Semantica

Candidate

2009-05-20T02:21:00.003+04:00

The fact that the words "candid" and "candidate" share the same roots (the Indo European root word "kand" , that means "to shine" and is also the root for the word "candle") should not come as a surprise. What is interesting though is the reason why the word is used to refer to someone who is seeking a political position. In ancient Rome, by tradition, a person who would run for a political office would wear a white colored toga. This was more symbolic than a rule as it hinted at the purity of the person running for the political position (Ha! you would say, given how we perceive political candidates today, irrespective of our race or nation). So, though candidate is literally translated as "clothed in white", it was borrowed in English to refer to a political-position seeker, thanks to a Roman tradition.

Donnybrook

2009-04-28T02:41:00.002+04:00

Donnybrook - an uproar, brawl

Donnybrook is a district of Dublin, Ireland. It used to be the site of Donnybrook Fair. It began in 1204 when King John bestowed the eight-day event on the citizens to thank them for fortifying the city of Dublin. The fair became notorious for drunkenness and rowdiness giving rise to the word donnybrook. The fair was eventually banned in 1855, but the word stuck.

Usage example: .....the donnybrook on Capitol Hill over immigration.....

Sources: answers.com, http://www.donnybrooktennisclub.ie/content/info/history.jsp

Dutch Courage

2009-04-01T04:34:00.006+04:00

Meaning – bravery boosted by alcohol

During 17th century, the enmity between England and Holland increased because of control over sea and new world searched. So during one such a war sailors aboard the Hollander British warship were given brandy before beginning of the war. Due to this enmity, wherever Britishers settled, they started their anti-Dutch tradition.

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk
Image Source: wikipedia.org

P.S. :- Intention of second post was just to make sure 100th post is on my name. :D :D

Break a leg

2009-04-01T04:28:00.003+04:00

Meaning - Wish good luck (especially) to actors before they go on to stage

There are different stories behind this phrase. But one interesting story goes with John Wilkes Booth who assassinated Abraham Lincoln on 14th April, 1865. After assassination, Booth tried to escape and broke his leg, but it was his luck that he escaped because of his broken leg. Still his luck ran out and got killed twelve days after the incident. Basically the assassination incident happened in a theatre and when Booth assassinated Lincoln, he tried to jump on stage and that’s how he broke his leg. So now the phrase is used to wish actors good luck even though it’s literal meaning sounds bad omen.

Source: http://www.pharses.org.uk
Image Source: Wikipedia.org

Toast

2009-02-27T22:39:00.002+04:00

Here's to the ritual of raising glasses and proposing to drink in honor of someone or something special.

Ever wondered why the "toast-master" proposes a "toast" for the "toastee"?

It is believed that in ancient Rome, it was usual to put a piece of burnt toast in a wine glass. The reasons given for the practice range from adding flavor to the wine, to providing a "treat" at the bottom of the glass. The most plausible of them seems to be that it was a way to remove undesirable flavors from the wines, specially form the cheaper wines. As the practice made its way to England, the never-to-be-underestimated Englishmen added their own spin to it. Around 1700, it is believed that the British upper class began referring to the most popular lady at a party or a social gathering by putting a buttered toast, often with sugar and nutmeg in the butter, in a glass of wine to make it special. Once popular young ladies became the toast of the party, or of the town, raising your glasses to them became "toasting."

Sources: /www.yourdictionary.com , http://itotd.com/

To turn a blind eye

2009-01-07T23:11:00.007+04:00

To turn a blind eye - deliberately overlook

Admiral Hortaio Nelson, better known as Lord Nelson, was blinded in one eye early in his Royal Navy career. In 1801, during the seige of Copenhagen Lord Nelson, second in command of the English fleet, was ordered by his superior Admiral Sir Hyde Parker to withdraw forces by flag signals. When made aware of such signals, Nelson deliberately put the telescope to his blind eye and said he could see no such signal. Thus, he ignored the order as if he had not seen it and ordered his forces to continue the attack. Luckily for him, English won the day.

Supposedly he remarked later that he had a blind eye and sometimes had a right to use it! :)

Even if Nelson did not exactly use the phrase "turn a blind eye" or invent it, the phrase is based on this event in his life.

Sources: Wikipedia, http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Image: LIFE Images

Quarantine

2008-11-25T22:19:00.003+04:00

Quarantine - A condition of enforced isolation.

The word comes from a Venetian custom in the Middle Ages when ships arriving from the reported plague-stricken countries were obliged to spend 40 days (Italian "quaranta" or "forty" comes from the Latin "quadraginta," also meaning 40) at the port, in isolation, before being allowed to unload its cargo and crew. Venice, in those days, was the chief European port of entry and Europe had experienced many epiemics of plague. Forty days was supposed to be long enough to kill the infection for goods (and people) by exposure to air and sunlight.
The current usage of the word is not limited to 40 days but "any period" of isolation.

Trivia: Quarantine first appeared as a legal term in 1609, as the period of 40 days in which a widow could remain in her dead husband's house before creditors could seize it.

Sources: answers.com, etymonline.com, Wikipedia

Tar Baby

2008-11-21T01:00:00.006+04:00

Tar Baby - a sticky situation: a situation or problem from which it is virtually impossible to disentagle oneself or that is only aggravated by efforts to solve it.

Continuing with the coal theme: here's an expression that received a lot of (unwanted???) attention when Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney used it to describe a construction project in 2006 but was "hauled over the coals" for what is considered a racial epithet by some.

The tar baby is supposedly a popular character from African folklore. It gained popularity in the 19th century United States in the written form in one of Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus stories, a collection of stories based on African-American folklore, narrated by the fictional Uncle Remus, a former slave. In the story, "Tar Baby" is a doll made of turpentine and tar, built by Brer Fox to entrap his enemy, a tricky and cunning Brer Rabbit. Brer Rabbit talks to the doll, and when it doesn't answer, he hits it, and gets stuck in the tar. The more he struggles with it, the more he is entangled in it.

It sounds like yet another harmless story, doesn't it? For reasons better known to this hard-to-comprehend world, (or perhaps I am missing some subtle nuances here???) the expression has been occasionally used as a derogatory term for African-Americans. Needless to add, public figures who choose to use it encounter controversy.

Source: http://www.randomhouse.com/, Wikipedia
Image: Wikipedia (Br'er Rabbit and the Tar-Baby, drawing by E.W. Kemble from The Tar-Baby, Joel Harris, 1904)

Carrying Coal to Newcastle

2008-11-13T19:37:00.003+04:00

Meaning - To do something that is obviously superfluous

The phrase, "carrying coals to Newcastle," means spending an inordinate amount of energy on something useless, fruitless, or redundant. This idiom arose in the 15th century because Newcastle, England was known throughout the country as a major exporter of coal. Therefore, "carrying coals to Newcastle" would do you no good, because there was more coal there than anywhere else. Variations on the saying include "bringing," "taking," or "moving" the coal.

Other countries have similar phrases; in German it's 'taking owls to Athens' (the inhabitants of Athens already having sufficient wisdom). 'Selling snow to Eskimos', which in many people's understanding is also the same, has a different connotation. Both the Dutch and Spanish having sayings, 'like bringing water to the ocean'. In Poland and Sweden, you'd hear, 'bringing wood to the forest'. Some regionally specific idioms for redundancy include Russia's 'taking samovars to Tulu,' a city famous for its spigotted teapots.

Ironically, in 2004 Newcastle began importing coal from Russia.
Sources: Wisegeek.com, Phrases.org

Canary in a Coal Mine

2008-11-08T20:00:00.006+04:00

Life for an actual canary in a coal mine could be described in three words - short but meaningful. Early coal mines did not feature ventilation systems, so miners would routinely bring a caged canary into new coal seams. Canaries are especially sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide, which made them ideal for detecting any dangerous gas build-ups. As long as the canary in a coal mine kept singing, the miners knew their air supply was safe. A dead canary in a coal mine signalled an immediate evacuation.

Even as gas detection technology improved, some mining companies still relied on the 'canary in a coal mine' method well into the 20th century. Other animals were used occasionally, but only the canary had the ability to detect small concentrations of gas and react instinctively.
Today, the practice of using a canary in a coal mine has become part of coal mining lore, but the ideology behind it has become a popular expression. The phrase living like a canary in a coal mine often refers to serving as a warning to others. The actual canary in a coal mine had little control over its fate, but it continued to sing anyway. In one sense, living like a canary in a coal mine indicates a willingness to experience life's dangers without compromise

Source: wisegeek.com

Ivy League

2008-09-07T21:21:00.004+04:00

Ivy League - Group of eight old, distinguished universities in the northeastern U.S., high in academic and social prestige (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, and Cornell Universities, the University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth College). Also called the "Ancient Eight" or simply the "Ivies"

There are a myriad theories that revolve around this one. To wit:

The ivy in the term is referring to the ivy-covered walls of the historic buildings of these institutions (See image)

One theory leads us to believe that over a century ago, an interscholastic athletic league was formed that comprised of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and a fourth school that keeps changing with the stories . It was officially called "IV League"; IV standing for Roman numeral four.

Most agree though that the term came from the sports world when New York Tribune sportswriter in 1933 who while describing the inter-university football season wrote, "A proportion of our eastern ivy colleges are meeting little fellows another Saturday before plunging into the strife and the turmoil".

Source: Wikipedia, Google Images

Well-heeled

2008-08-21T00:27:00.005+04:00

Well-heeled - prosperous

I don’t know a Manolo Blahnik from a Louis Vuitton but then I’m not well-heeled either!!!! :)

If you have an imagination as tame as mine, you’d assume that the origin of “well-heeled” comes from the plush set in their haute couture.
But no!!! The origin of the expression lies in the cock-fighting days of the yore when the contesting birds were equipped with the best spurs to cause the most damage. From there, it moved to the frontier days in America’s history when men carried concealed pistols in their boots. And as language knows no bounds, from concealed weapons it came to be used in reference to money (why?? don't know!!!!), as in the current usage.

Source: answers.com, Google Images

Buccaneer

2008-07-21T02:17:00.004+04:00

Buccaneer - a pirate

Do you barbecue? If the answer's a yay vs.a nay, then you may very well count yourself in the same league as swashbuckling Capt. Jack Sparrow. 'Coz that's where the word's origin lies.

Buccaneer originates in French as "boucanier" which referred to a person on the Caribbean islands who hunted wild boars etc. and cured/smoked the meat over a barbecue frame called a "boucan" in French. The word "boucan" itself came from a Tupi word meaning "a rack or rack-like platform." So there! If you barbecue, you are no less than Johnny Depp himself!!!!! :)

Source: Wikipedia/Google Images

Ricochet

2008-06-24T05:50:00.002+04:00

Meaning - Spring back;spring away from an impact (as a verb) and a glancing rebound(as a noun).

The origin of this french word is unknown. This was used as military term in earlier times to express the rebound of a projectile that strikes on a hard surface.It is said that during 18th century, field artillery, which was not,before Napolean's time,relied upon the ricochet of round shot.The term "ricochet" is now only applied, in modern rifle shooting, to the graze of a bullet that has struck short.

I came across its use in below line from The New York times "Some Muslim supporters of Mr. Obama seem to ricochet between dejection and optimism."

References: http://encyclopedia.jrank.org

Underdog

2008-06-05T23:48:00.003+04:00

Underdog - One that is at a disadvantage.

I always thought that the “dog” bit here referred to dogfight. But as they say, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". So a little bird-dogging revealed that instead of canine reference, dog in underdog is actually a plank of wood. The word supposedly originates from shipbuilding where the planks of wood (called dogs) were sawn for their construction. The senior saws-man stood on top of the plank and he was the overdog. The junior had to go below the planks. And…….. no brownie points for guessing that he was called the "underdog". As simple as that! :)
Source: Wikipedia, Answers.com

Sideburns

2008-05-31T00:35:00.003+04:00

By now, you know for certain, that I love eponyms. And this one comes with a "twist" ;D

I would have liked to believe that Elvis Presley's facial hair style would have started the trend but you gotta see the sideburns of Ambrose Burnside to know why they were named after him :D

Ambrose Burnside was a general in theUnion Army in the American Civil War and the guy could have not attained such popularity with his military exploits as he did with his fashion statement. He was the commander of the Army of the Potomac but was relieved of his command after losing the battle of Fredericksburg. His way of wearing his side whiskers along with a moustache but clean shaven chin gave the style the name Burnside's which with time morphed into burnsides and then into sideburns as such a facial pattern was on the sides of a face.

Source: Google, Answers.com

Marathon

2008-04-28T19:43:00.004+04:00

This is courtesy a friend who’s running a 26.2 miles marathon this June to raise funds for cancer research. A marathon is called so in remembrance of a Greek soldier who as the legend goes, ran from Marathon to Athens (about 25 miles) to report the Greek victory over Perisans at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. And then he dropped dead :(

Image: The soldier of Marathon announces the victory, from Google Images.

Incunabulum

2008-03-01T13:45:00.004+04:00

Incunabulum -

1 : a book printed before 1501

2 : a work of art or of industry of an early period

The invention of the mechanized printing press in the 15th century revolutionized the way books were produced, dramatically increasing the number and variety of works to be published and distributed to awaiting readers. "Incunabulum" first appeared in English in the 19th century, referring retroactively to those books produced in the first decades of printing press technology, specifically those printed before the year 1501, a date that appears to have been determined only arbitrarily. Coming from Latin, "incunabulum" is singular of "incunabula," which translates literally to "swaddling clothes" or "bands holding the baby in a cradle." The "baby" in this case is likely a figurative one, referring to a book that was produced when the art of printing was still in its infancy.

