Language & Grammar discussion
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Etymology and the Origins of Words & Expressions
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Just discovered this: Clue comes from clew, a ball of thread or yarn. Theseus used one to find his way from the Labyrinth, therefore it has come to mean something that helps us out of a puzzle.
But how did it help him? He was leaving the Labyrinth whe he found it?....Was the road also a maze?
Hansel & Gretel used breadcrumbs to mark their path into the forest, and the birds ate them.Then they got wise and used string.
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You may be right. Didn't the witch end up in the oven? Those German märchen are often quite Grimm.
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Aye David, the old faerie tales are regularly brutal. Disney took all the carnage and fun out of them. Some books worth a wee look on the subject:The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales
From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers
Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales
Back to etymology...and fairy tales, 'cause i know this one's not true... I had a history teacher in middle school tell a class that "nylon" was an acronym. Supposedly nylon was intended to break up the stranglehold that Asian countries had on the silk trade, and stood for "Now You Lousy Old Nipponese." I wonder how much incorrect information we all picked up in school because it sounded reasonable.
and then there were the on the playground listening to older kid errors
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learn about sex on the street, where you're supposed to.
Oops. That was a bit of constructional homonymy. Flying planes CAN be dangerous.
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Hence "morpheme"--a single unit of grammatical import, grapheme, a distinctive unit of writing systems.And "meme"--a single cultural item.
Yadda yadda.
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It doesn't matter what you do, but don't do it in the street and frighten the horses.
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Debbie wrote: "Hi Anthony......and the etymology of that phrase is.....?"No etymology, but don't alleys, streets and roads all evoke both pleasure and danger. In street markets hide street-urchins and pickpockets. Street walkers offer temptations leading the unwary to Queer Street. Grub Street is the home of the gutter press. In Ireland, people danced at the crossroads, but here lurked fairies and other evil spirits.
Best stay indoors.
Been reading a bunch of stuff on the Brit Civil War and came across the fact that the executioners of Charles Stuart wore masks and false beards.They were also in drag.
Obviously bearded drag queens were no to be messed with in the 1600s.
Anyone know where the word "drag" in that context comes from?
I think I once read somewhere that "drag" in drag queen simply means Dressed As Girl. Could be wrong about that, but I always kinda liked that explanation.
From Wiki...."A drag queen is a person, usually a man, who dresses (or "drags") in female clothes and make-up for special occasions and usually because they are performing and entertaining as a hostess, stage artist or at an event. This is in contrast to those who cross-dress for reasons other than as a source of entertainment for others or transgender people who are not necessarily drag queens or cross-dressers but sometimes fit into those labels.
.... Although many assume all drag queens are gay men or transgender, there are drag artists of all genders and sexualities who do drag for various reasons. Generally, drag queens dress in a female gender role, often exaggerating certain characteristics for comic, dramatic or satirical effect. Other drag performers include drag kings, who are women who perform in male roles, faux queens, who are women who dress in an exaggerated style to emulate drag queens and faux kings, who are men who dress to impersonate drag kings.
The term drag queen usually refers to people who dress in drag for the purpose of performing, whether singing or lip-synching, dancing, participating in events such as gay pride parades, drag pageants, or at venues such as cabarets and discotheques. In the United Kingdom, alongside traditional drag work such as shows and performances, many drag queens engage in 'mix-and-mingle' or hosting work at night clubs or at private parties/events. Drag is a part of Western gay culture; it is often noted that the Stonewall riots on June 27, 1969 in New York City were inspired and led by drag queens, and, in part for this reason, drag queens remain a tradition at pride events. Prominent drag queens in the gay community of a city often serve as official or unofficial spokespersons, hosts or emcees, fund-raisers, chroniclers and community leaders."
Many acronym etymologies are made up, but some are real, like "yuppie," "buppie," and my favorite, "BoBo .""Drag"--I dunno.
I wonder if it's anything to do with the tradition of cross dressing in pantomime?But why "drag"? Linked to rag?
Anyone else have any ideas of roots?
