737: spoonerisms Dec 14, 2016

Yesterday, the focus of Word Facts was misinterpretations of things people hear, and if you didn't see it, click here. The opposite side of this problem is, logically, misspeaking. There are a number of ways that this happens, including saying an unintended word, or leaving information out, but an often funnier mistake that some people make might be to switch the sounds of words around, such as 'sons of toil' instead of 'tons of soil', or 'pobody's nerfect' for 'nobody's perfect'. The term for this phenomenon is 'spoonerism', named after William A. Spooner, a clergyman known for constantly making this mistake.

736: egg corns and mondegreens Dec 13, 2016

There are a great number of ways in which it is possible to misinterpret what someone has said. Of course, it is possible to hear nonsense, but common misconceptions about words and phrases like 'bated-breath, 'lip singing' or 'old-timer's disease' instead of 'baited-breath', 'lip-syncing' and 'Alzheimer's disease' respectively that still retain some sense of the original word in a fairly logical way have a specific name, egg corns, or more technically, oronyms. There are also, 'mondegreens' which involve the misunderstanding or lyrics or other text, and can usually also make sense within the context. Both of these words are examples of what they represent: 'egg corn' comes from a mishearing of 'acorn' and 'mondegreen' is coined based off of someone hearing the end of Percy's Reliques, "...They hae slain the Earl o' Moray, and Lady Mondegreen' instead of '...and laid him on the green'.

735: angles and jutes Dec 12, 2016

The reason behind the name, Saxon, was covered before so it seemed logical to go over the other tribes of England. The Angles were so named because of their region's shape. Angles come from present-day Schleswig in Denmark, but the region has always had a lot of German people and influences, so it would make sense that the name has a common root shared with Latin, Old English, and German.
As for the Jutes, there is much debate, even as to whether these people were their own distinct group. Some people have claimed that this is just an alternative pronunciation of Geats or Goths, and even though their homeland, Jutland juts out into the ocean, there is little evidence that this would have caused the name for this Danish peninsula.

734: orgy Dec 11, 2016

The nature of an orgy is, and has for a long time been, purely sexual. It wasn't always this way, and it only gained this stigma because of Christians. In Greek, 'orgia' meant ‘secret rites or revels’, and was used to denote plenty of religious congregations. The Christians did not care much for pagan rituals, and while killing people and tearing down or re-purposing religious sites works to stop those whom are already pagans from worshiping, spreading rumors that at these orgia, all people do is have immoral, hedonistic sex would (perhaps) prevent Christians from converting.

733: English as a North Germanic Language Dec 10, 2016

It is usually taken as fact that English is not just a Germanic language, but a West Germanic language in the same class as Afrikaans, Dutch, and German. While sometimes people, though not many, argue that due to the over 50% romantic vocabulary English should be considered a creole, this would still not change its language family because families are based on grammar and structure. A paper published from the University of Oslo, however, argues that English should be considered a North Germanic language, along with Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and others, citing certain structural similarities including objects being placed after second verbs, split infinitives, prepositions after the adjunct, and group-genitives, all of which are not possible in German or Dutch.

732: Current and Future Swears (C.W.7) Dec 9, 2016

This is the last post for Curse Week II and the 2-year anniversary!
Although many of the curse-words we have now have existed for a long time, and have embedded themselves so thoroughly in language that .7% of English speakers lexicon is made up of the mere 10 phrases: 'f*ck', 'sh*t', 'hell', 'G-d damn it', 'ass', 'b*tch', 'damn', 'oh my G-d', and 'suck', particularly the first 2, which is nearly as much as people use all 1st person plural pronouns. Linguists now, realizing that words change as societies change have come up with theories on the most prominent future-insults. One linguist has theorized that insults will be derived of class differences, so terms like 'salt of the earth', 'trash', 'chav', or 'urban' would become more offensive. Others have suggested that insults about mental illness will become more prominent, such as, 'schizo', 'mental', or 'aspy'. This, however is no quick process, and likely we won't really know.