For further reading check out these links..

Incunabula - Introduction, Collections, Database

Source: Merriam Webster

Buckley's Chance

2008-02-26T16:12:00.001+04:00

Buckley's Chance : No chance at all (or only a very slim chance). Also called "Buckley's and none" or "Buckley's hope".

The origin of the term isn't certain but the most popular story pins itto William Buckley (1780-1856), a British convict transported to Australia.There, he escaped and found refuge among the Aborigines for more than threedecades. When he was rediscovered he had forgotten how to speak English.Since survival in the outback was difficult it was said that anyone lostthere had Buckley's chance of making it.

Another possibility is a pun on the Melbourne department store Buckleyand Nunn, i.e. one has two chances: Buckley's or none

Source: www.wordsmith.org

Baconian

2008-02-16T15:53:00.004+04:00

Baconian : one who believes that Francis Bacon wrote the works usually attributed to Shakespeare

Sir Francis Bacon was a man of many talents: he was a lawyer, a statesman, a philosopher, and a man of letters. He is remembered for the style and expression of his writing, for his power as a speaker in Parliament, and for his advocacy of what is today known as the "Baconian method" of arriving at scientific conclusions by careful examination of evidence and sorting of facts. Sir Francis Bacon is also considered, by some people, to be the true author of Shakespeare's works. The theory, which was first propounded in the mid-1800s, flourished from about 1880 to 1930 and is still subscribed to in certain circles today.

Well, I prefer to stay away from all bacons, be it Francis or beef! And can you believe it the picture above is his self portrait!!! I am sure he must have had good reasons to render such a humble tribute to oneself.

Purple prose

2008-01-27T13:40:00.000+04:00

Purple prose - literary works written in a language that is overly extravagant and ornate.

As the chief editor of the blog enjoys his sabbatical, I decided to dedicate a post here on his style of writing ;DD

In ancient days, purple dye was the rarest and most expensive thereby making it the color of choice for the royalty. One reason why purple robes came to be associated with European royalty. It is known that during Roman Republic, social climbers used to sew a patch of royal fabric on an ordinary cloth for the pretension of wealth. Roman poet, Horace in his Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry) used the phrase in allusion to ornate literary works.

Trivia:
Some of the examples of purple-prose that Wikipedia refers to are outrageously hilarious, to wit: "a somnambular accommodation" (a bedroom), "a nectarian beverage" (wine).

A sample of the recent contribution by the Chief himself:

"Thus was implanted a peeve towards European geo-political illiteracy. This post is a self gratiating attempt towards assuaging that peeve. Hark, self gratiating."

:)

Source: Wikipedia

Apple

2007-11-30T17:44:00.000+04:00

It just struck me that an etymologist would surely fall in love with an apple. Heres why

1. As American as apple pie
2. In apple pie order
3. As easy as apple pie
4. An apple a day, keeps the doctor away
5. The apple of my eye
6. Upset the apple cart
7. Comparing apples and oranges
8. A rotten apple

Duh! I prefer eating it.

Darby and Joan

2007-11-24T17:59:00.000+04:00

Darby and Joan - An elderly married couple who live a placid, harmonious life together and are seldom seen apart.

In 1735 Henry Woodfall, a printer's apprentice, wrote a ballad titled "The joys of love never forgot: a song" about a happily married elderly couple. His inspiration for those characters was his own boss John Darby and his wife Joan:

"Old Darby, with Joan by his side,

You've often regarded with wonder:

He's dropsical, she is sore-eyed,

Yet they're never happy asunder ..."

He wrote this poem after Darby's death. This poem in turn became an inspiration for follow-up poems and eventually Darby and Joan became a metaphor. In the UK, clubs for old people are still called Darby and Joan clubs. Below is a pic of D&J figurines.

Source: www.answers.com, www.wordsmith.org, www.cartoonstock.com,

Quisling

2007-11-03T16:52:00.000+04:00

Quisling - traitor

I seem to be in love with eponyms. There's something fascinating about people whose lives in fame (or infamy) help enrich a language. Today's word is a commonization of the last name of Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945), a Norwegian fascist politician who helped German Nazi forces to occupy Norway during World War II. Thereafter, he was made the head of the puppet government. After Germany's loss in the war, he was tried and convicted of high treason and executed.

The term quisling for traitors was coined by the British newspaper, The Times, in 1940 when they titled an article "Quislings everywhere". The word means traitor not only in English but in several European languages. Something like a modern-day Judas???

Trivia: In a wartime Norwegian cartoon, "Audience with Hitler, Quisling says: "I am Quisling", and Hitler replies: "And the name?".

Sources: www.yourdictionary.com, answers.com, Wikipedia

Images: Google: Quisling with Hitler

Nosism

2007-10-28T00:10:00.000+04:00

Nosism - The use of 'we' in referring to oneself.

As I keep my nose to the grindstone, I decided to break the monotony of my current rigorous academic life to write this post. The word came today in mail and I had to share it. No great story behind its etymology though. It's simply derived from the Latin word, nos that means "we" and is also known as the "editorial we" due to its frequent use by the editors. Also called "the royal we" owing to royalty using it often. You have to read the trivia though :D

Trivia: Mark Twain once said, "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the 'editorial we'".

Source: www.wordsmith.org

Banter

2007-10-18T12:33:00.000+04:00

Meaning - act of bantering,joking,jesting,pleasantry.

During the 17th century, the word "banter" appeared in low slang.Initially it was used more for aggressive and vicious exchanges rather than mild or friendly exchange of teasing remarks. The first appearance of the word was seen in the play Madam Fickle,dated in 1676 by Thomas D'Urfey, in which Zechiel cries to his old brother "Banter him ,banter him Toby".
The notorious meaning of "Banter" actually was coined by Jonathan Swift in the famous article he wrote for The Tatler in 1710.In it he attacked what he called "The continual corruption of our English tongue". Same year he wrote about the word in his apology to The Tale of a Tub, that "This polite word of theirs was first borrowed from the bullies in White-Friars, then fell among the footmen and at last retired to the pedants; by whom it is applied as properly to the productions of wit as if I should apply it to Sir Isaac Newton's mathematics".

Source - http://www.worldwidewords.org

Deja vu

2007-10-15T22:12:00.000+04:00

Guest Post by Radha

'Déjà vu' is a french term that literally means "already seen" and has several variations, including 'déjà vécu', already experienced; 'déjà senti', already thought; and 'déjà visité', already visited. French scientist Emile Boirac, one of the first to study this strange phenomenon, gave the subject its name in 1876.

Trivia: Research shows that almost 70% of people experience 'deja vu' at least once before the age of 25 and that it is usually triggered not by big events but by life's mundane details (like the pattern of the dishes stacked in the kitchen or the window-display in a shop).

My favourite theory explaining 'deja vu' is from the movie "The Matrix" :)

NEO: A black cat went past us and then I saw another that looked just like it.

TRINITY: How much like it? Was it the same cat?

NEO: It might have been. I'm not sure. What is it?

TRINITY: A deja vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.

Laconic

2007-10-01T22:55:00.000+04:00

Laconic - Terse and concise

I still remember 666's fascination with Zach Snyder's movie "300" and the lengthy discourses he delved into before the movie was released. I never got around to watching the movie but the dialogues he listed on one of his posts stayed with me. Little did I know then, that they will lead me to origin of the word laconic. Laconia is the name of a region of Greece of which Sparta was the capital. The Spartans, noted for being warlike and disciplined, were also known for the bluntness of the speech and for their dry wit. And hence the word laconic!

Trivia: An example of a Spartan laconic exchange: When Philip II of Macedon turned his attention to Sparta after having key Greek city-states in submission, he sent a message: "If I win this war, you will be slaves forever." The Spartans sent back a one word reply: "If".

Sources: www.answers.com, Google Images

Bunkum

2007-09-22T07:01:00.000+04:00

Bunkum- empty talk

Politicians and empty talk go hand in hand. Any surprises then that the word bunkum has its origin in the world of politics? As the story goes, Felix Walker a Congressman from Buncombe County, North Carolina, US around 1820 gave the dullest of the speeches ever to the members of the 16th Congress. Despite people walking out on him, he continued, for his constituents expected him to make a speech, and so he was "obliged to speak for Buncombe" (as told by him later). Ever since buncombe which was later spelled as bunkum (also shortened to bunk sometimes) came to mean claptrap nonsense.

Sources: www.answers.com

Serendipity

2007-09-15T10:50:00.000+04:00

Since I have been away for so long, I thought I should make my comeback with a charming word and there's nothing more charming than serendipity. I think the credit of popularising this word should rest with the movie, which is how I too became aware of its existence. If started eulogising about the movie, then the origin would take a back backseat so all I'm going to say is that its ridiculously romantic and lovely.I'm not spoiling the story for anyone who has not seen it by recounting the story.

Serendipity is described as the effect of discovering something fortunate while looking for something else.

The credit for coining it goes to Horace Walpole who used it in a letter to his friend Horace Mann. He claimed to draw inspiration from a Persian fairy tale. His exacts word are as follows

"It was once when I read a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right—now do you understand serendipity? One of the most remarkable instances of this accidental sagacity (for you must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for, comes under this description) was of my Lord Shaftsbury, who happening to dine at Lord Chancellor Clarendon's, found out the marriage of the Duke of York and Mrs. Hyde, by the respect with which her mother treated her at table."

Trivia:

The Three Princes of Serendip is an old Persian fairy tale about three men who were on a mission but they always found something that was irrelevant but needed in reality. They discovered things by good fortune and sagacity.

Serendip is the Persian name for Sri Lanka. Which makes the word much closer to home.

Sources:wikipedia

Image: A scene from the movie Serendipity

Sandwich

2007-09-13T03:22:00.000+04:00

I'm a foodie wannabe. Unfortunately my knowledge and skills in the kitchen aren’t on par with my love of food. And that explains why I pour out my love for food on Semantica (Remember the posts on croissant and cappuccino? )

Sandwich was long invented before John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (located in south east England), an 18th century English aristocrat, lent his title to it. The guy was known to be an obsessive gambler and to avoid leaving the gambling table to take supper, he favored this portable type of food. It allowed Lord Sandwich to continue playing cards, while eating without getting his cards sticky from eating meat with his bare hands.

Trivia: Be ready for some chuckles!! To the south of Sandwich is another little town called Ham. So the road leading to the towns has sign posts reading:

Ham
Sandwich

A sign that gets stolen every now and then.

And if that did not raise a chuckle, then try this, there's yet another town called Deal nearby, so there are places where road signs read.....(you guessed it!!!)
Ham
Sandwich
Deal

Sources: http://www.answers.com/ , http://en.wikipedia.org
Image: Google Images

Jamboree

2007-09-07T07:32:00.000+04:00

First, my sincere apologies for not being regular on Semantica for more than a month. Starting with a word which everybody knows and nothing interesting in its origin too. Sorry about that.

Meaning - a large assembly of boy scouts or a large festive gathering.

Origin - The pic shown on right hand side is none other than Robert Baden Powell. He was the founder of boy scouts during 1880-90s. The word Jambo means "Hello" in swahili and Swahili is the language spoken in Kenya and other countries of Africa. Baden Powell was living in Kenya and where he started scouting and teaching to soldiers. So teach them , he used to gather all of them and used to start with word "Jamboree".

Just for more information Anil Kumble is known as JUMBO in Indian Cricket Team.

Sources - Image - google image and www.phrases.org.uk

Maverick

2007-08-27T21:00:00.000+04:00

Maverick- One that refuses to abide by the dictates of or resists adherence to a group; a dissenter

Remember the eccentric Thomas Hobson of "Hobson's choice" fame. Looks like he's got company. In South Texas, lived a lawyer Samuel Augustus Maverick in the mid-nineteenth century (1803-1870) who took up cattle ranching not because he was a rancher himself but 'coz a client gave him 400 hundred heads of cattle in lieu of cash. In Texas cattle grazed on the open range, without fences to keep one herd separate from another, and thus there was much opportunity for theft and disputes over ownership. To identify their cattle, ranchers branded them.

But Maverick due to reasons unknown (could be laziness or the cruelty of branding animals) would not brand his cattle and some stories say that he lost a few of his herd to his unscrupulous neighbors who would brand his cattle as their own while other claim that he was influential (being San Antonio's mayor) and hence was able instead to claim that any unbranded calf was his.

Thus, the name maverick started to be applied to all cattle without brands and writers who heard the story decided to take it beyond cattle. What better word to use for a politician who was "unbranded" by a party label, not "owned" by special interests? In the same vein, maverick began to be used for artists who were independent in their thinking and later for anyone who can be called a dissenter.

Did you know: Dude has its origin in the Wild West too??

Source: The Merriam Webster Book of Word Histories, www.answers.com
Pic: http://www.pilgrimjohnhowlandsociety.org/

Rickety

2007-08-22T09:36:00.000+04:00

Rickety - Likely to break or fall apart; shaky.