On "drag", according to Partidge Dictionary of Historical Slang the word was used by male actors when playing women: "Derived from the drag of the dress,as distinct from the non-dragginess of the trousers". I'm not very convinced, however.
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Anthony wrote: "On "drag", according to Partidge Dictionary of Historical Slang the word was used by male actors when playing women: "Derived from the drag of the dress,as distinct from the non-dragginess of the t..."I like that: "non-dragginess"...but what if you had huge comedy trousers on?
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YELLOW-BELLYMeaning....A coward.
Origin
The term 'yellow-belly' is an archetypal American term, but began life in England in the late 18th century as a mildly derogatory nick-name. Grose's A provincial glossary; with a collection of local proverbs etc, 1787, lists it:
"Yellow bellies. This is an appellation given to persons born in the Fens, who, it is jocularly said, have yellow bellies, like their eels."
The usage wasn't limited to the Lincolnshire Fens. In the same year, Knight's Quarterly Magazine (London) published an account of life in the the Staffordshire Collieries. It began by describing the region as "a miserable tract of country commencing a few miles beyond Birmingham" and went on to recount a lady's attempts at guessing the nick-name of a local resident - Lie-a-bed, Cock-eye, Pig-tail and finally Yellow-belly.
Another English directory, A General Dictionary of Provincialisms, by William Holloway, 1839, which contains the obliging sub-heading - written with a view to rescue from oblivion the fast fading relics of by-gone days, also lists the term:
"Yellow-belly, A person born in the Fens of Lincolnshire (From the yellow, sickly complexion of persons residing in marshy situations.)"
Holloway clearly lifted the definition from Grose. How much credence we should give to either Grose's or Holloway's explanation of the origin of the term is debatable. Neither seems especially convincing. It is just as likely that 'yellow-belly' didn't refer to a person's complexion and had no literal meaning, but was simply a piece of nonsense name-calling - somewhat akin to 'lily-livered'.
None of the early English uses of the name suggest cowardice. For that sense we have to travel to the USA.
The screenplay of a B-feature western wasn't complete without a selection from the list of stock cowboy lingo. You were as likely to find a coward that wasn't called a yellow-belly as you were to see the Lone Ranger without his mask.
The first use of the term that I can find from the USA, and one that suggests the derogatory, cowardly meaning, comes from an account of a military skirmish in Texas, reported in The Wisconsin Enquirer, April 1842:
We learn from Capt. Wright, of the N. York, that it is the intention of the Texans to "keep dark" until the Mexicans cross the Colorado, and then give them a San Jacinto fight, with an army from 5000 to 7000 men. God send that they may bayonet every "yellow belly" in the Mexican army.
The US usage initially applied specifically to Mexicans, who were then at war with the USA. Whether the 'yellow' reference was a racist allusion to skin colour, ill-health, or to a likening to snakes, lizards etc. isn't clear. Whatever the origin, the US 'coward' version seems to be independent of the earlier English nick-name.
THE HAIR OF THE DOG (aha...I've often wondered what a dog's hair had to do with a hangover???)Meaning
A small measure of drink, intended to cure a hangover.
Origin
The fuller version of this phrase, i.e. 'the hair of the dog that bit me', gives a clue to the source of the name of this supposed hangover cure. That derivation is from the mediaeval belief that, when someone was bitten by a rabid dog, a cure could be made by applying the same dog's hair to the infected wound. How many people managed to get bitten again when trying to approach the aforesaid dog to acquire the hair to achieve this completely useless remedy isn't known. The knowledge of the derivation should at least put paid to the frequent 'hare of the dog' misspelling.
Whilst the hair of the dog that bit us is now dismissed as an effective rabies treatment, the taking of additional alcohol to cure a hangover has some scientific basis. The symptoms of hangover are partly induced by a withdrawal from alcohol poisoning. A small measure of alcohol may be some temporary relief, even if in the longer term it makes the hangover worse.
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Ruff!
