INSULTS GALORE...
Have fun with it!!! Surprise some idiots in your life. 

I stumbled upon this really amazing group of words that are apparently swear/cuss words. They sound so much like Captain Haddock's curses, I tell you. ☺ Use them in your spoken language, they are much more fun than those that start with a, b, s, and in desi style m's and b's even. Your opponent will be thoroughly GOBSMACKED and ask you, "You called me WHATTT?" 

*****

1. GOUBERMOUCH

Apparently means a busybody. 
This is an Irish term for someone who likes to meddle in other people's business. 

Try saying "You, you Goubermouch, stay out of this!"

2. GNASHNAB

It is an 18th century northern English word which is used to describe a whiny person who keeps complaining all the time. Synonyms for this word would include nitpicker, grumbler and moaner. 

Imagine yourself saying, "He looks like he's gonna kick some human ass, ya whinin' gnashnab!"

3. SNOUTBAND

A conversation interruptor... Somebody who intercepts conversations to put in his/her own bit in it. Mostly to show off their own knowledge and to correct or contradict the opponent. Every social group has their own snoutband who think they know everything. In fact I suffered from this malady myself for the longest time. :P But you bet I won't be indulging in this any longer. You bet, I don't want to be called a snoutband. 

4. STAMPCRAB

Somebody that is clumsy or heavy of foot. stumbling onto places that they have no business being in, would be a stampcrab. 

5. SCOBBLELOTCHER

A scobberlotcher is someone who avoids hard work like it's their job. The next time you catch someone dozing off at their desk, hit 'em with this one. 

6. ZOOTERKINS

The website Matador Network says this is "a 17th century variant of ‘zounds’ which was an expression of surprise or indignation." 

It's less of an insult and more of something to yell after someone has insulted you... but of course you can follow up with some other great words of your own. :P some Haddock style blistering barnacles. 

7. ZOUNDERKITE

Not a bird this one........ were you thinking on the lines of a dogbird? 

No no, if you were, you are way off target. This is a Victorian word simple meaning idiot. Especially to be spoken with indignant irritation. Synonyms would be buffoon! 

8. BEDSWERVER

I just love this one... William Shakespeare coined this to describe an adulterer, literally speaking a bedhopper. But I guess, hopper did not sound sophisticated enough, hence the swerver. 

9. FOPDOODLE

A fopdoodle is someone of literally none or little significance. So if you're letting someone get on your nerves that really shouldn't have the power, remember that they're just a fopdoodle. ;) ;) :D Then carry on.

10. KLAZOMANIAC

This is a person who can only ever shout in any argument. THAT's ALL I AM GOING TO SAY ABOUT THAT, YOU HEAR ME! ....hehehe... i guess you got the point. (Wait! :D Did you not know that writing full sentences or paras in Capitals is akin to shouting at people on the internet?)

*****

So what are you waiting for We all have some Fopdoodles in our lives, lets get on with telling them what absolute Zooterkin Snoutbands they are behaving like. :) :) :D

Wise words for Aug 28, 2022:
He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot."
-- Groucho Marx.

Fabric Etymology

Many of the fabric names we use today have very old origins, some quite surprising. Lets take a look at some of them.

Linen:
It is a very old type of cloth which is made from flax. The word linen dates back to Old English linen – our earliest record of it is from 700 A.D. This word has not changed in over a millenium! There were cognates in Old Frisian, Old Scandinavian, and Old High German, all of which came from a Proto-Germanic root *linom which means "flax".

Muslin:
It has its roots in the Arab town of Mosul, where the cloth was originally made. The Romance languages all have cognates, as does Greek: musselin. The current form of the word dates in English to the early 17th century. However, Old French had mosulin in the 13th century, but this was applied to "cloth of silk and gold’ from Mosul, according to Marco Polo.