Funny, but it never occurred to me earlier: the word comes from rickets. Remember the deficiency disease we learned about in our childhood science textbooks, when bones do not harden and are deformed due to lack of vitamin D.

Cappuccino

2007-08-15T14:18:00.000+04:00

Coffee is my comfort drink. I'm not addicted to it but I love the whole ritual surrounding coffee. Wanna partake in my morning ritual? Then read on :)

A cappuccino is espresso coffee mixed or topped with steamed milk or cream. Espresso itself is an Italian word meaning "pressed out" and called so as it's made in a coffee making machine (first invented in Italy in the beginning of 20th century) that presses water through fine ground coffee.

Cappuccino on the other hand had nothing to do with coffee originally. It comes from the Italian word Cappuchio that means "little hood" . The colour of the coffee reminded Italians of the brown robes of one of the Roman Catholic orders of monks, namely the Capuchins. The Capuchin order of friars was established in 1525 and they wore brown silken robes with pointed hoods.

Trivia: The name of this pious order was later used as the name (first recorded in English in 1785) for a type of monkey often having a hood like tuft of hair on the head. So we also have a monkey, a native of Central and South America, that's called Capuchin.

Sources: http://www.answers.com , http://www.billcasselman.com/
Pic: http://www.capuchinfriars.org.au/

Qi

2007-08-10T08:31:00.000+04:00

Guest Post by Radha

The first time I came across the word 'Qi' was when a friend used it in Scrabble (I challenged it and was heartbroken to find that the English dictionary does actually list this word). I found the word peculiar & interesting for many reasons; the main one being that for a tiny word, it contains such a lot of depth.

'Qi' is the center of Chinese philosophy & traditional medical science, its literal meaning is 'air' or 'breath'; but in Chinese philosophy it represents what in English could be called 'life force'. Its close cousin would be the term 'prana' used in Hindu philosophy.

The etymology of the word is quite simple really: 'Qi' is a mandarin character which comprises of three wavy lines. The written character looks like a person's breath (if one could see it). Hence its use in this context.

Muscle

2007-08-07T06:35:00.001+04:00

This one's gonna cast a shadow on the might of muscle-men we know, not that a certain Sanjay Dutt would care with lots more on his platter to bother about than the ridicule on this blog, right now. My husband's never gonna forgive me for tarnishing the image of muscle-cars but I'll go ahead and let the world know that the word muscle comes from Latin "musculus" that means "little mouse" :) So called because the shape and movement of some muscles (notably biceps) were thought to resemble mice, their tendons playing the part of a mouse's tail.

Trivia: Mussels are also called so because of their resemblance to mice but have a different spelling from muscles for distinguishing reasons.

Sources: www.etymonline.com/
Pic: Google Images

Monthly Update - July '07

2007-08-02T21:57:00.000+04:00

Dear Readers

I have been unabashedly derelict in my duties as Semantica's administrator. Missed the last month update, needless to say missed most of the posts and associated brouhaha.

July was Moi all the way. Although 'Mad as a hatter', 'Eavesdrop' can be attributed to author specific traits, 'Tawdry' and 'OK' were more in line with Semantica guidelines. Nevertheless, kudos to Moi for all the efforts. And hopefully the others (who I presume are battling that feeling a reticulated python gets after swallowing a well fed antelope on a Sunday afternoon) will contribute some posts in August.

Best Regards

Tawdry

2007-07-30T22:27:00.000+04:00

Tawdry - Gaudy and cheap in nature or appearance

The word now pretty uncommon has a charming story to go with its origin. In the 7th century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, decided to renounce her husband and her royal position for the veil of a nun. She died of a throat tumor in 679. She blamed this growth on her love of wearing necklaces in her youth and claimed that it was sent as a punishment. After Ethelreda's death, she became a patron saint and her name was simplified to St Audrey . She was paid tribute to every year on the 17th October when a fair would be held in her name. In honour of Saint Audrey - and her fatal fondness for necklaces - ribbon and lace were sold at this fair to adorn the ladies' necks. These were called 'St Audrey's lace' which by the 17th century had become altered to 'tawdry lace' . Eventually tawdry came to be applied to all the cheap knickknacks, jewelery, and toys sold at the fair.

Sources: The Merriam-Webster Book of Word Histories
Pic: www.intimelyfashion.com

Eavesdrop

2007-07-23T23:24:00.001+04:00

Eavesdrop- To listen secretly to the private conversation of others.

An eave is the edge of a roof which usually projects beyond the side of the building to offer weather protection. In Old English, eavesdrop (or eavesdrip) referred to the ground of the house on which water falls from the eaves. By the 15th century, the word eavesdropper came to mean someone who stood within the eavesdrop of a house to overhear what is going on inside. This lead to the verb eavesdrop and is first recorded in the seventeenth century.

Sources: The Merriam-Webster Book of Word Histories, www.answers.com
Pic: Painting by William Powell Frith.

OK

2007-07-16T22:18:00.000+04:00

OK, here goes the explanation. (If you've just arrived, please refer to the previous post)

Clue1: One of the unlikely though interesting origins of OK is in the grading of woods used for furniture. The best oak goes as "Oak A" :)

Clue2: This is supposedly the most likely of the origins. Around 1830's Bostonian newspapers were full of these fashionable abbreviations (like R.T.B.S = Remains To Be Seen) that became increasingly popular with the readers. The abbreviation craze went so far as to produce abbreviations of intentional misspellings. No Go became K.G. (Know Go) and All Correct became O.K. (Oll Korrect), the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Most of these abbrevaitions are believed to have gained currency in those times but only O.K. spread and survived.

Clue3: In 1840, OK was a slogan of the Democratic Party for President Martin Van Buren's reelection campaign. Named after his birthplace, Old Kinderhook, New York. "O.K. clubs" supporting him were established throughout the country. Old Kinderhook lost, but O.K. won a permanent place in American English.

Clue4: Haitian port called "Aux Cayes" (pronounced as aw-kay) . French fishermen might sometimes have used the phrase "au quai", literally "to the quay", to mean that a fishing trip was successful (or went okay)

Abhishek's comment led to further research and another theory that in World War II the term "zero killed" was used when a unit suffered no casualties in combat, and that this was then shortened to 0K. This proposed etymology is grossly anachronistic, since by this time the term had been widely used for a full century. The same theory has also been applied to the Civil War, but this is also anachronistic.

Hope I got it Waaw-kay!!! :)

Sources: The Merriam-Webster Book of Word Histories, www.answers.com
Pic : http://www.wpclipart.com/

Ek Sawal

2007-07-13T16:39:00.000+04:00

Connect:

1. The grading of woods used in furniture;
2. The abbreviations craze of the US in the 1830’s which eventually lead to some intentional misspellings;
3. Martin Van Buren’s failed re-election in 1940;
4. A Haitian port famous for its rum.

Background: This question was asked in Chakravyuh 2003 organized by yours truly and my illustrious pardner. One of the all time classics of etymology. (Didnt impress the hard core quiz studds around though, who cracked it by the time I had read the point 2!). Googling should throw up the answer. Drop in your search results, views on each of the four points above in the comments

Disclaimer: The author of this post claims intellectual property right to the above question. It has not been sourced from any quiz groups around.

Mad as a hatter

2007-07-11T06:30:00.000+04:00

Mad as a hatter - Crazy, demented

Reminds you of Alice's companion in her wonderland? I used to think the expression was Lewis Carroll's gift to the language just as jabberwocky is. Turns out the phrase was popular well before Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" was published. "Mad hatter syndrome" was actually a medical affliction in Carroll's times.In the mid-1800s, hat makers used hot solutions of mercuric nitrate to shape wool felt hats and prolonged exposure to mercury vapors caused severe neurological damage ranging from uncontrollable muscular twitching (known as "hatter's shakes") to dementia. Hatters working in poorly ventilated workshops would breathe in (elemental) mercury vapor and in advanced cases, developed hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms.

Source: http://www.word-detective.com
Pic : www.rjohnwright.com

Beyond the pale

2007-07-05T09:48:00.000+04:00

Beyond the pale - Unacceptable, Outside the bounds of morality, good behavior or judgment

Ironic (perhaps not), but I’m still to see a society which is not segregated, subtly or emphatically so. When will equal be equal enough, is anyone’s guess. George Orwell had a reason when he wrote,"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". Brings me to the phrase that has its roots in the same grounds as Ghetto .

"Pale" here refers to the archaic sense of the word when it meant wooden strips that are set in series to form a fence. An area enclosed by them was also referred to as pale. So, to be 'beyond the pale' was to be outside the area that's marked as "territory" or "home". Catherine II created a 'Pale of Settlement' in Russia in 1791. This was a western border region of the country in which Jews were allowed to live. The motivation behind this was to restrict trade between Russian Jews and native Russians. Some Jews were allowed to live, as a concession, beyond the pale. More can be read here .

Pales were enforced in various other European countries for similar political reasons, notably in Ireland (the Pale of Dublin) : that part of the country over which England had direct jurisdiction.

The first printed reference comes from 1657 in John Harington's poem "The History of Polindor and Flostella"

Sources: http://www.phrases.org.uk/, www.answers.com

Pic: Map of "The Pale of Settlement" from http://www.friends-partners.org

(Don't) Make like a Tree

2007-07-02T17:02:00.000+04:00

This one started off as an expression that pissed me off- which, if you do not exist solely on sheets of cellulose and/or silicon, is not a very wholesome thing to do. But I digress.

The expression really means 'to leave' and usually, pretty quickly. (I know! I felt cheated too. How can you make like a tree and do something that a tree never does: to wit, leave?) A bit of googling, done a long time ago (which is why I cannot remember my sources) revealed that the expression was the result of a (rather sorry, in my opinion) pun on the phenomenon of leaving in deciduous trees, whereby they shed their leaves in "fall" (which is called so because leaves fall off trees in that season).

Therefore, you can make like a tree and leave. Though I still think it is kind of insensitive, given that trees stay 'rooted' to one place all the time. Wait till Arundhati Roy figures that one out...

Sources: Google

Die Hard

2007-06-28T10:43:00.000+04:00

Being die hard fan of "Bruce Willis", there couldn't be a better date to release this word on Semantica. "Live free or die hard" , fourth installment of Die hard series is releasing tomorrow in US. So better watch it or die hard ;-).

Meaning - A person who holds stubbornly to a minority view, in defiance of the circumstances.

Being used as a film title starring Bruce Willis in 1988, the term "Die hard" first appeared in 1784 edition of the Gentleman's Magazine as a Tyburn phrase. Tyburn was the public hangings place until the year before that magazine was published. It clarifies the meaning of "die hard" was to die reluctantly,resisting to the end. In those days, they were not using "drop" method of hanging .Instead of that, the people were hanged to their legs so that they died quickly. How pity!!.

The term was widely used in 19th century during 1811 , in Peninsula war.William Inglis , the commander of the British 57th regiment of foot ordered all soldiers to "die hard".The regiment later was known as "The d".

In 20th century, the term took new meaning in political arena. It was used to describe a member of political faction who were prepared to "die in the last ditch" in their resistance to the home rule bill in 1912. Conservative party , who followed the leadership of Marquess of Salisbury , called themselves as "The die-hards" in 1922.

Sources:http://www.phrases.org.uk/
Image - Google Image

Shanghai

2007-06-25T07:00:00.000+04:00

Shanghai - (verb) - To induce or compel (someone) to do something, especially by fraud or force

Usage: We were shanghaied into buying worthless securities.

Was reading a list of words derived from toponyms and there are tons of them: Bikini, Denim, Limerick, Blarney........when the word struck from a distant memory. I remember writing to a friend, many moons ago, how I, a sworn vegetarian at that time, was shanghaied into eating chicken by my hostel-mates. Blogging was not a given thing in those days and I don't think I gave the word any thought betwixt that day and today.

Coming to the origin of the word, the word is (it can't be more obvious) named after China's largest city and one of the most important ports in the world. The story goes that in the the 19th century, it was difficult for shippers in the West Coast of United States to find sufficient crews to man the ships set for long voyages, especially the ones to China. Shippers would get men to drug others from the dock area and put them into ships in the harbor. At first when men were found missing, the word would go round that "he's sailing to Shanghai." Later, the phrase was reduced to the verb as it is known today.

Trivia: The West Coast state of Oregon has underground tunnels called Shanghai Tunnels that run underneath Chinatown to the downtown section of Portland, Oregon. The tunnels were built to move goods. Around the end of the 19th century they were used to kidnap or "shanghai" unsuspecting laborers and sell them as slaves to waiting ships at the waterfront. Hence the name for the tunnels.

Source: http://www.answers.com/ , www.yourdictionary.com

Yellow Journalism

2007-06-20T22:25:00.000+04:00

Yellow Journalism - Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers.

Sounds familiar??

Blame it on my jaunt to Key West that's only 90 miles away from Cuba, but suddenly I am fascinated to dig more on Spanish-American War of 1898. And luckily for moi, etymology and history lessons go hand-in-hand :)

In 1890's Jospeh Pulitzer (of Pulitzer Prize fame) owned New York World and his major rival was New York Journal's owner William Randolph Hearst. The World had a popular comic strip running called "Hogan's Alley" which featured a yellow-dressed character named the "the yellow kid." William Randolph Hearst copied Pulitzer's sensationalist style and even hired "Hogan's Alley" artist R.F. Outcault away from the World. In response, Pulitzer commissioned another cartoonist to create a second yellow kid. Soon, the sensationalist press of the 1890s became a competition between the "yellow kids," and the journalistic style was coined "yellow journalism."

