http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/forums/7 en-us Copyright 2006, Yuku feeds@yuku.com (FeedMaster) webmaster@yuku.com (WebMaster) Wed, 08 Jan 2003 06:59:55 GMT Yuku Feeds 1.0 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://static.yuku.com//feed/bypass/images/button-yuku.png http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/forums/7 Yuku - free hosted forums and profiles 88 31 {pics-1.1 "http://www.icra.org/ratingsv02.html" l gen true for "http://yuku.com" r (nz 1 vz 1 lz 1 oz 1 cz 1 ) "http://www.rsac.org/ratingsv01.html" l gen true for "http://yuku.com" r (n 0 s 0 v 0 l 0 )) Search Domain q http://yuku.com/search/direct/ http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3142/t/calved.html
eg: "my car calved about half way to town."

has anyone else heard that one, or was it a really localized regionalism? ]]> feeds@yuku.com (gregs(d)) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3142 Tue, 07 Jan 2003 11:00:57 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3135/t/Verklempt.html
Popularized by GregS's fellow countryman, Mike Meyers on SNL, it is presumed to be Yiddish. But also may come from an older German word. There is a current German verb "klemmen" which means "to wedge." It can also be used in other combinations/compounds to mean "tension." Thus... ]]> feeds@yuku.com (jgorman64) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3135 Tue, 07 Jan 2003 08:49:17 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3143/t/not-inevitable.html evitable.

What was the term for a pair of antonyms, one of which was mucho obscure? Like "chalant", "plussed", "sheveled". I know we had a term, several good sites, and a fictional story (poem?) constructed out of dozens of them.

]]> feeds@yuku.com (wordgeek) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3143 Tue, 07 Jan 2003 00:03:37 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3138/t/rogering.html
to "give her a jolly good rogering..."

not quite a spoonerism, but a darned fine turn of speech. ]]> feeds@yuku.com (gregs(d)) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3138 Mon, 06 Jan 2003 23:35:04 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3153/t/dysphemism.html feeds@yuku.com (essayist) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3153 Mon, 06 Jan 2003 13:19:36 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3139/t/gander.html Any more info, please? Do you say it in the States? ]]> feeds@yuku.com (ElizaD) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3139 Mon, 06 Jan 2003 13:15:45 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3140/t/Liase.html feeds@yuku.com (doctordoowop) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3140 Mon, 06 Jan 2003 11:00:59 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3141/t/Mudd-your-name-is.html feeds@yuku.com (Unregistered(d)) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3141 Mon, 06 Jan 2003 09:52:35 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3145/t/Turn-on.html Turn on, tune in, drop out.
Does it predate that time, and if so, was it used in currently predominant sexual sense or the drug-related one? ]]> feeds@yuku.com (aldiboronti) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3145 Mon, 06 Jan 2003 08:57:07 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3134/t/flatware.html feeds@yuku.com (JimWilton) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3134 Mon, 06 Jan 2003 06:59:05 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3150/t/the-sticks.html feeds@yuku.com (ElizaD) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3150 Mon, 06 Jan 2003 01:37:45 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3146/t/Recoup.html
Recoup is traced by MWO to French (French recouper to cut back) and recuperate to Latin (Latin recuperatus), but the two words seem connected to me. N'est ce pas?

Seems also to be a connection to "cope" and even "cape." but I can't see it at this late hour. ]]> feeds@yuku.com (jgorman64) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3146 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 23:43:11 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3133/t/Widget.html
I'm told it's the little canister at the bottom of a can of beer that releases nitrogen when the can is opened. Was Boddingtons the first to use it?

Didn't it used to be a generic "thing" used by Business Schools to describe the product of a fictional company? Maybe dating from a George S. Kaufman 1924 play.

But is it now a real product?

edit: seems to have been patented by Guiness in 1988, but who named it a "widget?" ]]> feeds@yuku.com (jgorman64) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3133 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 21:11:37 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3155/t/Dwarf-Tossing.html feeds@yuku.com (rufio(d)) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3155 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 21:11:07 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3160/t/For-Pete-s-sake-.html feeds@yuku.com (Unregistered(d)) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3160 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 17:11:04 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3157/t/Look-good.html "feel good" or "feel well." I contend that "feel well" refers to a person's
health, while "feel good" refers to their mood and energy level. Similarly,
I content that "look good" refers to how handsome/pretty a person looks,
while "look well" refers to how healthy they look.

My friend is older than me (73 to my 59), and I think that when he... ]]> feeds@yuku.com (Unregistered(d)) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3157 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 15:29:40 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3159/t/Busy-ness.html feeds@yuku.com (aldiboronti) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3159 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 14:01:37 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3163/t/Dumbledore.html Dumble-bee, humble-bee. bumble-bee.
No other animal on earth has such a collection of delightful names. Apparently the dumble bit comes from dummel, a word meaning stupid or slow, a little hard on the bee, I thought, especially since it is a watchword for busy-ness.

]]> feeds@yuku.com (aldiboronti) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3163 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 13:58:56 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3151/t/Jaguar-continued.html This is from Mencken's American Language:

He (Noah Webster) denounced the affectation of inserting a y-sound before the u in such words as gradual and nature, with its compensatory change of d into dj and of t into ch. The English lexicographer, John Walker, had argued for this affectation in 1791, but Websters... ]]> feeds@yuku.com (aldiboronti) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3151 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 13:41:02 GMT http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3154/t/pound-sand.html mean to y'all? I've only heard it in a quasi-literal sense, meaning to walk around. "A politician's gotta pound sand if he wants to get his message out".

About the same as "hit the pavement".

This "crazy"/"futile" meaning is a new one on me.

]]> feeds@yuku.com (wordgeek) http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/topic/3154 Sun, 05 Jan 2003 13:15:04 GMT