/stonewordfacts/2016/05/44-fuck-jan-20-2015.html

731: Cathartic Swearing (C.W.6) Dec 8, 2016

It would in no way be uncommon to say, 'ouch' when you, say, stub your toes. Alternatively, many if not most people will curse when in pain, and neurologically it aids in pain-relief. Cathartic swearing is perhaps the most basic and instinctive use of these words. In fact, many people who experience head-trauma which affects their ability to use language are still perfectly able to curse, as these words are stored in a different part of the brain. Unfortunately, this is the reason that certain conditions, such as turrets's syndrome may cause individuals to swear, but not yell any words randomly. Cursing, as has been said here before may be stored in the limbic system, which also stores emotions.

730: Dysphemistic Swearing (C.W.5) Dec 6, 2016

A euphemism is used to talk about something that is regarded as uncomfortable or unpleasant whilst acknowledging that it was unpleasant. Have you ever though wondered what the opposite of euphemism is? Even if you haven't had that thought as such , most people know the desire to emphasize when something is truly unpleasant, so unpleasant as to warrant the breaking of social rules. In these certain circumstances, 'dysphemisms' are used. In that way, rather than saying, "I stepped in dog-feces", to make it very clear that the situation is unfavorable, choose, "I stepped in dog-shit" or "dog-crap".

729: Idiomatic Swearing (C.W.4) Dec 6, 2016

It would be uncommon perhaps for a student to say to his teacher, "what the fuck does that mean?". Almost certainly this would be very rude, even if this is a case of Emphatic Swearing (see post C.W.3). The question from before would be a great deal more acceptable socially if someone were instead to ask it to her friend. Idiomatic Swearing, as it is named, gives the impression that a situation is casual, and allows for both interlocutors to see that some social standards would not have to be enforced in a more relaxed conversation.

728: Emphatic Swearing (C.W.3) Dec 5, 2016

At this point in Curse Week, you might say, "I fucking love Word Facts". Here is an example of a curse word that doesn't have the same negative connotations as an insult or other derogatory term, even if people might choose to opt for something else in formal settings. This is called Emphatic Swearing, and is used to convey that fact that social expectations matter less than the emotion which is being expressed. Due to that understood intention, most people agree that the exclamation above is even more emphatic than "I really love Word Facts" would be, as that does not suggest any disregard for social norms.

727: Supernatural Swearing (C.W.2) Dec 4, 2016

The next category of cursing which Pinker identifies is Supernatural Swearing. This accounts for all the 'oh my G*d' and 'damn' curses that people still use regularly, even in increasingly secular societies. These words have lost gravity for that very reason, and are used in much more of a carefree manner than they were in Victorian England. GadZooks (G*d's hooks) refers to Jesus' nails because people were afraid to use God's name in vain. Similarly, 'zounds' is a euphemism for 'God's wounds', which is particularly appropriate.

726: Abusive Swearing (C.W.1) Dec 3, 2016

Steven Pinker, a neurolinguist, identified five types of cursing, all used for different effects. When words are used and created for the intent to insult people, or marginalize groups of people, his is called 'abusive swearing'. Not all of these words will be abusive for all time however, such as 'bad' /stonewordfacts/2016/05/365-good-bad-and-evil-dec-8-2015.html. Curse words—most believe—are stored in the limbic system, apart from most other words, which also stores emotions and could add to the interconnectivity of insulting terms and emotional responses. This idea will be explored more in posts later this week.

725: quid pro quo Dec 2, 2016

In addition to many adopted words from Latin, English has acquired some entire phrases, including 'pro bono', 'status quo', 'a priori', and 'quid pro quo', just to name a few. These all have literal meanings, but that doesn't prevent a phrase from being used in different ways. 'Quid pro quo' which in English is, 'something for something' first denoted an item one got from an apothecary, referring to the process of replacing one medicine for another, intentional or otherwise. A few decades later the meaning was extended to other exchanges, and now the initial sense from its early years of being an English term is rarely if ever the intended meaning.

724: tangent, secant, and sine Dec 1, 2016

Words from Latin are adopted quite a bit more easily than words from Middle Eastern languages, and trigonometry offers a wonderful example of this. The word 'tangent', from a Latin meaning ‘touching’; the story ends there. The word 'secant' comes from Latin meaning 'cut'; the story ends there. 'Sine', however, was 'ardha-jya', abbreviated 'jya' in Sanskrit in the 5th century which meant, 'half-chord'. Later in Arabic texts this appeared as 'jiba', which having no original Arabic meaning to tether it eventually morphed into 'jaib' meaning 'bosom of a dress'. in the 12th century, this was finally translated into Latin, literally, with the word 'sinus' which denoted many things with curved shapes, like sinuses, but really it means 'breasts'.