The question arises, what's it's connection with Cuba and Spanish-American War of 1898?

The story goes that, William Randolph Hearst understood that a war with Cuba would not only sell his papers, but also move him into a position of national prominence. Cuba was a colony of Spain and was fighting a guerrilla war with Spain to achieve independence. From Cuba, Hearst's star reporters wrote stories designed to tug at the heartstrings of Americans. The message was simple: Cuba was helpless and the U.S. must intervene. Sounds familiar again????

Trivia: The trivia here is what they call yellow journalism's "finest" moment.At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the American battleship Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 268 men. Hearst, especially, seized on this tragedy to accuse Spain of sinking the ship, without any proof whatsoever.(Recent research suggests it may have been an accident.) War ensued, and, some say, this was the first press-driven war.

Sources : www.answers.com, http://www.pbs.org/crucible/frames/_journalism.html

Pic : http://www.answers.com/

Owah-Menah

2007-06-16T10:29:00.000+04:00

Was it a coincident or whatever , I came across this word while roaming around the bridge on this fall. The information board around the water park was showing this word. What was I doing there? I was passing an hour for watching a movie. This is what happens when you don't check out the timings of movie theaters. I had gone to watch Ocean's thirteen and coincidently it means "Falling Water" .
This word has origin from Indians living in Dakota (don't know which one north or south..in earlier history, it was only Dakota, I guess). It is said that the first appearance of this word came in the book called "The opening of Mississippi:A Struggle for Supremacy in the American Interior". The picture shows St.Anthony Falls which has hydro electric plant providing electricity to whole Minneapolis-St.Paul Twin Cities area. This fall has observed and led the industrial growth of Minneapolis . First Pillsbury Flour Mills to number of flour mills were founded on the banks of Mississippi , close to this fall.
There was a confrontation between local Indians and European-American Sir Thomas Foresyth for making this fall available to people. Finally Indians agreed and opened the doors for industrial growth.

Sources - The Opening of Mississippi: A Struggle for supremacy in the American interior,
http://books.google.com
Image - www.nps.gov

Mary Poppins

2007-06-12T18:49:00.000+04:00

There are times when an expression, an idiom or a phrase leaves its cerebral abode and comes to be associated with an image. This, I think, is the hallmark of its popularity. Words acquire a form, a visual representation, a picture (which by popular belief is worth a thousand words, which, in turn, would mean a few words equal a thousand. I could go on and seek to present a mathematical fallacy, proving thereby that a "few" equals a thousand, but the objective here is to present the origin and meaning of an expression, not to get my ass kicked) and enter our consciousness as a symbol of a phenomenon, a country or some such thing.

Think Yankee Doodle and you form an image of Uncle Sam on a pony or, if you have a less irreverent imagination, of the Statue of Liberty or something distinctly American. The point being, it has come to stand for an entire country. Likewise, for things distinctly British, we have stinking weather, fish and chips, and Mary Poppins. (I must pause for a moment and ask everyone to watch "Snatch", for reasons that'll become clear once you watch it. I guarantee it will make you fall off your chair, laughing.)

Mary Poppins, apart from being the prim, proper and rather stuck-up pin-up girl (lady, I'm sorry) for all things British, is a fictional character and the protagonist of Pamela Travers' Mary Poppins books and all of its adaptations. She is a magical nanny of unknown origins who arrives at the Banks home in Cherry Tree Lane where she is given charge of the Banks children and teaches them valuable lessons with a magical touch. She is usually identifiable by her sensible hat and parrot umbrella which she brings with her wherever she goes on outings. She is loving and kind towards the children, but can be strict when needed.

Trivia: Uncle Sam was "created" by soldiers stationed in upstate New York, who would receive barrels of meat stamped with the initials U.S. The soldiers jokingly referred to it as the initials of the troops' meat supplier, "Uncle" Samuel Wilson of Troy, New York.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

Spam

2007-06-12T04:43:00.000+04:00

Spam - Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail

This one's origin had me in splits. Today's Yahoo news article on Spam being Hawaii's favorite food is what led me to it. Turns out Spam is the brand name of a canned seasoned pork product, created in the United States, which is really a portmanteau of "Spiced Ham". Because it wasn't rationed like beef, it was abundantly available and Spam became an all-American staple during World War II.

The term was supposedly coined from a Monty Python television skit in the early 1970s, in which every item on a restaurant menu contained SPAM, and there was nothing a customer could do to get a meal without it. A group of Vikings in the restaurant sing about the meat product, "Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam! Wonderful spam!", to drown out all other conversation, until told to shut up. The word "Spam" is uttered at least 132 times. As a result, something that keeps being repeated to great annoyance was called spam, and computer programmers picked up on it.

Trivia: The Hormel company, the makers of the meat product Spam, while never quite happy with the use of the word spam for junk email, have always seemed supportive of Monty Python and their skit. The skit is part of the company's Spam museum in Austin, MN, United States and is performed every day by local actors.

Sources: www.answers.com

Hoity-toity

2007-06-10T20:48:00.000+04:00

This phrase made the rounds during my school days applied in particular to a fellow student who is now a well known Bollywood actress and supermodel. One of the girls discovered it in an old obscure book filled with such deliciously old fashioned terms and anybody with a slightly supercilious air would get tagged with it.

Hoity-toity means someone who is pompous,haughty or pretentiously self important. On a milder note it also means given to frivolity, silliness or riotousness. This being the original meaning of the term which later metamorphosed into what it is now.

The frivolousness/riotousness meaning was first recorded in Sir Roger L'Estrange's 1668 translation of The visions of Don Francisco de Quevedo Villegas:
"The Widows I observ'd ... Chanting and Jigging to every Tune they heard, and all upon the Hoyty-Toyty, like mad Wenches of Fifteen."

The later meaning isn't seen until around mid to late 18th century and is recorded in O'Keefe's Fontainebleau in 1784:
"My mother ... was a fine lady, all upon the hoity-toities, and so, good for nothing."

Hoity toity is a reduplicated phrase where one word carries an existing meaning and the other is present for emphasis. In this case the earlier meaning of the term came from the word hoit. This is a now defunct verb meaning to indulge in riotous, noisy mirth. That in turn was formed from hoyden - a boorish clown or rude boisterous girl. The change from one meaning to the other seems to be due to the pronunciation of hoity as heighty and the subsequent allusion to highness or haughtiness.

Dictionary Definitions:
There are intermediate definitions given for this term in two 18th century dictionaries

A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew says:
"Hightetity, a Ramp or Rude Girl."

A classical of the vulgar tongue by Francis Grose says:
"Heighty toity, a hoydon, or romping girl."

Sources:http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Trivia

2007-06-08T08:24:00.000+04:00

Trivia - Insignificant or inessential matters

There are several theories associated with the origin of the word. The strongest contender being :
In early Latin, tri =three, and via = road. Hence, Trivium meant "the meeting place of three roads, especially as a place of public resort." In the Roman empire, a trivium would often have a tavern and such a place was viewed as common and vulgar. Latin adjective triviālis, derived from trivium, thus meant "appropriate to the street corner, commonplace, vulgar."

The first known usage of the word "trivial" is from 1589; it was used with a sense identical to that of triviālis. Shortly after that trivial is recorded in the sense : "of little importance or significance." Gradually, the word trivia came to be applied for any information that is of fleeting importance and of general interest.

Trivia on Trivia :

1)The word was popularized in its current meaning (information of the kind useful almost exclusively for answering quiz questions) in the 1960s by two of Columbia University students, who created the earliest inter-collegiate quizzes that tested culturally important and unimportant facts, which they dubbed "trivia contests".

2) National Trivia Day is celebrated on January 4 in the United States. The origins of the holiday are unknown. Many observe the holiday by playing games of knowledge and/or by sending an email or making a phone call to impart a quick little-known fact to friends and family.

Sources: http://www.answers.com

Leprechaun

2007-06-06T15:49:00.000+04:00

I just can't seem to get enough of fantasy. Moi's talk about Irish weddings reminded me of their faeries ( I love the way its spelt in contrast to the usual fairy) and here I am delving into the leprechaun story.

A leprechaun according to Irish mythology is a male faerie who is found in Ireland.They usually take the form of old men who enjoy partaking in mischief. Their trade is that of a cobbler or shoemaker. According to legend, if anyone keeps an eye fixed upon one, he cannot escape, but the moment the eye is withdrawn he vanishes. The famous Tv series Charmed had a few episodes on leprechauns, where they were shown carrying a pot of gold and spreading luck. They were depicted according to the common sterotype as small men in green.

One of the most widely accepted theories is that the name comes from the Irish Gaelic word leipreachán, defined by Dinneen as "a pigmy, a sprite, a leprechaun; for luchorpán".The latter word Dinneen defines as "a pigmy, a leprechaun, 'a kind of aqueous sprite'".This word also means "half-bodied", or "small-bodied".

Fr. Dinnen was the author of the famous Irish dictionary.

Another theory states that word believed to be the root is luchorpán. An alternative derivation for that word being leath bhrógan, meaning shoe-maker — the leprechaun is known as the fairy shoemaker of Ireland and is often portrayed working on a single shoe.

Another derivation has the word "leprechaun" deriving from luch-chromain, meaning "little stooping Lugh".Lugh being the name of a leader of the Tuatha De Danann.

The Tuathe De Danann according to Irish myth were the fifth group to inhabit Ireland and were said to be the reprsentatives of the Irish gods.

The word leprechaun was first recorded in the English language in 1604 in Middleton and Dekker's The Honest Whore as lubrican.

"As for your Irish Lubrican, that spirit
Whom by preposterous charms thy lust has raised."

Leprechaun Tales:

A farmer or young lad captures a leprechaun and forces him to reveal the location of his buried treasure. The leprechaun assures him that the treasure is buried in an open field beneath a particular ragwort plant. The farmer ties a red ribbon to the plant, first extracting a promise from the leprechaun not to remove the ribbon. Releasing the leprechaun, he leaves to get a shovel. Upon his return he finds that every weed in the field has been tied with an identical red ribbon, thus making it impossible to find the treasure.

In another story, a young girl finds a leprechaun and bids him show her the location of his buried money. She takes him up in her hand and sets out to find the treasure, but all of a sudden she hears a loud buzzing behind her. The leprechaun shouts at her that she is being chased by a swarm of bees, but when she looks around there are no bees and the leprechaun has vanished.

In a popular tale of Cork Kerry, the daughter of a beekeeper sees the old fairie and asks him for the finest shoes in Southwest Ireland. He agrees to make them for her from as much bee's wax as she can carry. Upon her return, despite carrying her father's life savings, the sprite says he needs more. The girl robs the neighbor's hives but is killed by the bees. The loss of the wax ruins both families and they are forced to move North.

In other stories they are told of riding shepherds' dogs through the night, leaving the dogs exhausted and dirty in the morning. It is said that at the unreachable end of a rainbow, you may find a leprechaun and his treasured pot of gold.

Quotes:

"Quite a beau in his dress, notwithstanding, for he wears a red square-cut coat, richly laced with gold, waistcoat and inexpressible of the same, cocked hat, shoes and buckles."

-Samuel Lover

"He is something of a dandy, and dresses in a red coat with seven rows of buttons, seven buttons on each row, and wears a cocked-hat, upon whose pointed end he is wont in the north-eastern counties, according to McAnally, to spin like a top when the fit seizes him."

-Yeats

"A wrinkled, wizen'd, and bearded Elf,
Spectacles stuck on his pointed nose,
Silver buckles to his hose,
Leather apron - shoe in his lap"

-William Allingham

Picuters : Google Images

Sources: www.answers.com,http://www.wikipedia.org/,

The Full Monty

2007-06-05T12:59:00.000+04:00

One of the most peculiar things about languages is that over a period of time their grammar and semantics become surrogate to public opinion. Hence, it doesn't matter what your English teacher thought about that composition you wrote way back in the sixth standard. Chances are, if she revisits it today, she might award you a few more marks than she did last time.

Now changes can be orthogonal, in that a word or phrase may come to mean something completely unrelated to its original meaning. "Presently" being a case in point. When I was a young kid, it used to mean, "soon", or if you were into Wodehouse, "anon". Now it seems, it is generally accepted to mean "at present" or "currently". Then there are some whose meanings do a volte-face and become their own antonym. Which brings us to the topic under discussion, "the full Monty".

Popular opinion, courtesy of a movie of the same name, interprets this phrase to mean completely uncovered, or naked, or without embellishment. Here's the story behind its origin:

The most often-repeated derivation is from the tailoring business of Sir Montague Burton. A complete three-piece suit, i.e. one with a waistcoat, for a wedding etc, would be the Full Monty. There is plausible hearsay evidence from staff who worked in Burton's shops who confirm that customers were familiar with the term and often asked for 'the full monty' by name.

So, the next time you get invited to a formal do, you might want to go the full monty, without fear of being arrested on grounds of indecent exposure ;-).

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/ and my meandering experience.

Hobson's Choice

2007-06-04T23:44:00.000+04:00

Hobson's Choice - An apparently free choice that actually offers no alternative or is no choice at all. In other words, the choice of taking what is offered or nothing at all.