Silk:
This word is quite old, dating from the time that the Greeks obtained silk from the east. The Greek form was seres, and the Romans borrowed that word along with the adjectival form, sericus. Seres is the name that the Greeks had for the oriental people who first provided them with silk. It is thought that the "r" may have changed to an "l" as the word traveled from the Greco-Romans to the Baltic area. There is an Old Slavic form shelku, as well as Old Norse silki and Old English sioloc. No other Germanic language possess this word. Interestingly, silkie is an old Scottish word for seals, so-named because of their silky fur.

Organza:
It is a stiff, transparent form of silk, got its name from organzine, a strong, high-quality silk thread. That word comes from Italian organzino (17th century) but the source of the Italian word is not known.

Brocade:
It is, interestingly, related to our broach/brooch. It comes from Spanish brocado, which corresponds to Italian broccato "cloth of gold and silver", but literally broccato is "something bossed or embossed". The Italian form comes originally from the verb broccare "to boss, to stud, to set with great-headed nails", from Italian brocca "a boss or stud". Brocca is cognate with English broach/brooch, which is simply a boss worn on one's clothing .

Tweed:
Many of us probably assumed Tweed was named after the River Tweed in the Borders of Scotland, but this is not so. It is actually the product of a misunderstanding! This misunderstanding occurred in about 1831, when someone misread the Scottish word tweel "twill" as tweed. It is likely that the river name played some part in the misreading, but the cloth is not named after the river. Exactly who was guilty of this error has not been well determined. However, in 1847, it was written "Narrow cloths, of various kinds, known by the name of Tweeds,..are extensively produced at Galashiels and Jedburgh, but especially the former.

Corduroy:
If you know any French, you might recognize the elements du and roi in the word: du = "of" and roi = "king". Corde du roi, "the king's cord", was either invented in English to have this meaning, or that meaning was attached to it soon after the word was coined in the 18th century. The phrase corde du roi is not known in French. In fact, a French list of manufactured articles, dating from 1807, includes "kings-cordes", apparently taken from the English word!

Taffeta:
It was current in English by the mid-14th century, in the form taffata. Old French had taffeta and tapheta, and the Romance languages all had similar forms. The ultimate source is Persian taftah "silken cloth" OR "linen clothing". It comes from the Persian verb taftan "to shine" or "to twist, to spin".

Velvet:
It has its roots in a Latin words meaning "shaggy haired"! Its earliest English form was veluett or veluet (c. 1320), having entered English from medieval Latin velvetum, which came ultimately from Latin villus "hair, down". Some cognates are Italian velluto, Old French velut, and Spanish and Portuguese velludo.

Crepe de Chine:
It is literally "China crape", a white crape made from raw silk. Crape, as found in the term crape myrtle today, is increasingly being replaced by the French form crêpe, having come full circle as crape comes originally from the French form. Crêpe means "crisp" or "wrinkled", arising ultimately from Latin crispa "curled". The term crepe de chine was borrowed by English from French in the 19th century, the French having coined it to differentiate it from crêpe anglais, known in English as "simply crape". That word was originally crespe in English (mid 17th century) as in French, but by the late 17th century it was being spelled phonetically: crape.

Lame:
It is a fabric made of silk or other threads interwoven with metallic threads. It gets its name from lame, which was a thin metal plate applied to the small overlapping steel plates used in old armor. Its earliest form was lamm (late 16th century) and English went back to the French form in the early 20th century. French got it from Latin lamina "thin piece or plate". English cognates are lamina and laminate.

Rayon:
It is named after a fairly old cognate of the English word ray. A rayon is a "ray of light", from French (1539) rayon, coming ultimately from rais "ray". It was applied to a synthetic cloth in the early 20th century, presumably because of the cloth's sheen.

Spandex:
It is simply a clever inversion of expand.

Polyester:
It is simply "many esters", an ester being not a Christian holiday, but an acid derivative. The word ester is thought to come from essig "vinegar" (acid) and äther "ether".

Tartan:
This word seems to arise first in the 16th century. Some believe it comes from French tiretaine (c. 1247) "a half wool, half linen cloth"

Gingham:
It comes ultimately from Malay ginggang "striped". It found its way to English via French guingan, from Spanish guinga and Portuguese guingão, Italian gingano, and Dutch ging(g)ang. The word first appeared in print in English in the early 17th century. Its circuitous route from Malay is an indication of the scale of trade and exploration occurring at the time.

