Dear Expert

[rivka]

Thank you for confirming that.

We must stamp this obscenity out! (Or, you know, pretend it never happened, which is probably more effective.)

[Tante Shvester]

I wasn't aware of it before, but now that you've daylighted it for us, I'll get right on that.

[rivka]

 

[Tante Shvester]

There's demagogue and pedagogue and synagogue. Are there any other agogues that I'm not thinking of?

[Jonathon]

Only a handful, and none that I've ever encountered before.

[rivka]

I knew emmenagogue (although I had to check to be sure I was remembering its meaning correctly). But the others . . . . 

[Ela]

I only know the ones Tante mentioned.

[Ela]

Why is a canard an unfounded rumor in English and a duck in French?
Is there a relationship between the two words?

[pooka]

m-w conjectures:

Spoiler: hiding my shame in using the literal dictionary (click to show/hide)

"In 16th-century France, vendre des canards à moitié was a colorful way of saying "to fool" or "to cheat." The French phrase means, literally, "to half-sell ducks." No one now knows just what was meant by "to half-sell"; the proverb was probably based on some story widely known at the time, but the details have not survived. At any rate, the expression led to the use of canard, the French word for "duck," with the meaning of "a hoax" or "a fabrication." English speakers adopted this canard in the mid-1800s. The aeronautical sense of canard, used from the early days of flying, comes from the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft."

[rivka]

Wanna buy a duck?

A what?

A duck!

Does it quack?

(If you have no idea what I am referring to, see this (among many others).)

[pooka]

I never heard of that one.  It seems like possible mispronunciations would be the main appeal to school children.  Does canard rhyme with anything potentially shocking in french?

[rivka]

It seems like possible mispronunciations would be the main appeal to school children.

Nah. It's just silly and fun, especially once you have a chain with lots of people. Like this!

[Ela]

m-w conjectures:

Spoiler: hiding my shame in using the literal dictionary (click to show/hide)

"In 16th-century France, vendre des canards à moitié was a colorful way of saying "to fool" or "to cheat." The French phrase means, literally, "to half-sell ducks." No one now knows just what was meant by "to half-sell"; the proverb was probably based on some story widely known at the time, but the details have not survived. At any rate, the expression led to the use of canard, the French word for "duck," with the meaning of "a hoax" or "a fabrication." English speakers adopted this canard in the mid-1800s. The aeronautical sense of canard, used from the early days of flying, comes from the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft."

Interesting, pooka. Which dictionary did you check?

[pooka]

m-w.com

[Tante Shvester]

Why is the typeset lowercase "g" so messed up.  I can't even draw it.

[rivka]

There was a study about it.

But this has more on the reasons.

[Ela]

Why on earth would someone use a comma after "include" in this sentence? (Including only the part of the sentence leading up to and after "include".)

"...pain treatment strategies during procedures for newborns and infants include, breastfeeding, skin-to-skin and..."

Am I wrong to think no comma is needed after include?
It's a quote pulled from another publication and quoted in an article I'm reviewing, so if it's wrong it was probably published wrong. Unless the article writer typed the quote incorrectly.

[Brinestone]

Yes, the comma is incorrect.

[Jonathon]

Yeah, it's wrong. I have no idea why someone would put one there, though.

[rivka]

Because some people think they are meant to put a comma anywhere they would pause when speaking the sentence aloud.

[Ela]

Ha! Yeah, something like that.

Folks use commas inappropriately a lot.