How some people get immortalized by just being plain eccentric is proved by the origin of this phrase. Thomas Hobson (1544-1630) was the keeper of a livery stable who ran a thriving carrier and horse rental business in Cambridge, England and in order to rotate the use of his horses, allowed customers to take only the horse nearest the stable door. It's like, the horse nearest the stable door or none. Take it or leave it???

The first known written usage of this phrase is in Joseph Addison's paper "The Spectator" (1712) though it also appears in Thomas Ward's 1688 poem "England's Reformation", not published until after Ward's death (1708). Ward wrote,
"Where to elect there is but one,
'tis Hobson's choice—take that, or none."

Trivia: Henry Ford was said to have sold the Ford Model T with the famous Hobson's choice of "... any colour ... so long as it is black"

Sources: www.answers.com, http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Monthly Update - May 2007

2007-06-03T12:33:00.000+04:00

Hello Hello and its that time of the month again. One freshly baked update coming your way

Let me take this opportunity to welcome Yogesh to Semantica. With two blue stockings and one insane wraith, the team needed some load balancer. Y has provided the much needed relief. Lets raise a toast in his welcome (did someone hear Cacofonix grumbling)

May was an interesting month. We had 15 posts. As per contributions went the scores are Moi – 6, Suramya – 5, Yogesh – 2, 666 – 2. Semantica’s technologically challenged administrator tried migrating to a new layout but couldn’t succeed. Hopefully this month.

Now I have been on a personal vacation for most of May so it ‘may’ happen I don’t do justice to all the ‘may’hem on Semantica. Two of the most memorable events I have honored in the form of awards –

Dead Author Obsession Award: This award goes to Madame Moi for her unbeatable love for Mark Twain. If this woman ever finds out Twain's final resting place, he will frantically dig himself out from his grave and start running amok.

Women Don’t Gossip Award: Jointly shared by Radha, Jas and Moi. The post Grapevine brought out the best among our women readers in which they were arguing that women don’t gossip. The consensus of the GD was exemplary. If this was a friendly talk, I shudder to my last bone when I try to contemplate the agreed definition of women gossiping :-) :-)

PS: Since May is a hotter month than April, the stickiness of this post has reduced to just 2 days

Mizaru,kikazaru,iwazaru

2007-06-02T08:51:00.001+04:00

The picture says everything about the word. My random search brought me to this phrase,"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" in short Gandhiji ke teen bandar.

Meaning - Someone who does not want to be involved in a situation.

There are no exact evidences of origin of this phrase. But some Japanese history reveals that it has originated in Japan.
The Nikko Toshogo Shrine known as Sacred Stable , in Japan has a carving of three monkeys as shown in pic. Some believe that it has origin in a 17th century temple in Japan. In Japan, it is also believed that if one does not hear,see and speak evil , he will be sparred from all evil.
Some believe that it has originated from a Japanese play and is translated as "Mizaru, kikazaru, Iwazaru". "Saru" means monkey in Japanese and it sounds similar to 'zaru'.But the three wise monkeys were not from Japan. In eighth century A.D., a Buddhist monk from China introduced the three wise monkeys to Japan.They were associated with a fearsome blue faced deity called Vadjra. It is believed that the monkeys' gestures were a representation of a command of the deity to "see no evil, hear no evil , speak no evil".

Source - http://searchwarp.com/swa2800.htm
Image - http://www.innercity.freeserve.co.uk/

Swan Song

2007-06-01T21:14:00.000+04:00

Swan Song - A final gesture or performance, given before dying.

Swans are fascinating. It's their unparalleled beauty and their graceful form that has made them a part of many folk-lores from different cultures across the world. They are an epitome of purity and for those who did not know, swans mate for life. Sigh!!!!

The expression, Swan Song has its roots in a myth.......a very poignant myth. It was once believed that upon death, the otherwise silent Mute Swan (in reality, it's not a completely silent bird, only less vocal than other swans)would sing one achingly beautiful song just before dying. This legend was well-known to be false as early as the days of ancient Greece, when Pliny the Elder refuted it in Natural History, AD 77. The legend stayed though to give us the expression.

Trivia: Socrates' last words before being put to death in 399 AD: "You think I cannot see as far ahead as a swan. You know that when swans feel the approach of death they sing, and they sing sweeter and louder on the last days of their lives because they are going back to that God whom they serve." (Plato)

Sources: The Usual suspects :)
http://www.answers.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/, http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Pic Courtesy: Google Images

Penguin

2007-05-26T10:38:00.000+04:00

“I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.”-Emily Dickenson.
As I nod my head in agreement to that statement, its time I introduced my favourite bird. The penguin. Everyone knows what a penguin is but just to be politically correct and uphold the rules of this blog, a penguin is an aquatic, flightless bird living entirely in the Southern Hemisphere.

Coming to the story behind the name given to this adorable bird. There are many versions to it.

Version 1: The most accepted one is that the term penguin derives from the welsh words pen (head) and gwyn (white), which was used to denote the Great Auk which had white spots in front of its eyes. The penguin was thus named due to its resemblance to the Great Auk.

Version 2: The name 'penguin' was first reliably reported from Newfoundland in a letter of 1578, given in the account of Hakluyt's voyages; but in Newfoundland the name is usually to have been pronounced 'pin-wing'. This accords with another theory, that the bird was originally called the 'pin-wing', with reference to its curiously rudimentary wings. It would also explain why, as early as 1588, the term was being applied also to the southern birds which we know as 'penguins' today, and which also have rudimentary wings but not white heads.

Version 3: It could be derived from the Latin word “pinguis” meaning fat, but this theory doesn’t hold much weight.

Trivia:
The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri): adults average about 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 35 kg (75 lb) or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin (also known as the Fairy Penguin or the Blue Penguin), which stands around 40 cm tall (16 in) and weighs 1 kg (2.2 lb). Both can be seen below:

Generally larger penguins retain heat better, and thus inhabit colder regions, while smaller penguins are found in temperate or even tropical climates

Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend half of their life on land and half in the oceans.

All penguins are countershaded - that is, they have a white underside and a dark (mostly black) upperside. This is for camouflage. A predator looking up from below (such as an orca or a leopard seal) has difficulty distinguishing between a white penguin belly and the reflective water surface. The dark plumage on their backs camouflages them from above.

Penguins seem to have no fear of humans and have approached groups of explorers without hesitation. This is probably on account of there being no land predators in Antarctica or the nearby offshore islands that prey on or attack penguins. Instead, penguins are at risk at sea from predators such as the leopard seal.

Sources:http://www.wikipedia.org/, http://www.askoxford.com/

Images in order of apperance:

1. Tux the Linux Mascot

2.The Emperor Penguin

3.The Little Blue Penguin

4. A man meeting a penguin in the Antartic summer

Courtesy: Google Images.

Banana Republic

2007-05-25T08:42:00.000+04:00

Banana Republic : A small country (especially in Central America) that is politically unstable and whose economy is dominated by foreign companies and depends on one export (such as bananas)

The perjorative term now used to describe a generally unstable or "backward" dictatorial regime, especially one where elections are often fraudulent and corruption is rife was coined by O. Henry (the American author of much loved short stories like "The gift of Magi", "The last leaf" and others) in reference to Honduras, a Central American nation. "Republic" in his time was often a euphemism for a dictatorship, while "banana" implied an easy reliance on basic agriculture and backwardness in the development of modern industrial technology.

Why bananas? Read on.....

Banana production first began in the Caribbean by smaller banana companies; until 1870 the bananas grown in the region were produced for local consumption. Once bananas hit the U.S. market they exploded in popularity and soon passed from being an exotic novelty to join apples, grapes, as the standard in U.S. fruit baskets. With the formation of the United Fruit Company by Keith Minor in 1900; banana growing was moved to Central America. United Fruit made several of these Central American nations into “banana republics”, countries that served as production platforms for the banana-exporting enterprise. The United Fruit Company became known throughout Latin America as “el pulpo” (the octopus) because of its far-reaching hand in economic power and political arrangements in its host country. The United fruit kept elected officials in their corporate pockets; they were able to acquire vast amounts of land and establish a banana monopoly.

Why Honduras? Read further.......

In Honduras the United Fruit company dominated the country's key banana export sector and support sectors such as railways. Sam Zemurray, a Russian by birth and later an American businessman (his parents emigrated to US when he was 14) entered the banana trade at the age of 18. By the age of 21, he had amassed considerable wealth but soon found himself in heavy debts. He left for Honduras when the country was working to reschedule its national debts. When US tax authorities did not help Zemurray, he smuggled the deposed Honduran president, Manuel Bonilla from US back to Honduras and a revolution was fought in 1910 that led to Bonilla's return to power. Bonilla granted Zemurray land concessions and low taxes that saved his business. Later, in 1933, Zemurray will take over United Fruit in a hostile bid .

Sources : http://www.answers.com/ , http://www.wikipedia.org/, http://dictionary.reference.com/

Lycanthropes

2007-05-23T09:52:00.001+04:00

Last post by Suramya and Manish's latest post inspired me for this word. Lycanthropes mean werewolves.
But real meaning of lycanthrope is someone who suffers from a mental disease and only thinks he has changed into a wolf.
Trivia - The trivia behind lycanthrope is related to greek myth of Lycaon. Lycaon was king of Arcadia and in the time of ancient greeks , was notorious for his cruelty. God Zeus once disguised himself as a traveller and sought hospitality in the court of vicious king Lycaon. The king recognized the god and tried to kill him.He served him a flesh of a child. God Zeus identified the terrible trick and destroyed the palace outrageously and condemned Lycaon to spend his rest of the life as a wolf.
Lykos means wolf and anthropos means man.

Sources :- www.pantheon.org,
www.westegg.com/etymology
image - www.bigfella.com/violent.dir/werwv.jpg

Doppelgänger

2007-05-21T17:18:00.000+04:00

This time decided to deal with a word which traces its orgin to German. Infact it is german and has made its place in the English language. Doppelganger or fetch is the ghostly double of a living person. It also refers to a situation of having a glimpse of yourself where it couldn't have been your reflection. I first came across this word in the Agatha Christie novel "Bertram's Hotel" where Miss Marple investigates the claim of a Chaplain who says he sighted his doppleganger in the hotel.

It derives from Doppel (double) and Gänger (goer). As is true for all other "native" nouns in German, the word is written with an initial capital letter, however English usage varies.In English, the word is conventionally uncapitalized (doppelgänger). It is also common to drop the diacritic umlaut, writing "doppelganger". The correct alternative German spelling would be "Doppelgaenger".

Trivia:
They are generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death. In Norse mythology, a vardøgr is a ghostly double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance.

The doppelgängers of folklore cast no shadow, and have no reflection in a mirror or in water. They are supposed to provide advice to the person they shadow, but this advice can be misleading or malicious. They can also, in rare instances, plant ideas in their victim's mind or appear before friends and relatives, causing confusion. In many cases once someone has viewed his own doppelgänger he is doomed to be haunted by images of his ghostly counterpart.

Other folklore says that when a person's doppelgänger is seen, the person him/herself will die shortly. It is considered unwise to try to communicate with a doppelgänger.

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/

Ghetto

2007-05-19T00:16:00.000+04:00

One can't live in United States and not come across this term. Even Elvis Presley could not keep himself from crooning :

"As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries
'cause if there's one thing that she don't need
it's another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto..................."

The expression comes from 1516 when the Venetian government made it mandatory for the Jews in Venice to live on the island known as the Ghetto Nuovo (the New Ghetto), which was walled up with only two gates that were locked from sunset to sunrise. Then, when in 1541 visiting Ottoman Jewish merchants complained that they did not have enough room in the ghetto, the government ordered twenty dwellings located across a small canal walled up, joined by a footbridge to the Ghetto Nuovo, and assigned to them. This area was already known as the Ghetto Vecchio (the Old Ghetto), thereby strengthening the association between Jews and the word "ghetto."

Segregated Jewish quarters had existed earlier too, in fact most often Jews chose voluntarily to live close together. But it's only after 1516 that the term "ghetto" came into being. During World War II the term ghetto attained its popularity as Nazis went about setting them up throughout Europe before transporting Jews to concentration camps from ghettos. Today the term has acquired wider (and negative) connotations as it has come to mean an impoverished section of a city where members of any racial group are segregated and perpetuated by economic and social pressures rather than legal and physical measures.

Sources: http://www.answers.com/ , http://www.veniceword.com/news/39/ghetto.html
Pic : The bridge to Ghetto in Venice, sourced from Google Images.

Dandy

2007-05-16T19:02:00.000+04:00

Before the advent of the “metro sexual” man there was the dandy. So what exactly is a dandy, pardon me, I mean who is a dandy? The dictionary says:

A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and the cultivation of leisurely hobbies.

This term was usually used in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century to denote men who were very particular about the way they dressed, meticulous about keeping cleaning and who abstained from sports. The ones who aspired to heights of fashion and committed extravagances in their attire were also lauded as “Pink of the Ton”. A title every dandy aspired for.