Cotton:
This word has roots in Arabic. There it was qutn or qutun, and with the prefixed article it was alqoton. The Spanish took that word as alcoton, but they eventually dropped the prefix and the word became coton, although algodon is still used for specific applications (i.e., a cotton swab) . Italian and Provençal took it from Spanish (as cotone and coton, respectively), and the French took it from the Provençal form and gave it to Middle English as coton in the 14th century. The later English form cotton arose in the 16th century.

The Philosophical Etymology of HOBBIT

An Overview:
On one hand it is said that many authors have foolishly and regrettably argued over the etymology of the word "HOBBIT" as originating from the variation of the two words, rabbits and hobby.

Now on the other hand there is one other man (Stan McDaniel) who argues in a serious way the case of JRR Tolkien as a very intense author who was a genius in philology (the study of language forms, relationships and transformations).

In recent decades, a number of scholars have begun to delve more seriously into the relationships between the sounds of words and the meanings of words. "Sound symbolism" or relations among sounds and meanings of certain clusters of words is something that suggests a common "symbol" or image about which the nomenclature revolves.

Anthropologist Dell H. Hymes, for example, in an article "Phonological Aspects of Style: Some English Sonnets," states

"Insistence on the arbitrary nature of the connection between sound and meaning simply cuts off inquiry into a very real aspect of speech and language."

Tolkien was familiar with how meanings and their related sounds flow in and out of one another according to subtle forces by which languages have shaped our perception of the world. It is out of these depths of understanding that the delight and wonder of his stories have evolved. As he says in one place, "Deep roots are not reached by the frost." Were The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings not so deeply rooted, they would not last as they have and as they will as long as there are books to read, eyes to read them, and hearts to beat to their songs.

***

The Unconscious Origin of Hobbit:
Tolkien once said of his stories that they grow "like a seed in the dark out of the leaf-mould of the mind," adding that his own personal "compost-heap" was made "largely of linguistic matter." The word hobbit came out of that inner ferment in rare moments of spontaneous intuition.

He was busy grading examination papers when the word popped into his mind, not alone but as part of a whole sentence:

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

Tolkien trusted his philological intuition. When a name occurred to him in this manner, he usually gave it a second look. And this case was unusual in that an entire sentence was involved, not just a single name. So, even though he had formed no idea of a story or of any of its characters, he said of the occasion, "Eventually I thought I'd better find out what hobbits were like." He would subject such names to a "severe philological scrutiny."

Tolkien's philological scrutiny of In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit turned out to be uncommonly productive. The way in which he eventually based a complex, rich, yet accessible story upon an etymological ground may be something unique in literature. Yet there are no published remarks by Tolkien about the research he must have undertaken and its relation to the story of the hobbit.


***

Fictional Hobbit History:
Fictionally, Tolkien characterizes himself not as author, but as translator of ancient manuscripts dating back to the Elder Days. In those manuscripts (the story goes) the word used by hobbits to refer to themselves is not hobbit at all, but kuduk, an odd-sounding expression supposed to derive from a yet older term originating in the land of Rohan and used to apply to hobbit-kind: kud-dukan, meaning "hole dweller."

Tolkien needed "English" words to translate kud-dukan and kuduk. Wishing to preserve the sense that kuduk is a "worn-down" form of kud-dukan, Tolkien first made up an "Old English" sounding word, holbytla (for hole-builder), as his "translation" of kud-dukan. Then he invented hobbit to represent a "worn-down" or modern English version of holbytla



But this is the fictional account. In order to understand just how hobbit is related to kuduk, and how Tolkien's story about hobbits is connected to philology, it is necessary to refer to a property of language which Stan McDaniel calls the eidophonetic property, or the relation between idea and sound. - Source

Read more about Eidophonetic properties and its connection to the philosophical etymology of HOBBIT, here

**

Wise Words for the Day: Nov 18, 2010.
"Tolkien's hobbit-stories may constitute a pivotal point in the history of science fiction and fantasy, by establishing for them more firmly than ever a base in the symbol-forming activity of human consciousness. If so, Tolkien has indeed written super science fiction. And we are only beginning to discover how super it really is. "
-- Stan McDaniel, from "Hobbit, The Philosophical and Literary Result."