723: dodo and dotterel Nov 30, 2016

What is there to do when an animal is discovered on an island with no inhabitants, and therefore no names to adopt? There are at least 3 ways; first, use an imitative name based off of a sound the animal makes, such as with the name for 'cuckoo', second, make up a name out of thin air, and thirdly, use an already-existing word. For the bird, 'dodo', the third of these options was employed. The word for the bird discovered on Mauritius Island comes from the Portuguese 'doudo' meaning ‘simpleton’, denoting the ease with which the bird was killed due to its lack of innate fear of humans. 'Dotterel' was named from the related, 'dote', for a same purpose, except here there is an added diminutive suffix, '-rel', present in other words for the purpose of derogation, such as 'cockerel' or 'scoundrel'.

722: saxon Nov 29, 2016

Although words are ultimately arbitrary, considering the vast history of spoken languages, it would be a strange thing to come upon a word that has no story. 'Saxon', relevant to the name of several modern German states and much of Anglo-germanic history, wasn't just made up out of nowhere. Via a slew of other languages, this word dates back to an Old English root, 'Seaxan, Seaxe" (plural); looking back even further, this word come from the base, 'sax' meaning ‘small ax,’ or, 'seax' for ‘knife’. Many other Indo-european languages have related words relating to 'cut', and many believe that here, it is a reflection of the tribe's notable prowess in war.

721: banal and ban Nov 28, 2016

What do movies lacking suspense, the draft, and censored books have in common? The answer to that question is that nobody really likes any of that stuff, and also the word, 'banal'. Until the mid 1700's, this referenced feudal service that was compulsory, originally from the French, 'ban' meaning, ‘a proclamation or call to arms’; it was this sense of common duty that eventually took on the meaning of, ‘common to all’. You might think that 'ban' also comes directly from this French word, but actually it's from an Old English word, 'bannan', which means ‘summon by a public proclamation’, which was reinforced by both the Old Norse 'banna' which translates to ‘curse, prohibit’, and later the French, 'ban'. Today, 'banal' has changed from meaning a call to arms to meaning anything without originality.

720: In- Nov 27, 2016

'Irrational', 'illegal', 'impossible' and 'inhumane', morphologically speaking, have the same prefix, even though the initial 2 letters each are different. They all take the Latinate, 'in-' prefix which negates a word. To be sure, this is not the same as the 'in-' in 'import' and some other words that come from the preposition, or otherwise 'illegal' and 'impossible' would refer to something within the restrictions of the law or the realm of possibility, and that's quite the opposite of the truth. Certain phonemes are difficult to pronounce together—which is why most of the time, for example, the in in 'con-' will become an M such as in 'computer'—but other time the will remain the same like the N in 'inhumane'.

719: noodle Nov 26, 2016

Noodles come from all over the world, from Italy to Japan, but where 'noodle' comes from, now one is quite sure. As far as anyone can tell though, it is related to the word 'noddle', meaning the top of one's head, and 'nod', although not 'noggin'. The word 'nod' is also related to an Old High German word for 'shake', though this would not have a relation to 'noodle' as much as it would Mr. Noodle from Sesame Street. 

718: Paperclip and trombone Nov 25, 2016

The French word for 'paperclip' is 'trombone' in reference to the similar loops that the Gem Manufacturing Company design for paperclips, still used today, has to the instrument. In fact, this is also why the Swedish word for 'paperclip' is 'gem'. Moreover, in English, 'trumpet', 'trombone', 'tuba', and 'tube' all come from the Latin 'tuba' meaning 'trumpet' which at the time was just a straight horn. Before they were called 'trombones' in English, the instrument went by the name of 'sackbut', which was originally a French word, 'saquebute' meaning, 'hook for pulling a man off a horse', but in the 1700's Italian music became popular in England, and so the Italian word was adopted.