Coming to etymology, the word dandy first appeared in a Scottish border ballad, around the 1780’s, but without its original meaning. Despite a lot of digging, I am unable to unearth the name of the ballad or the original meaning. If someone knows, please enlighten me. The original, full form of 'dandy' was thought to have been jack-a-dandy, ; it was a vogue word during the Napoleonic Wars. During those days, 'a dandy' was differentiated from 'a fop' in that the dandy's dress was more refined and sober than the fop's.

In the world that we now live in, the word, 'dandy' is a jocular, often sarcastic adjective meaning "fine" or "great", though it still retains it’s original meaning of a well-groomed, well-dressed, and self-absorbed man.

Trivia:
The most popular dandy was George Bryan Brummell, popularly known as Beau Brummell. His style consisted of being unpowdered, unperfumed, immaculately bathed and shaved, and dressed in a plain, dark blue coat, perfectly-brushed, perfectly-fitted, showing much perfectly-starched linen, all freshly laundered, and composed with an elaborately-knotted cravat. From the mid-1790s, Beau Brummell was the early incarnation of 'the celebrity' man chiefly famous for being a laconically witty clothes-horse.

Quotes:
A Dandy is a clothes-wearing Man, a Man whose trade, office and existence consists in the wearing of Clothes. Every faculty of his soul, spirit, purse, and person is heroically consecrated to this one object, the wearing of Clothes wisely and well: so that the others dress to live, he lives to dress ... And now, for all this perennial Martyrdom, and Poesy, and even Prophecy, what is it that the Dandy asks in return? Solely, we may say, that you would recognise his existence; would admit him to be a living object; or even failing this, a visual object, or thing that will reflect rays of light....
– Thomas Carlyle, "The Dandiacal Body", in Sartor Resartus

One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art
- Oscar Wilde

sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/

Croissant

2007-05-15T08:30:00.000+04:00

Croissant - (Pronounced as kwah-SAHN) : A rich, flaky pastry made in the form of a crescent.

I had to share this: the origin of this one had the gastronome and history-buff in moi stoked!!! There are several legends that go with the origin of the pastry but the one that rules supreme is :

In the latter half of the seventeenth century (around 1680's) , an army of Turks besieged the city of Vienna. When Turks tried to get into the city by tunneling under the walls, bakers overheard the noise and sounded the alarm that subsequently led to the Turkish defeat. Austrians celebrated the event by honoring the bakers by creating the pastry for the occasion: "Croissant" or French for Crescent to symbolize their victory over the Turks whose flag bore a crescent moon.It is first recorded in English in 1899.

The question arises why a French word when it was Austrians who were victorious. There are various theories for this one too. The most prominent ones :

1. It was called a kipfel, the German word for crescent. The pastry wouldn't become a croissant until the Austrian Princess Marie Antoinette married the King of France (1770).

2. At the time, French Language was en vogue within aristocratic circles due to the prominence of the French King Louis XIV.

Note : There are disputes over whether the place attacked was Vienna in 1683 or Budapest in 1686.

Sources : http://www.answers.com, http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html
Pic : Modern day Turkish Flag and Croissant, sourced from Google.

Ubuntu

2007-05-14T09:10:00.000+04:00

Ubuntu - Humanity towards others.

The Ubuntu is having several meanings. The origin of word is from sub-Saharan African(Zulu and Xhosa) ethic which concentrates on people's relations with each other.
Popular definition of Ubuntu is "The belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity".The concept of Ubuntu is same in whole Africa and it is considered to be as major reason for their renaissance. There is no perfect resource which can describe the origin of this word. This has been a long time philosophy in Africa continent.
Being so much popular in Africa, there leads a contrasting story of a young Israeli girl who was writing messages on war missiles. And presumably, these missiles were intented for Lebanon. The messages weren't of peace and prosperity . But did that girl ever know the implications of the missiles that when launched, they would kill number of human beings and girls of her kind only?
Dedicated to this word and humanity, open source foundation has launched an operating system Ubuntu Linux which is extremely popular in US these days. It says Ubuntu - Linux for human beings.

In one of the Labor conferences, former US president Bill Clinton used this word in UK to explain why society is important for all of us.

Let's be together to spread the message of humanity

sources:http://www.buzzle.com,
http://en.wikipedia.org

Juggernaut

2007-05-11T17:50:00.000+04:00

After Alwar, time again for some local lore which brings me to juggernaut . The term is used to describe any literal or metaphorical force regarded as unstoppable that will crush all in its path. In Britain, it is also used to refer to any large and heavy lorry.

The word is derived from the Sanskrit Jagannātha ("Lord of the universe") one of the many names of Lord Krishna . The connection between “lord of the universe” and an “unstoppable destructive force” is rather hard to discern. The story is centered around the ratha yatra(charriot procession) which takes place from the famous Jagannath Temple of Puri, Orissa.This event is an annual procession of chariots carrying the murtis/statues of Jagannâth (Krishna), Subhadra and Baladeva (Krishna's elder brother).

During the British colonial era, Christian missionaries promulgated a fallacy that Hindu devotees of Krishna were lunatic fanatics who threw themselves under the wheels of these chariots in order to attain salvation. Sigh. The religious mudslinging of the bygone era. Such a description was also be found in the popular fourteenth-century work "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville."

The actual fact is that devotees have sometimes been crushed accidentally in the past as the massive 45 foot tall, multi-ton chariot slipped out of control. Many have also been killed in the resulting stampedes. The sight led the Britons to use the word "Juggernaut" to refer to other instances of unstoppable, crushing forces.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Utopia

2007-05-11T10:15:00.000+04:00

Utopia - An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects.

The trivia that this word comes along with is more fascinating than its etymology which is quite simple, really. Etymologically Utopia = no place as it comes from the Greek "ou" that means "not" and "topos" that means "place". It was the title of a 1516 Latin book by an English scholar and eventual saint, Sir Thoma More wherein he described an ideal state where all is ordered for the best for humanity as a whole and where the evils of society, such as poverty and misery, have been eliminated. He called this ideal imaginary island "Utopia" - nowhere, as it seemed unattainable.

The title carries a pun that may be a consequence of mis-translations or propagated by More himself where "u" in Utopia is mistaken as "eu" that means good in Greek.
Dystopia is the anti-utopia.

Trivia 1 :More is listed in Red Square as one of the heroes of the Russian Revolution because his Utopia was supposedly a primitive communist state of justice and perfect social conditions. This while Utopia was an imaginary place and Thomas More a lawyer himself was a capitalist.

Trivia 2: More opposed King Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, which ultimately led to the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. This cost him his head, but gained him sainthood as a Catholic martyr.

Sources: http://www.answers.com, http://www.hellskitchen.com/

Steal my thunder

2007-05-09T22:24:00.001+04:00

Steal my thunder: Using someone else' ideas or inventions to one's own advantage.

A few days back a very amusing thing happened. I did a post on 'Mark Twain' to honor the attention he was generating. A fellow team member got perturbed cause I had stolen her thunder. More on stealing thunder...

John Dennis, English critic and playwright, invented a new way of simulating the sound of thunder on stage and used the method in one of his plays, Appius and Virginia. Dennis "made" thunder by using "troughs of wood with stops in them" instead of the large mustard bowls usually employed. The thunder was a great success, but Dennis's play was a dismal failure. The manager at Drury Lane, where the play was performed, canceled its run after only a few performances. A short time later, Dennis returned to Drury Lane to see Shakespeare's Macbeth. As he sat in the pit, he was horrified to discover that his method of making thunder was being used. Jumping to his feet, Dennis screamed at the audience, "That's my thunder, by God! The villians will not play my play but they steal my thunder."

Source: www.phrases.co.uk, www.trivia-library.com

Grapevine

2007-05-07T22:23:00.000+04:00

Grapevine - Informal/Unofficial path of verbal communication (by means of gossip and rumor)

Some wise man claimed, "Gossip is nature's telephone." ....and we'll soon discover, how!!! :)
The term comes from the expression, "grapevine telegraph", and was supposedly invented in US during the early 1850's, after the invention of telegraph in 1840's. Samuel Morse's first line was opened between Washington and Baltimore on 24th May 1844 and was an immediate success. The straight copper wires of electric telegraph were supposed to carry truthful information. The term "grapevine telegraph" came into being to accentuate the idea of distorted information that travels by word of mouth and drew its inspiration from the twisted stems of the grapevine (but like real telegraph is capable of transmitting vital messages quickly over long distances).

The first recorded usage, according to John Lighter in The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, was in a political dictionary of 1852, which included the sentence "By the Grape Vine Telegraph Line .......we have received the following ". There are various early references that suggest that it was associated with clandestine communication among Southern blacks, especially the slaves and gained high popularity and acceptance during the American Civil War period.

Trivia: It was widely acknowledged that the blacks' communications network was extremely useful to the Union cause, as John G. Nicolay and John Hay reported in "Abraham Lincoln: A History" in 1888, calling it "one of the most important and reliable sources of knowledge to the Union commanders in the various fields, which later in the war came to be jocosely designated as the 'grape-vine telegraph'".

Sources: www.answers.com, http://www.phrases.org.uk/
Pic : Neighborly gossips in the Altstadt in Sindelfingen, Germany (Sourced form : http://en.wikipedia.org/)

Monthly Update: April’07

2007-05-07T19:11:00.000+04:00

Greetings Dear Readers

Semantica is now 1 month old. In this moment of quasi-achievement Team Semantica would first like to thank all readers for their encouragement. We appreciate your time and interest shown and earnestly solicit your continued support.

It has been fun tilling hard at it. A total of 13 posts with 78 comments on topics covering colors (Blue, Red, White), eponyms (Machiavelli, Silhouette), birds (Halcyon, Popinjay) and other assorted. As per contributions went, Suramya was at 5; Moi – 5; 666 – 3. The post which garnered maximum share of voice was ‘Portmanteau’. Other contributions with reasonable lung power were ‘Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt’ followed by ‘Ankle Biter’.

Next month’s roster looks equally interesting. We expect some new contributors to be ceremonially baptized into the team. A concerted effort would be aimed at the format, layout, aesthetics, links, widgets et al. And off course, the posts would keep flowing!

Till the next update, God Blesss ye all.

Team Semantica

PS: This is a sticky post i.e. it shall appear at the top of all posts for the first week of each month. Continue reading Semantica below...

The Seven-year Itch

2007-05-05T01:30:00.000+04:00

The inclination to become unfaithful after seven years of marriage.

Remember Marilyn Monroe's dress blowing in the wind over a subway grating? One of the most enduring images from Hollywood, the scene was from the movie, The seven-year itch. The expression was used to indicate the urge for infidelity after seven years of marriage. Though today it has gained wider acceptance in terms of its scope: it now refers to an urge to move on from any existing situation, and not even limited to those of seven years' period.

The original seven-year itch wasn't a condition that supposedly began after seven years, but one that supposedly lasted for seven years. Seven-year itch had been known in the USA since the early 19th century as the name of a particularly irritating and contagious skin complaint (don't ask me which one, coz despite thorough search I could not find the answer to that: it could be scabies or poison-ivy itch (very unlikely though) ) that led to highly irritating red pimples on the face and body.

The term was virtually forgotten after the cure for the complaint was found till the 1955 film revived it.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/ , http://www.phrases.org.uk/,

Update: (05/05/07) by 666

The follow-up research to Moi’s post was incredibly fascinating. I came across numerous citations (mentioned below) explaining some sort of link between ‘seven year itch’ and scabies.

The 'seven year itch' has its origins with a microbe known as Sarcoptes scabiei, more commonly called 'scabies.' The bug produces an itching skin irritation that before modern drugs lasted, on average seven years.
"Why seven years, not six or eight? Because seven years has a historical basis: In Genesis, Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream of 'seven years of great plenty' followed by 'seven years of famine.'." And so forth. – (1)

However, the medico’s have a slightly different version. Scabies is known as "The Seven Year Itch," because its incidence rises and falls as regularly as the tides, or the sunspots, turning up in abundance every seven years. – (2)

Read in detail about scabies here and here.

Sources
(1) - http://www.phrases.org.uk
(2) - http://www.ralphmag.org/DI/scabies1.html

Mark Twain

2007-05-03T19:15:00.000+04:00

Dear Late Mr. Samuel Longhorne Clemens,

Since you enjoy a decent female fan following around these parts, I decided to write a post in honor of your famous pen name ‘Mark Twain’

The pseudonym "Mark Twain", came from his years working on Mississippi riverboats, where two fathoms (12 ft, approximately 3.7 m) or "safe water" was measured on the sounding line. The riverboatman's cry was "mark twain" or, more fully, "by the mark twain" ("twain" is an archaic term for two). "By the mark twain" meant "according to the mark [on the line], [the depth is] two fathoms"

Clemens claimed that his famous pen name was not entirely his invention. In Chapter 50 of Life on the Mississippi he wrote:

"Captain Isaiah Sellers was not of literary turn or capacity, but he used to jot down brief paragraphs of plain practical information about the river, and sign them "MARK TWAIN," and give them to the New Orleans Picayune. They related to the stage and condition of the river, and were accurate and valuable; ... At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one, and have done my best to make it remain what it was in his hands—a sign and symbol and warrant that whatever is found in its company may be gambled on as being the petrified truth; how I have succeeded, it would not be modest in me to say."