*

Trademark Etymology

Here is a list of many words that were originally trademarks but have become ordinary words found in dictionaries. Enjoy!!! and add more if you know.

***

• Aqua Lung
  
• Aspirin
  
• Autoharp
  
• Bakelite
  
• Band-aid
  
• Breathalyzer
  
• Cellophane
  
• Celluloid
  
• Cornflakes
  
• Cube Steak
  
• Dacron
  
• Deepfreeze
  
• Dictaphone
  
• Ditto
  
• Dry Ice
  
• Dumpster
  
• Escalator
  
• Formica
  
• Frisbee
  
• Granola
  
• Gunk
  
• Heroin
  
• Jacuzzi
  
• Jeep
  
• Jell-O
  
• Kerosene
  
• Kleenex
  
• Lanolin
  
• Mace
  
• Mimeograph
  
• Moxie
  
• Novocain
  
• Nylon
  
• Pablum
  
• Phillips Screw
  
• Ping-Pong
  
• Plexiglas
  
• Pogo-stick
  
• Popsicle
  
• Pyrex
  
• Q-Tip
  
• Rollerblade
  
• Scotch Tape
  
• Sheetrock
  
• Stetson hat
  
• Styrofoam
  
• Tabloid
  
• Tarmac
  
• Thermos
  
• Trampoline
  
• Vaseline
  
• Velcro
  
• Windbreaker
  
• Yo-Yo
  
• Zipper

-
much love, light and laughter,
nananyah


Wisdom for the Day: 11 Jan 2010
"They have a kind of insatiable perplexity, deeper than insatiable curiosity, that makes them profoundly Socratic. It's not just bookish. These folks are in love with the life of the mind."
-- Cornel West, Princeton University professor, on the Wachowski Brothers

People Etymology

Here are a few words in the English language that have been named for people. This list consists of widely-used words which are obviously named after specific people. You'll be surprised to find words like, bloomer, maudlin, namby-pamby, tarmac and tawdry having their origins in men and women of yesteryears. Enjoy!!!

oh! and add on more if you know, in comments.

ALDRIN Kurt Alder (1902-1958), American chemist

ALGORITHM al-Khowarizmi (c800 - c850), Arab mathematician. This term, which means "rules for computing" in English, comes from al-Khowarizmi (Try saying it fast), an Arab mathematician living around A.D. 825 who completed the earliest known work in arithmetic using Arabic numerals. He was the first to establish rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with the new Arabic numerals.

AUGUST Augustus Caesar (63 B.C. - A. D. 14)

BAKELITE Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944), Belgian-born American chemist

BÉCHAMEL SAUCE Marquis Louis de Béchamel (d.1703), steward of Louis XIV of France

BEEF STROGANOFF Count Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganoff (1772-1817), Russian diplomat

BEGONIA Michel Bégon (1638-1710), French patron of botany

BLOODY MARY Mary I Tudor (1516-1558), English queen (probably)

BLOOMER Amanda Bloomer or Amelia Jenkins Bloomer (1818-1894), American feminist

BOUGAINVILLEA Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811), French explorer

BOYCOTT Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897), English land agent

BOYSENBERRY Rudolph Boysen, American botanist

BUHLWORK A. C. Boule (1642-1732), French cabinet maker

BUNKUM, BUNK Col. Edward Buncombe, Revolutionary War hero, This word actually comes from the name of Buncombe County, North Carolina; the county was named in honor of Col. Edward Buncombe, a Revolutionary War hero. The word originated after the congressman from that county defended an irrelevant speech in Congress by claiming that he was speaking to Buncombe.

