GalacticCactus Forum

Author Topic: The random etymology of the day  (Read 238472 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Porter

  • ruining funny with facts
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,333
  • long time lurker, first time poster
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1000 on: February 08, 2010, 08:44:41 AM »
Like entrails?
Tomorrow Poster
Sooner or later, this forum is going to max out on hyperliteralness.

Offline Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,680
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1001 on: February 08, 2010, 09:33:43 AM »
It looks like entrails looks similar only by coincidence. It comes from the Latin intralis, meaning "interior", and is unrelated to train or trail.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline Porter

  • ruining funny with facts
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,333
  • long time lurker, first time poster
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1002 on: February 08, 2010, 10:37:06 AM »
I want my money back.
Tomorrow Poster
Sooner or later, this forum is going to max out on hyperliteralness.

Offline Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,680
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1003 on: February 08, 2010, 10:43:44 AM »
You're in luck. I offer a 30-day satisfaction guarantee on all etymologies.  
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline Noemon

  • Arbiter of Cool
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3,059
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1004 on: February 09, 2010, 05:14:47 PM »
Thanks for looking into it, Jonathon.
I wish more people were able to be like me. 
-Porter

I'm about perfect.
-pooka

I hope you have a wonderful adventure in Taiwan. Not a swashbuckling adventure, just a prawn flavored pringles adventure.

-pooka

Offline Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,680
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1005 on: February 09, 2010, 05:17:35 PM »
No problem.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline goofy

  • Veteran Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 154
    • View Profile
    • http://
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1006 on: February 10, 2010, 07:16:58 AM »
Quote
Here are 10 fun etymologies of the day. I'm not sure about the accuracy, but I particularly like the etymology of serendipity.
There's more to the etymology of "robot": Karel ?apek or his brother got the word from Czech robota "drudgery, compulsory service". It's cognate with orphan.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2010, 08:28:08 AM by goofy »

Offline dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1007 on: February 25, 2010, 11:16:00 AM »
Does "opossum" the animal have any etymological connection to the latin word "possum" (to be able)?

Offline fugu13

  • Veteran Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 227
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1008 on: February 25, 2010, 11:22:33 AM »
Wikipedia attributes it to an Algonquin root. So, absent some astounding developments in the migration history of North America, no ;) .

Offline dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1009 on: February 25, 2010, 11:28:14 AM »
Bummer.

Offline Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,680
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1010 on: February 25, 2010, 01:07:52 PM »
The OED agrees: it's from a Virginia Algonquin word meaning "white dog".
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline Annie Subjunctive

  • Hausfrau
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 10,921
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1011 on: February 25, 2010, 04:32:08 PM »
However, possums do exhibit incredibly high levels of self-efficacy.
"It is true, however, that the opposite of Little Rock, Arkansas is Boulder, Colorado." - Tante

Offline Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,680
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1012 on: February 25, 2010, 06:29:29 PM »
Quote
Bummer.
So why is that a bummer?
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1013 on: February 26, 2010, 01:32:31 AM »
It would have been an interesting connection.  Of course, the actual etymology is also interesting, so it is simultaneously a bummer and a non-bummer.

Offline rivka

  • Linguistic Anarchist
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,155
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1014 on: February 26, 2010, 03:11:15 AM »
But only until you open the box?
"Sometimes you need a weirdo to tell you that things have gotten weird. Your normal friends, neighbors, and coworkers won’t tell you."
-Aaron Kunin

Offline dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1015 on: February 26, 2010, 06:03:24 AM »
Nope.  I am currently reading Ricoeur, not Schroedinger.  Surplus of meaning, not determinancy, is the order of the day.

At least until I post the text of my presentation in . . . *checks clock* . . . four hours.

 :sleep:  

Offline Scott R

  • Mr. Astounding
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2,341
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1016 on: February 26, 2010, 06:13:50 AM »
God is love.  Does anything else really need to be said on the subject?

:)

Good luck, dkw.

Offline dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1017 on: February 26, 2010, 10:27:44 AM »
Quote
Does anything else really need to be said on the subject?
 
In a seminar on hermeneutics?  Lots.

Besides, today I am channeling Pilate -- the question is not "What is God?" but "What is truth?" One could, of course, make the argument that those are the same question.  But it would involve words.  Oh, so many words*.  With referentiality.  Or not, depending on which philosopher you believe.

*1,338 at least.  

Offline Tante Shvester

  • Souper Member
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 9,868
    • View Profile
    • About Tante
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1018 on: February 26, 2010, 10:34:13 AM »
Quote

 :sleep:
Playing 'possum?
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 dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1019 on: February 26, 2010, 10:51:40 AM »
Up since 1:30.  Had the great luck to draw first presenter, which means 4 days notice and 1000 pages of reading to condense into a pithy paper.

On the plus side, about 1/3 of my work for this seminar is now done.  And I've got four weeks notice for the next 1/3.  

Offline Scott R

  • Mr. Astounding
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2,341
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1020 on: February 26, 2010, 10:51:52 AM »
Quote
In a seminar on hermeneutics?

WHAT?  Look, you mainstream Christians are generally good people.  But when you start going around neutering hermits, I draw the line.

Seriously.  That's effed up.

Offline Tante Shvester

  • Souper Member
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 9,868
    • View Profile
    • About Tante
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1021 on: February 26, 2010, 11:12:24 AM »
Quote
Up since 1:30.  Had the great luck to draw first presenter, which means 4 days notice and 1000 pages of reading to condense into a pithy paper.

On the plus side, about 1/3 of my work for this seminar is now done.  And I've got four weeks notice for the next 1/3.
Bah!  I've been up since 2, yesterday afternoon.

My body hurts.


And I honestly don't understand at all what it means "G'd is love".  I mean, it sounds nice and all, but does it mean something?  I totally don't get it.  My perspective may be different.  Like a parallax or something.

Condensing 1000 pages into a pithy paper in four days seems a Herculean task.  You may just be Hercules.  I stand impressed with your ability to do that.
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 Annie Subjunctive

  • Hausfrau
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 10,921
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1022 on: February 26, 2010, 11:43:53 AM »
Does it mean that God is made of love, or that love is made of God? I always wondered that.
"It is true, however, that the opposite of Little Rock, Arkansas is Boulder, Colorado." - Tante

Offline Tante Shvester

  • Souper Member
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 9,868
    • View Profile
    • About Tante
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1023 on: February 26, 2010, 11:57:08 AM »
It kind of cracks me up that Dana has to go to graduate school for Pilates lessons, when they give those at the local "Y".
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 dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
The random etymology of the day
« Reply #1024 on: February 26, 2010, 12:07:15 PM »
No thank you, I took a Pilates class once.  Speaking of bodies hurting.