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Author Topic: The random etymology of the day  (Read 238344 times)

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Offline Porter

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #975 on: January 05, 2010, 09:05:17 AM »
Nerd!
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Offline The Genuine

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #976 on: January 05, 2010, 09:08:15 AM »
I want to be a nerd!  The Spanish got the word for avocado from the Aztec word for the fruit, ?huacatl (testicle).
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Offline Porter

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #977 on: January 05, 2010, 09:09:23 AM »
You don't get to be a nerd.
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Offline Zalmoxis

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #978 on: January 05, 2010, 09:12:02 AM »
When I grow up I want to be an Orthoepist. That's like the Geek of Language Nerds.
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Zwei Aufgaben des Lebensanfangs: Deinen Kreis immer mehr einschränken und immer wieder nachprüfen, ob du dich nicht irgendwo außerhalb deines Kreises versteckt hältst. (Kafka)

Offline pooka

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #979 on: January 05, 2010, 11:27:44 AM »
Quote
The word drift was originally a noun form of the verb drive meaning "the act of driving". It developed a bunch of other senses and then got verbed around 1600. Drive then got nouned a little later, around 1700. I'm not sure it ever would have occurred to me that the two are related, except that I learned in German today that the verb treiben (which is obviously cognate to drive and means the same thing) can also mean to drift.
I never really thought about it, but I guess it falls into the thieve/theft pattern.  Bereave/bereft.  Give/gift.  Sieve/sift.  Cleave/cleft.  Heave/heft.  Leave/left.  
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Offline Tante Shvester

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #980 on: January 05, 2010, 08:57:21 PM »
Quote
When I grow up I want to be an Orthoepist. That's like the Geek of Language Nerds.
And you get to be the first one to write on people's casts!  In a language that they can't understand!

(Which is, quite literally, adding insult to injury.)
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Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
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I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline Zalmoxis

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #981 on: January 06, 2010, 07:14:33 AM »
:whistling:  
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Zwei Aufgaben des Lebensanfangs: Deinen Kreis immer mehr einschränken und immer wieder nachprüfen, ob du dich nicht irgendwo außerhalb deines Kreises versteckt hältst. (Kafka)

Offline Tante Shvester

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #982 on: January 06, 2010, 07:41:05 AM »
Fresh!  Are you whistling at me?
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Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
Sweet! Law of Moses loopholes! -- Anneke
I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline Zalmoxis

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #983 on: January 06, 2010, 08:42:08 AM »
Of course not. I'm just demonstrating my bilabial ejectives.
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Zwei Aufgaben des Lebensanfangs: Deinen Kreis immer mehr einschränken und immer wieder nachprüfen, ob du dich nicht irgendwo außerhalb deines Kreises versteckt hältst. (Kafka)

Offline Tante Shvester

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #984 on: January 06, 2010, 08:46:07 AM »
Cheeky!
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Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
Sweet! Law of Moses loopholes! -- Anneke
I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline Scott R

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #985 on: January 06, 2010, 09:59:31 AM »
I've had just about enough of you lip!  
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Offline Zalmoxis

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #986 on: January 06, 2010, 10:21:27 AM »
Make sure you give it back when you have had enough.
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Zwei Aufgaben des Lebensanfangs: Deinen Kreis immer mehr einschränken und immer wieder nachprüfen, ob du dich nicht irgendwo außerhalb deines Kreises versteckt hältst. (Kafka)

Offline BlackBlade

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #987 on: January 06, 2010, 12:58:18 PM »
Zalmoxis whistled a post by Tante, I never thought anybody could do that.
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Kyrgyzstan, is the homeland of the Kyrgyzs, a people best known for cheating at Scrabble. -Tante Shvester

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Offline Tante Shvester

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #988 on: January 06, 2010, 08:58:32 PM »
I may just whistle your avatar, BB.
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Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
Sweet! Law of Moses loopholes! -- Anneke
I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline BlackBlade

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #989 on: January 06, 2010, 09:29:20 PM »
Quote
I may just whistle your avatar, BB.
Everybody seems to hate it.  I'll probably change it sooner rather than later.
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Kyrgyzstan, is the homeland of the Kyrgyzs, a people best known for cheating at Scrabble. -Tante Shvester

What, you expected us to be badly injured or dead, and flying blind to boot? You're the one who told us all to be Awesome. -Brinestone

Offline Tante Shvester

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #990 on: January 06, 2010, 10:25:54 PM »
I don't  hate it.

I was really just teasing you.  I didn't mean to cause offense; if I did, I apologise.  If you like it, keep it.  
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Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
Sweet! Law of Moses loopholes! -- Anneke
I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline sweet clementine

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #991 on: January 06, 2010, 11:35:55 PM »
All I said was that it is quite epic, which it is.  I actually kind of enjoy it.  I usually watch it all the way through about once a day.  Otherwise I just tune it out.  :)
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Offline BlackBlade

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #992 on: January 07, 2010, 08:03:24 AM »
Quote
I don't  hate it.

I was really just teasing you.  I didn't mean to cause offense; if I did, I apologise.  If you like it, keep it.
Oh my feelings went quite unhurt.  But I can already see that while I enjoy watching it, it's not the sort of gif that as time passes endears itself to others.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2010, 08:03:35 AM by BlackBlade »
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Kyrgyzstan, is the homeland of the Kyrgyzs, a people best known for cheating at Scrabble. -Tante Shvester

What, you expected us to be badly injured or dead, and flying blind to boot? You're the one who told us all to be Awesome. -Brinestone

Offline Annie Subjunctive

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #993 on: January 07, 2010, 10:14:53 AM »
Unlike a gif like this, for example:

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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #994 on: January 14, 2010, 01:27:16 PM »
Here are 10 fun etymologies of the day. I'm not sure about the accuracy, but I particularly like the etymology of serendipity.
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Offline rivka

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #995 on: January 14, 2010, 02:01:47 PM »
I've always like that one.
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Offline Noemon

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #996 on: February 07, 2010, 12:30:11 PM »
Jonathon, I've been meaning to ask you this for a few months now, but keep forgetting to ask when I'm in front of a computer. Do you have any idea of the etymology of the verb "to train", meaning to point or aim at? I doubt that it's the same etymology as any of the other "to train" verbs, but I don't actually know (and the Online Etymological Dictionary isn't helping me to get to the bottom of it).
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Offline Jonathon

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #997 on: February 07, 2010, 12:59:54 PM »
It looks like it's related to other senses of the verb train. According to the OED, it comes from a Latin word which is cognate with the English draw and drag and which originally meant something like "to draw or pull along after one; to drag, haul, trail". From there more abstract senses developed like "to subject to discipline and instruction" and also the sense that you asked about, "to direct, point, or aim (a cannon or other fire-arm, or transf. a photographic camera)", which dates to 1841.

The noun and verb trail is apparently also related.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2010, 01:01:17 PM by Jonathon »
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Offline rivka

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #998 on: February 07, 2010, 01:27:55 PM »
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which originally meant something like "to draw or pull along after one; to drag, haul, trail".
Like entrain, hmm?
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Offline Jonathon

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The random etymology of the day
« Reply #999 on: February 07, 2010, 03:07:07 PM »
Yup. Entrain is just en + train (er, obviously).  
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