BUNSEN BURNER Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-99), German chemist

CAESAREAN SECTION Gaius Julius Caesar, who according to legend was born in this manner

CAESAR SALAD Cesar Cardini, Tijuana, Mexico restaurateur

CAMELLIA George Josef Kamel (1661-1706), Moravian Jesuit missionary

CARDIGAN James Thomas Brudnell, 7th Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868), British cavalry officer

CASANOVA Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt (1725-98), Italian adventurer

DAHLIA Anders Dahl (1751-1789), Swedish botanist

DECIBEL Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

DERBY Edward Stanley, 12th earl of Derby, founded the race, 1870

DIESEL Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), German automotive designer

DOBERMAN PINSCHER Ludwig Dobermann, 19th century German dog breeder

DOILY Mr. Doyley, a 17th century London draper

DOLOMITE Deodat de Dolomieu (1750-1801), French geologist

DRACONIAN Draco, Athenian lawgiver, circa 650 B. C.

DUNCE John Duns Scotus (c. 1265-1308), Scottish theologian (who was actually very smart)

EGGS BENEDICT Commodore E. C. Benedict (1834-1920), American yachtsman and banker

EPICURE Epicurus (342?-270 B. C.), Greek philosopher

EUSTACHIAN TUBE Bartolommeo Eustachio (1524-1574), Italian anatomist

FALLOPIAN TUBE Gabriel Fallopius (1523-1562), Italian anatomist

FERRIS WHEEL George Washington Gale Ferris (1859-96), American engineer

FRANGIPANI Marquis Frangipani, 16th century Italian nobleman

FREESIA Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese (d. 1876), German physician

FRISBEE William Russell Frisbie, pie shop owner in Bridgeport CT

FUCHSIA Leonard Fuchs (1501-1566), German botanist

GALVANIZE Luigi Galvani (1739-1798), Italian physiologist

GARDENIA Alexander Garden (1730-91), Scottish-American botanist

GARIBALDI Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82), Italian patriot and soldier

GREENGAGE Sir William Gage (1777-1864), English botanist

GROG Old Grog, nickname of Sir Edward Vernon (1684-1757), British admiral

GUILLOTINE Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814), French physician

GUPPY Robert J. L. Guppy (1836-1916), British scientist from Trinidad

GUY Guy Fawkes (1570-1606), British terrorist

HANSOM Joseph Aloysius Hansom (1803-82), English architect

HAVELOCK Sir Henry Havelock (1795-1857), British general in India

HOBSON’S CHOICE Thomas Hobson (1544-1631), English liveryman

JACQUARD Joseph Marie Jacquard, 18th cent. French inventor

JACUZZI Roy Jacuzzi and Candido Jacuzzi (1903-1986), American inventors

JEROBOAM Jeroboam, first king of the northern kingdom of Israel

JULY Gaius Julius Caesar (c. 101 - 44 B. C.)

KLIEG LIGHT John H. (1869-1959) and Anton T. Kleigl (1872-1927), American lighting experts

KNICKERBOCKERS Dietrich Knickerbocker, pseudonym of Washington Irving (1783-1859), American author

LEOTARD Jules Léotard (1839-70), French acrobat

LEVIS Levi Strauss (1830-1902), Bavarian immigrant to the USA and clothing merchant

LOBELIA Matthias de Lobel (1538-1616), Flemish botanist and physician

LOBSTER NEWBURG Ben Wenberg According to Dictionary of Words and Phrases by William and Mary Morris, the term is named for Ben Wenberg, a West Indies ship captain who came up with this dish by adding the ingredient cayenne to his famous recipe at Delmonico's Hotel. As the story goes, Mr. Wenberg had a falling out with the hotel owner, who, as revenge, reversed the first three letters of a dish which had previously been called Lobster Wenberg; hence, "Lobster Newberg."