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a dog's life
dog day afternoon
three dog night
a dog in the manger
dog days of summer
doggone
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P.S. My dog has his day every day. All he does is eat, sleep, and pass gas (he's an easy grader).
dog one's footstepsputtin' on the dog
imperialist running dog
dog returning to his vomit
dog of a Jew
"faithful as a wolfhound, kind as Santa Claus"
every dog has his day
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Tempest in a teapot
Meaning
A small or unimportant event that is over-reacted to, as if it were of considerably more consequence.
Origin
Readers from England might well be tut-tutting about the mangling of their perfectly good phrase 'a storm in a teacup' and castigating the American 'tempest in a teapot' as a newcomer, having little more reason to exist than its neat alliteration.
In fact, the teacup wasn't the first location of the said storm, nor was the teapot. The phrase probably derives from the writing of Cicero, in De Legibus, circa 520BC. The translation of his "Excitabat fluctus in simpulo" is often given as "He was stirring up billows in a ladle" (correctly translated or not, I don't know; I don't speak Latin).
Whether the first user of the expression in English had Cicero in mind, he made no mention of tea-making, although he wasn't so far away. The Duke of Ormond's letters to the Earl of Arlington, 1678, include this:
"Our skirmish seems to be come to a period, and compared with the great things now on foot, is but a storm in a cream bowl."
Also, before the 'teacup/teapot' versions were well-established, another nobleman came up with a version that didn't involve the tea-table at all. The Gentleman's Magazine, 1830, records:
"Each campaign, compared with those of Europe, has been only, in Lord Thurlow's phrase, a storm in a wash-hand basin."
'Tempest in a teapot' is the version that is used most often in the USA, and hardly at all in other places, but which nevertheless appears to have a Scottish rather than an American origin. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 1825, included a debate over the relative merits of the Scottish poets James Hogg and Tom Campbell. Campbell's imagery of raging tempests in his poetic work wasn't well received there:
What is the 'tempest raging o'er the realms of ice'? A tempest in a teapot!
Finally, we come to the version of the phrase that we English might imagine is the 'proper' original version. This appears to be neither original or English as it is later than the versions above, and the first mention that I can find of it also hails from north of the border. Catherine Sinclair, the Scottish novelist and children's writer, wrote a novel of fashionable society life, Modern Accomplishments, or the march of intellect, in 1838:
"As for your father's good-humoured jests being ever taken up as a serious affair, it really is like raising a storm in a teacup."
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It comes from the Middle English spinnen (meaning to spin), plus the feminine suffix (stere). Way back when, a woman who could spin (and whose family could afford a spinning wheel) had no need of a man because she was financially independent. Who needs marriage to a belching, farting, cussing machine like a man, then?
Today, however, there seems to be a negative connotation to any older woman who never married. Like, what's wrong with her? Or might we get further if we ask, what's RIGHT with her? Discuss.
Newengland wrote: "I just read that the .... Who needs marriage to a belching, farting, cussing machine like a man, then?Oh My! I have a different model!
That one says "get thee to a nunnery girl!"
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Debbie...My current read http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Hearts-N...a visit to Renaissance Italy where women were routinely sent to convents. They could not work or have a craft and had no say...no spinsters allowed..marry a man or marry Christ...no other options.
This is a fantastic book BTW!
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Anna, I think that 'hash' is a Scottish term for one's bar tab, thus to 'settle' would mean to pay it off.But I think it's drifted into the current stream as an expression to take revenge on someone.
But I'm shootin' from the hip here...
Language & Grammar
Books mentioned in this topic
I is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the Way We See the World (other topics)Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (other topics)
From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers (other topics)
The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (other topics)
Angela Carter's Book Of Fairy Tales (other topics)
More...
Now wild caught Northwest Pacific Salmon....yummmmmmmm
...and pass the wild berries!
We had Turkey and wild Salmon and King Crab legs with a veritable smorgasbord of side dishes for Thanksgiving dinner last night, plus an assortment of rich desserts!... I am now waddling down to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade downtown Seattle!....gobble...swoosh...creak....