PS: Incidentally, in the year 1867 Mark Twain wrote a poem called ‘Advice for little girls’. Further discussion is beyond the defined scope for Semantica :-)

Text Sources: www.wikipedia.org

The painting: : A. Janicke & Co. "Our City, (St. Louis, Mo.)." 1859. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

2007-05-03T18:31:00.000+04:00

It was while watching a cartoon of a cat being tortured by the ever clever mouse, that I heard the cat say "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings " after he slid down the banisters and crashed into a heavy peice of furniture. The quotation/proverb which essentially means that one shouldn't assume the outcome of some activity until it has actually finished. There are many theories behind its origin. The most popular one attributes it origin to Dan Cook, a sports editor.

A report in the Washington Post (13 June 1978) had this version: "One day three years ago, Ralph Carpenter, who was then Texas Tech's sports information director, declared to the press box contingent in Austin. `The rodeo ain't over till the bull riders ride.' Stirred to that deep insight, San Antonio sports editor Dan Cook countered with, `The opera ain't over till the fat lady sings.' Two days before this, the Times had more precisely quoted Cook as coming up with his version the previous April after the basketball playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Bullets to illustrate that while the Spurs had won once, the series was not over yet. Bullets coach Dick Motta borrowed the phrase later during the Bullets' eventually successful championship drive, and it became widely known and was often mistakenly attributed to him."

Another lesser accepted theory is that this phrase originated from the fact that the last piece in most opera's is the fat lady singing an aria. There's usually a big scene with lots of people singing and sometimes moving about (a finale), in which the music may get pretty loud. Most people leave before this is finished, but the actually opera is said to be finished when the fat lady finishes her song . Hence the phrase.

Trivia

This saying is often attributed to Yogi Berra, as he is the originator of the similar line "It ain't over until it's over."
In The Simpsons Season 1 Episode 2 Genius Bart, the Simpsons family goes to an opera. Homer asks when is this thing finish to which Bart replies, It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. To which Homer points out that the fat lady is singing.

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org, http://www.qunl.com/

Red-Letter Day

2007-04-30T05:22:00.000+04:00

Red-Letter Day - a memorably happy or noteworthy day

It's a red letter day for Semantica. Memorable enough for our Chief to greet the readers with the monthly update :D

The expression, by the way, comes from Medieval church calendars in 1325 when saint's days, feasts, and other holy days, which came to be printed on church calendars in red. The term came into wider usage with the appearance in 1549 of the first Book of Common Prayer in which calendar showed special holy days in red ink.

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/
Pic : Google Images

popinjay

2007-04-28T11:28:00.000+04:00

:pop·in·jay - (pŏp'ĭn-jā')

-A vain, talkative person.

This time decided to dwell on the word which actually traces its origin to the arabic set of words. This word was originally used to denote a parrot. It travelled along with the bird from africa and after suitable modifications from the arabic 'babbaga', through Spanish 'papagayo' and Old French ' 'papeiaye', it was recorded as 'papengay' in the earlier english versions. It finally ended as popinjay after people thought it was used to describe a certain jay.

The word derives its meaning from its earlier associations with the parrot, which is identified as gaudy, sqwaking and a tendency to repeat what it hears without understanding.

According to the British language commentator Michael Quinion "This deeply insulting word is now rather dated or literary."

A good example can be found in Joseph Conrad’s short story The End of the Tether of 1902: “When he looked around in the club he saw only a lot of conceited popinjays too selfish to think of making a good woman happy”.

Sources:http://www.worldwidewords.org/, http://www.answers.com,

Red light district

2007-04-27T09:32:00.000+04:00

Red light district: A neighbourhood containing many brothels.

Radha's excellant post on 'Kids with cameras' brought to light the phrase red-light district. I spent some hours in this district last night. Time spent into the term's origin, that is.

Version 1: Brothels once advertised their presence by burning electric lights covered with red shades or glass in their windows. This led to the Americanism 'red-light district' for an area know for its houses of prostitution, the term first recorded in the late 19th century

Version 2: The term "red light district" is said to have originated with early railroaders. The men carried lit red lanterns when they left the train so in case of an emergency the crew caller would be able to find them. These lanterns were left outside bordellos when crew members stopped to pay the ladies a visit and sometimes were brought inside to be placed in a window.

A railwayman's lit red lantern left sitting in front of an establishment could just as easily have come to signify a saloon or a barber shop as it did a brothel. On the other hand, the lit red lantern quietly residing outside a nondescript building of unclear purpose could well have come to be seen as a discreet advertisement of what was for sale within.

Version 1 gets a confirmatory endorsement in Holland, where window prostitution is legal. The question "How many windows are there in Amsterdam?" prompted a ground survey in July 2006 which put the count at 506. The picture above is worth a thousand words really.

Sources: www.phrases.org.uk; www.amsterdamhotspots.nl; www.pbase.com

Assassin

2007-04-26T20:29:00.000+04:00

Assassin - One who murders by surprise attack, especially one who carries out a plot to kill a prominent person.

From "Go Postal" to "assassin", I seem to be getting away with murder. Stop me, someone, before I go shooting from the hip. Awlright, enough of pretentious play of words, it's time for some history lessons, now :)

During the time of the Crusades, the members of a certain secret Muslim sect terrorized their enemies by performing murders as a religious duty. Active in Persia and Syria from the 8th to 14th centuries, the original Assassins were members of the Nizaris, a Muslim group who opposed the Abbasid caliphate with threats of sudden assassination by their secret agents. Other populations of the area regarded the Nizaris as unorthodox outcasts. Because these acts were supposedly carried out under the influence of hashish, the killers came to be known as hashshashin - eaters or smokers of hashish. It appeared in its anglicized form in the 17th century.

Trivia: Marco Polo tells a tale of how young Assassins were given a potion and made to yearn for paradise—their reward for dying in action—by being given a life of pleasure.

* End of History class*

Sources: The Merriam-Webster Book of Word Histories, http://www.answers.com/

ankle biter

2007-04-24T08:34:00.000+04:00

-A small child. Also applied to small dogs.

I first came across this phrase in an episode of full house uttered by the extremely delectable john stamos in reference to his on screen neice. Decided to do a little research on this phrase and came up with this :

Though this phrase has a contemporary feel, it was first recorded in the mid-19th century.

Harper's Magazine, September 1850, had the sentence:
"And how are you, John? and how's Molly, and all the little ankle-biters?"

The phrase then seemed to have disappeared from sight for over 100 years. It isn't clear whether the Harper's citation was a one-off usage and the phrase originated later independently. It's possible that it stayed alive as un-recorded slang but, even if it did stay in the language from 1850 onward, printed citations appear to be in limbo until Iona and Peter Opie's The lore and language of schoolchildren, 1959:

"A chap who has got duck's disease is most often labelled 'Tich’ in a friendly manner, or '‘squirt’ or 'little squirt’ in a less friendly manner. Alternatively: ankle biter, dolly mixture [etc.]."

Its said to be of Australian origin in many phrase lists, due to the way it sounds despite not having any citations in print.

The term ankle biter also seems to have some relevance in the stock market. It means stock issues that have market capitalization less than 500 million also known as "small cap" stocks.

To quote verbatim from the website:

"These issues can appear to be more speculative than stocks with high market capitalization. However, smaller issues often have great growth potential and tend to outperform larger market capitalization stocks. Small cap stocks are often biting at the ankles of the larger cap stocks and will one day - through capitalization growth - move up into the larger market capitalizations, as a child grows into adulthood."

Sources: http://www.phrases.org.uk/ http://www.investopedia.com/

Picture: Google Images

Go Postal

2007-04-24T01:12:00.000+04:00

Go postal - Fly into a violent rage, especially when provoked by workplace stress.

The gun-culture in United States might have not contributed to the well-being of the society in any way but it surely has given us a phrase not many would feel comfortable about. The recent hostage and killing drama at NASA reminded moi of the expression we came across in one of our Work Design and Productivity classes: "Go postal".

This originated in the USA in 1990s following a several incidents from 1986 onward, in which individuals working for the United States Postal Service (USPS) shot and killed fellow workers and members of the public. The first event of this kind was in August 1986, when fourteen postal workers were shot dead and six wounded in an Oklahoma post office, by Patrick Sherrill, himself a postal worker, who later shot himself in the forehead. Between that date and 1997 more than 40 people were killed in at least 20 incidents of workplace rage.

The term was first recorded in the Florida newspaper The St. Petersburg Times, December 17, 1993:"The symposium was sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service, which has seen so many outbursts that in some circles excessive stress is known as 'going postal'."

By 1994, going postal was being applied to crazy or violent outbursts at any workplace.

Sources:http://www.phrases.org.uk/ , http://www.answers.com/

Pic: Memorial of the August 20, 1986 post office killing spree that left 15 dead.

Sourced from wikipedia.org

Machiavellian

2007-04-19T06:56:00.000+04:00

The inspiration for this post is drawn from 666's blog which had a small snippet on Lucrezia Borgia whose family was famed for their Machiavellian politics during the Renaissance papacy. She was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI which has me a little confused since I always thought celibacy was an important criteria for occuping the highest post of the Vatican. Her marriages were arranged to men of importance and duly terminated in a vicious manner once they ceased to be of any use to the Pope.

Coming back to the term which means someone characterized by subtle or unscrupulous cunning, deception, expediency, or dishonesty. Machiavellianism is primarily the term some social and personality psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain.

The concept is named after Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote Il Principe (The Prince), in which political expediency is placed above morality and the use of craft and deceit to maintain the authority and carry out the policies of a ruler is described.

Sources : http://en.wikipedia.org, http://sixsixsixx.blogspot.com/

Portmanteau

2007-04-18T21:59:00.000+04:00

Portmanteau - (Pronounced as Port-man-tow) noun

What do u think is common between words like: motel, chortle, muppet, brunch, smog, spork, moped, cyborg, blog or the silliest of them all Brangelina? It's a cinch really, and am sure u all know what I'm arriving at! :)

They are all portmonteau words or simply put portmanteaux/portmanteaus (plural of portmonteau) : words that are formed by combining both sounds and meanings from two or more words.

Portmonteau according to Chambers entered in English from Middle French around 1584 and was originally used to mean a travelling bag, typically with two compartments (porte- from porter- to carry, manteau- from Old French mantel- cloak).

The term portmanteau as a description of word combinations was devised by English writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832-98). Carroll introduced the portmanteau word-combination term in the book 'Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There' (the sequel to 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland'), which first appeared in 1871. In the book, the character Humpty Dumpty uses the word portmanteau (as a descriptive noun) to describe to Alice how the new word 'slithy' is formed from two separate words and meanings, lithe and slimy: "...You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed up into one word..."

"Portmanteau" is rarely used to refer to a suitcase in English any more, since that type of a suitcase has fallen into disuse.

This post takes me back to my post on Denial ain't just a river in Egypt where I talked about how some of the seminal authors whose works we have read and loved before, have enriched our vocabularies. This seems to be an interesting trip I have embarked on and I'm looking forward to every pit-stop. :)

Sources: http://dictionary.reference.com/ , www.wikipedia.org

Update (22/04/07): by 666

Check out this extensive list on portmanteaus

Mondegreen

2007-04-17T22:01:00.000+04:00

Mondegreen – Misheard lyrics

Moi’s post on ‘Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt’ is a classic example of a genus of words called as mondegreens. The term mondegreen - meaning misheard lyric - comes from Sylvia Wright's mishearing of the "Oh, they have slain the Earl of Moray and laid him on the green" as “Oh, they have slain the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen”

Some other famous examples of mondegreens are listed below:-

1. ‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy/Scuse me while I kiss the sky
2. Olive the other reindeer/All the other reindeer
3. The girl with colitis goes by/The girl with kaleidoscope eyes
4. The ants are my friend, they are blowing in the wind/The answer my friend is blowing in the wind
5. There’s a bathroom on the right/There’s a bad moon on the rise
6. Gladly the cross-eyed bear/Gladly the cross I’ll bear
7. Sixty five roses/Cystic fibrosis

I have come across many mondegreens while listening to Bollywood songs but cant recall any right now. Keep visiting this space for updations on more mondegreens.

Source: www.wikipedia.com, www.phrases.org.uk

white elephant

2007-04-14T14:18:00.000+04:00

-Something that is more trouble than it is worth.

Was driving around town today when I came across a sign saying "White Elephant Sale", it reminded me of storybook England where the women of genteel birth used to organise these sales to raise funds for various church activities or other worthy causes and also of William, Richmal Crompton's adorably mischievous twelve year old who used to organise such sales in his own indomitable style. This term though mostly in use in western countries has a decidedly oriental descent.

White or albino elephants were regarded as holy in ancient times in Thailand and other Asian countries.To possess a white elephant was regarded as a sign that the monarch was ruling with justice and the kingdom was blessed with peace and prosperity. The tradition derives from tales in the scriptures which associate a white elephant with the birth of Buddha. To keep a white elephant was a very expensive task, since you had to provide the elephant with special food, and provide access for people who wanted to come and worship it. If a Thai King became dissatisfied with a subordinate, he would give him a white elephant. The gift would, in most cases, ruin the recipient.

Sources: http://www.wikipedia.org/ , http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

2007-04-14T01:48:00.000+04:00

Does this post belong here? Isn't the blog about etymology? It sure is. So what's a quote from the ever-wicked and eminently-quotable Mark Twain doing here?

