means of email), and playing games.
A further 264 words of explanation and notes are attached to this
definition before we get to the first citation. The editors must be
blessing the latitude provided them by electronic publication. In
the days of James Murray a century ago, such prolixity would have
risked inducing apoplexy in the high panjandrums of the Oxford
University Press.
4. Q&A: Grog
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Q. My twin brother recently brought back from an arduous medical
congress on Grenada a splendid bottle of rum, which bore an equally
splendid story that the origin of the name of the daily ration of
"grog" served to British seamen was to be found in that island, and
was derived from the brand with which the casks were marked, namely
GROG, or Georgius Rex Old Grenada. The George in question is said
to be George III. Does this story hold any water? [Michael Hocken]
A. No. Nor rum either. However, the real story sounds even less
likely, though the experts are pretty much convinced it is true.
Parts of the bottle's tale are correct, though. The ration of rum
mixed with water that was once served to sailors on board British
warships was indeed called grog. And the rum did come from the West
Indies - the custom of serving it instead of other strong spirits
such as brandy began in 1687, following the British capture of
Jamaica.
In 1740, Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon was commanding officer of the
British naval forces in the West Indies during the conflict with
Spain that was weirdly named the War of Jenkins' Ear, after a
captain who in 1731 had had an ear cut off in a skirmish with the
Spanish. Vernon was so concerned about the bad effects of the rum
ration on his sailors that in August that year he issued an order
that in future the rum ration was to be served diluted:
To Captains of the Squadron! Whereas the Pernicious Custom
of the Seamen drinking their Allowance of Rum in Drams, and
often at once, is attended by many fatal Effects to their
Morals as well as their Health, the daily allowance of half
a pint a man is to be mixed with a quart of water, to be
mixed in one Scuttled Butt kept for that purpose, and to be
done upon Deck, and in the presence of the Lieutenant of the
Watch, who is to see that the men are not defrauded of their
allowance of Rum.
One may presume the tars were not best pleased by this, not least
considering the foul stuff called water that was usually available
on board ship (the Admiral said later in his order that men might,
if they had the money, buy sugar or limes to make the water more
palatable to them). The men, as was their custom, had already given
Vernon the nickname of Old Grog, because on deck in rough weather
he wore a cloak made of a coarse fabric called grogram, a mixture
of silk with mohair or wool, often stiffened with gum. ("Grogram"
is from French "gros grain", coarse grain.) So it was a short step
to naming the diluted drink "grog".
This might be dismissed as no more than another folk tale about the
origin of words, especially as no contemporary record of "grog" has
been found. However, it was widely believed in the Royal Navy to be
the origin, to judge from the earliest example we have. It is from
a poem written by Dr Thomas Trotter, the surgeon of HMS Berwick. He
wrote these lines on board ship on 4 August 1781:
A mighty bowl on deck he drew,
And filled it to the brink;
Such drank the Burford's gallant crew,
And such the gods shall drink.
The sacred robe which Vernon wore
Was drenched within the same;
And hence his virtues guard our shore,
And Grog derives its name.
The term was broadened by landlubbers who were ill-conversant with
naval customs to mean any strong drink, though in Australia and New
Zealand it can also mean beer. "Groggy", a word first used in the
West Indies, came from "grog" to mean a person overcome by liquor;
later its meaning expanded to include anybody who was unsteady and
dazed for any reason.
5. Q&A: Denigrate
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Q. A recent film, The Great Debaters, suggests that "denigrate" is
an offensive term for African-Americans because it means "to make
black". The Denzel Washington character says that the word has
racist undertones because of this. What do you think? [Charles
Hendrickson]
A. The story sounds extremely unlikely. Whether it's just a simple
mistake or an underdog's attempt to find an insult where none was
intended, I've no way of knowing (I've not seen the film, though I
understand that it is set in the American South during the Great
Depression and conveys the day-to-day insults and slights African-
Americans had to endure). The argument would carry more conviction
if we could find examples of "denigrate" being used as a racial
insult or with racist implications. So far, I haven't found any.
There's enough truth in the etymology to give the story legs. It
does come from the Latin "niger", meaning "black", via the verb
"denigrare", to blacken. At one time it could be used in English
with that literal sense, but from when it first appeared, in the
sixteenth century, it also had a figurative sense of blackening
somebody's character or staining their reputation. This goes back
to ancient ideas in western culture that black is the colour of
despair, misery, wickedness or infamy.
So it is easy to see how "denigrate" could be thought to be a bad
word for black Americans. It reminds me of the fuss some years ago
over "niggardly" (see http://wwwords.org?NGGX). In that case, there
was evidence that the word was indeed thought to be disparaging and
complaints were made about an instance of its use. However, so far
as I know, no such belief or perceived insult is currently present
in the black American community. The way that it is said, with the
stress on the first syllable, obscures the supposed origin.
But if popular films argue powerfully enough that it is insulting,
then no doubt it will become so and another useful word in our
language will become possible to use only with great care.
6. Sic!
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Who guessed that World Wide Words would be joining the rest of the
media in chronicling the doings of Britney Spears? The Los Angeles
Times calendar section reported on Wednesday that Ms Spears will
guest star in a March 24 episode of the CBS series How I Met Your
Mother. Apparently, "the pop star will portray a receptionist in a
dermatologist's office named Abby".
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