The quote has gone beyond being just a quote. It's a popular expression now and I love the play of words involved. Many great authors have coined some beautiful expressions and Shakespeare for one, takes credit for the most: salad days, one fell swoop, in one's heart of heart..........am sure there must be others by GB Shaw, Kipling, Dickens, Saki, Lewis Carroll and a detailed research will not go in vain. I shall embark on that journey once I have more time on hands :)

The expression, "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." uses the similarity between the way the name of the river, "The Nile" and the therapeutic term "denial" sound when spoken. It is a humorous way of saying that some one refuses to see what is obvious to every one else, usually as a way of protecting himself from the pain the truth would cause.

An example of the use of expression as I found it on http://www.phrases.org.uk/

"Junior weighs as much as a grown man even though he is only ten. He has second and third helpings at meals. In between meals he snacks on chocolate bars and cake. His mother insists he isn't fat; he just has big bones."

"Ha! She is living proof that denial ain't just a river in Egypt."

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Alwar

2007-04-11T16:19:00.000+04:00

As a welcome digression from heavy words, heres a place which I know pretty well.

Alwar: District in North Rajasthan, better known for its milk cake and extreme cold. The song 'Yeh Bandhan' from the re incarnation movie Karan Arjun was shot here.

I used to sell Tata pick ups some years ago, and in this capacity was managing the dealership in Alwar. It was on some trip to some nondescript village that I was recited the story of the origin of the name 'Alwar'. Truly fascinating. Hark..

It was earlier called Ulwar after the Ulwa river on whose banks the town resided. As far as I remember there is no trace of Ulwa anymore but it has manifested into the lingua franca. Now during the British Raj, Ulwar and neighbouring regions were provinces paying largesse to the Empress. The royals from each protege used to sit around a round table with the white skin seated at the table's head. The princes were seated in alphabetical order. Under such scheme of things, our Ulwar prince always ended up far away from the epicentre. Hence, he changed the name to Alwar!

I think this is one word origin which is google proof :-)

Halcyon days

2007-04-05T08:57:00.000+04:00

halcyon days-calm, peaceful days

origin:

Halcyon is a name for a bird of Greek legend which is commonly associated with the kingfisher. The phrase comes from the ancient belief that fourteen days of calm weather were to be expected around the winter solstice - usually 21st or 22nd of December in the Northern Hemisphere. as that was when the halcyon calmed the surface of the sea in order to brood her eggs on a floating nest. The Halcyon days are generally regarded as beginning on the 14th or 15th of December.

Halcyon means calm and tranquil, or 'happy or carefree'. It is rarely used now apart from in the expression halcyon days. The name of the legendary bird was actually alcyon, the 'h' was added in regard to the supposed association with the sea ('hals' in Greek).
The source of the belief in the bird's power to calm the sea originated in a myth recorded by Ovid. The story goes that Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, had a daughter named Alcyone, who was married to Ceyx, the king of Thessaly. Ceyx was drowned at sea and Alcyone threw herself into the sea in grief. Instead of drowning, she was carried to her husband by the wind. The rest of the story is, in a translation of Ovid:

The Gods their shapes to winter-birds translate,

But both obnoxious to their former fate.

Their conjugal affection still is ty'd,

And still the mournful race is multiply'd:

They bill, they tread; Alcyone compress'd,

Sev'n days sits brooding on her floating nest:

A wintry queen: her sire at length is kind,

Calms ev'ry storm, and hushes ev'ry wind;

Prepares his empire for his daughter's ease,

And for his hatching nephews smooths the seas.

The legendary bird is usually identified with the kingfisher. That was also said to nest on the sea and was believed to be able to calm the sea for the seven days before and seven days after the winter solstice.

source:http://www.phrases.org.uk/

Silhouette

2007-04-04T05:15:00.000+04:00

silhouette - \sil'-you-et\ noun

1: A drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color.
2: An outline that appears dark against a light background, outline

If you have seen the recently released movie "The Namesake" by Mira Nair, you'll remember the character, Ashoke Ganguli played by Irfan Khan repeating one of his grandfather's favorite quote, ".....that's what books are for, you can see the world without moving an inch". English as a language is a well-toured one. As, Allan Metcalf, in his book, "The world in so many words", writes "If you speak English, you know at least a bit of a hundred languages. Or more. It's true. You are a savant in French, a genius in Latin, a philosopher in Greek. If you made it through kindergarten, you have mastered a bit of German. If you have a yen to be a tycoon......you are speaking Chinese and Japanese. If you trek to paradise, you are going through Afrikaans and Persian."

That brings me to the word Silhouette...For someone who pursues photography in her spare time, this word holds a special meaning for moi. And you don't need a MOI to tell you that it migrated into English from French. You know it has French origins by the mere sound of it :)

What I found fascinating though was that it was coined after the name of a French gentleman (err....Monsieur) Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767) who was a controller general of finances in France in the mid-eighteenth century. He was extremely niggardly with the state money as well as his own that for a time "a la Silhouette" came to mean "on the cheap". His parsimony was greeted with ridicule. Outline drawings were given his name (trust Frenchmen with an imagination like that!!!!!). He was forced out of office in less than a year, but an outline is still, in French and in English, a silhouette. :)

Sources: The Merriam-Webster Book of Word Histories
http://www.answers.com/

Pic: Moi

Update (05/04/07): by 666

I am not entirely certain but these are the caricatures which Moi is referring to. Further research proved fascinating and I hope to do a follow-up post on 'Silhouette' .. every dark cloud has a silver lining !

Between the devil and the deep blue sea

2007-03-31T20:25:00.000+04:00

An addendum to 'true blue' & 'blue stocking' .. 'Devil and the deep blue sea' Let the rhythm & blues chain continue!

Between the devil and the deep blue sea: In difficulty, between two dangerous alternatives

The phrase was originally 'Between the Devil and the deep sea'. The sea turned blue much later and the phrase became well-known via the title of a popular song. 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea' was written by Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen, and recorded by Cab Calloway in 1931, although that version of the phrase may have been circulating earlier

The original phrase is probably of nautical origin. More research may throw some light.

Source: www.phrases.org.uk

Blue Stocking

2007-03-26T23:12:00.000+04:00

Blue Stocking - A woman with strong scholarly or literary interests.

Semantica gets its first contribution from a member of the fairer sex(!!!!) . And I decided to commence the journey with an expression that's tickled and tingled moi over years. Blue Stocking, when researched led me to times as long back as 1400, when ladies and gentlemen in Venice formed a society called della calza (of the stocking) , whose members were distinguished by the color of their stockings. By 1590, the fashion spread to Paris, where it became the rage (that should not surprise anyone). It took almost 2 centuries to reach England where in early 1750's, Mrs Elizabeth Montague, an English writer and society leader, along with other women started a women's literary discussion group, a revolutionary step away from traditional mindless women's activities. They invited various people to attend, including a botanist, translator and publisher called Benjamin Stillingfleet. He wasn't rich enough to have the proper formal dress which included black silk stockings. So he attended in his normal clothes, wearing blue stockings.This started a trend. The husband of one of the group members derisively referred to the meetings as the "Blue-Stocking Society".

There's another lesser-known and most likely untrue tale about the coinage. It seems that, late in the eighteenth century, two romantic and eccentric young ladies moved from Ireland to Wales (a town called Llangollen). Determined to lead an intellectual life and vowing never to marry, they seem to have spent much of their time knitting blue stockings. The house, till date is open to tourists every day of the year, though it's widely accepted that they could not have coined the term.

Source: Dictionary of Word and Pharse Origins, Vol II
http://en.wikipedia.org/

True Blue

2007-03-24T13:14:00.000+04:00

True Blue - Loyal and unwavering in one's opinions or support for a cause.

'True blue' is supposed to derive from the blue cloth that was made at Coventry, England in the late middle ages. The town's dyers had a reputation for producing material that didn't fade with washing, i.e. it remained 'fast' or 'true'. The phrase 'as true as Coventry blue' originated then and is still used (in Coventry at least).

There are other theories as to the origin of 'true blue'. For example, the representation in paintings of the Virgin Mary in blue clothing, the purity of lineage of the Spanish nobility, or the blue aprons worn by butchers. These derivations are unlikely as they aren't supported by documentary evidence that link them to 'true blue'.

Source: www.phrasefinder.co.uk

Posh

2007-03-15T21:26:00.000+04:00

Posh - Elegant, swanky, rich.

The much-repeated tale is that 'Posh' derives from the 'port out, starboard home' legend supposedly printed on tickets of passengers on P&O (Peninsula and Orient) passenger vessels that travelled between UK and India in the days of the Raj. Britain and India are both in the northern hemisphere so the port (left-hand side) berths were mostly in the shade when travelling out (easterly) and the starboard ones when coming back. So the best and most expensive berths were POSH, hence the term.

There is no evidence to confirm this story though and it appears to have been dreamed up retrospectively to match an existing meaning.

Source: www.phrasefinder.co.uk

Fizgig

2007-01-21T13:32:00.000+04:00

fizgig (FIZ-gig) noun

1. A squib: a type of firework made with damp powder that makes a hissing sound when exploding.

2. A kind of top spun by pulling a string wound around it.

3. A flirty, frivolous girl.

4. A kind of harpoon with barbs for spearing fish.

5. A police informer. [Australian slang.]

Cracker-barrel

2006-12-13T12:37:00.000+04:00

cracker-barrel \KRAK-er-bair-ul\ adjective : suggestive of the friendly homespun character of a country store

In the days before pre-packaged food and huge supermarkets, a trip to the nearest store was more than just an errand; it was also a chance to socialize and keep up with goings-on. The country store of yesteryear was the focal point of many rural communities, and the heart of the country store was the cracker barrel. Literally a barrel containing crackers, the cracker barrel -- which afforded a seat for at least one person -- was the spot where folks would gather to chat about weather and politics, or to swap stories, jokes, and gossip. Today, cracker barrels are largely a thing of the past, but the flavor of those friendly exchanges lives on in the adjective "cracker-barrel."

Dithyramb

2006-12-13T12:36:00.001+04:00

dithyramb \DITH-ih-ram\ noun
1 : a usually short poem in an inspired wild irregular strain
2 : a statement or writing in an exalted or enthusiastic vein

In ancient Greece, the wine god Dionysus (or Bacchus) was feted several times throughout the year. Processions, feasts, dances, and dramatic performances, accompanied by poems recited or sung in the god's honor, were all part of the revelry. Not too surprisingly, the poems tended to be wild, irregular, and dissonant. We know that the Greeks used "dithyrambos" as the word for a poem in honor of Dionysus, but beyond that the origin of the word is unknown. The ancient Greeks also had an adjective, "dithyrambikos," which gave us our adjective "dithyrambic," meaning "pertaining to or resembling a dithyramb."

Job's comforter

2006-12-13T12:36:00.000+04:00

Job's comforter \JOHBZ-KUM-fer-ter\ noun : a person who discourages or depresses while seemingly giving comfort and consolation

Poor Job. He's the biblical character who endures extraordinary afflictions in a test of his piety. He loses his possessions, his children, and his health. And then, to make matters worse, three friends show up to "comfort" him. These friends turn out to be no comfort at all. Instead, they say that the things that have been happening to him happen to all sinners -- and point out a number of his faults. In the mid-18th century, English speakers began using the phrase "Job's comforter" for anyone who offers similarly unhelpful consolation

Gadarene

2006-12-13T12:35:00.000+04:00

gadarene \GAD-uh-reen\ adjective : headlong, precipitate

Gadara, in Biblical times, was a steep hill town just southeast of the Sea of Galilee. In the account given in the Book of Matthew (8:28), Jesus, on a visit there, exorcised the demons from two possessed persons and sent the demons into some nearby swine. The possessed swine ran in a mad dash down a steep bank into the Sea and drowned. "Gadarene," an adjective used to describe a headlong rush, made its first plunge into our lexicon in the 1920s. The swine sometimes make an appearance as well, as when an imprudently hasty act is compared to "the rush of the Gadarene swine."

False Colors & Madeleine

2006-12-13T12:33:00.000+04:00

1. false colors (fawls KUL-uhrs) noun

Deceptive actions.

When ships approached each other at sea, sailors would look to the flagto determine whether the other vessel was from a friendly or enemy nation.They'd often try to confuse the other by flying a false flag until theywere close enough to attack.

2. madeleine \MAD-uh-lun\ noun

1 : a small rich shell-shaped cake *2 : one that evokes a memory
The madeleine is said to have been named after a 19th-century French cook named Madeleine Paumier, but it was the French author Marcel Proust who immortalized the pastry in his 1913 book _Swann's Way_, the first volume of his seven-part novel _Remembrance of Things Past_. In that work, a taste of tea-soaked cake evokes a surge of memory and nostalgia. As more and more readers chewed on the profound mnemonic power attributed to a mere morsel of cake, the word "madeleine" itself became a designation for anything that evokes a memory

Tarantism

2006-12-13T12:30:00.000+04:00

Tarantism
(TAR-uhn-tiz-uhm)

noun An uncontrollable urge to dance.

[After Taranto, a town in southern Italy where this phenomenon was experienced during the 15-17th centuries. It's not clear whether tarantism was the symptom of a spider's bite or its cure, or it may have been just a pretext to dodge a prohibition against dancing. The names of the dance tarantella and the spider tarantula are both derived from the same place.]