LOGANBERRY Judge James H. Logan (1841-1928), horticulturist in California

LUDDITE Ned Ludd, 18th cent. Leicestershire workman who destroyed machinery (see note below)

LYNCH Capt. William Lynch (1742-1820), plantation owner in Virginia

MACADAMIA NUT John Macadam (1827-1865), Australian scientist

MACH Ernst Mach (1838-1916), Austrian physicist

MACKINTOSH Charles Macintosh (1766-1843), inventor of the waterproofing process

MAGNOLIA Pierre Magnol (1638-1715), French botanist

MANSARD François Mansart (1598-1666), French architect

MARIGOLD Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus

MASOCHISM Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836-1895), Austrian novelist

MAUDLIN Mary Magdalene, Biblical figure

MAUSOLEUM Mausolus, 4th century B. C. king of Caria, Asia Minor

MAVERICK Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870), Texas cattle owner

MELBA TOAST and PEACH MELBA Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931), Australian soprano

MENNONITE Menno Simons (1492-1559), Dutch religious reformer

MESMERIZE Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), Austrian physician

MORSE CODE Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), American artist and inventor

NAMBY-PAMBY Nickname of Ambrose Philips (1674-1749), English poet

NICOTINE Jean Nicot (c. 1530 - 1600), French ambassador to Portugal

OSCAR Oscar Pierce, American wheat and fruit grower and uncle of an Academy executive director

PAP SMEAR George Papanicolaou (1883-1962), American physician

PASTEURISE Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), French chemist

PAVLOVA Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), Russian ballerina

PLATONIC Plato (c. 427-347 BC), Greek philosopher

POINSETTIA Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779-1851), U. S. minister to Mexico

PRALINE César de Choiseul, Count Plessis-Praslin (1598-1675), French soldier and diplomat

PULLMAN George Mortimer Pullman (1831-97), American inventor

PYRRHIC Pyrrus (c. 318 - 272 B. C.), king of Epirus, who overextended himself

QUISLING Maj. Vidkun Abraham Quisling (1887-1945), pro-Nazi Norwegian leader

RASTAFARIAN Ras Tafari, precoronation name of Haile Selassie (1892-1975), Emperor of Ethiopia

RICKETTSIA Howard T. Ricketts (1871-1910), American pathologist

RORSCHACH TEST Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922), Swiss psychiatrist

RITZY César Ritz (1850-1918), Swiss hotelier

SADISM Count Donatien Alphonse François de Sade (1740-1814), French soldier and novelist

SALISBURY STEAK James J. Salisbury, 19th century English physician

SALMONELLA Daniel Elmer Salmon (1850-1914), American veterinarian

SANDWICH John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-92), English diplomat

SAXOPHONE Antoine-Joseph Sax, also known as Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), Belgian inventor

SEQUOIA Sequoya (c. 1770-1843), Cherokee Indian who invented the Cherokee syllabary

SHRAPNEL Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), British army officer

SIDEBURNS Gen. Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-1881), Union soldier

SILHOUETTE Etienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), French minister of finance in 1759

SPOONERISM Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), of New College, Oxford

SOUSAPHONE John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932), American composer and bandleader

STETSON John Bauerson Stetson (1830-1906), American hat-maker

TARMAC John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836), Scottish engineer (the word is short for "tarmacadam")

TAWDRY St. Audrey (St. Etheldreda, c. 630 - 679), queen of Northumbria

TEDDY BEAR Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), U. S. president

TETRAZZINI Luisa Tetrazzini (1874-1940), Italian opera singer

THESPIAN Thespis, 6th century B. C. Greek poet

TIMOTHY GRASS Timothy Hanson, 18th century American farmer (probably)

TOMMY GUN Gen. John Taliaferro Thompson (1860-1940), U. S. soldier

TONTINE Lorenzo Tonti (1620-1695), Neopolitan banker

TUPPERWARE Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983), American landscaper and inventor

UZI Uziel Gal (1923-2002), Israeli inventor

VALENTINE Valentine, 3rd century Christian martyr

VERNIER Pierre Vernier (1580-1637), French mathematician

WELLINGTON BOOT Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), British soldier and statesman

WISTERIA Caspar Wistar (1761-1818), American physician

ZEPPELIN Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), German general and aeronautical pioneer

ZINNIA Johann Gottfried Zinn (1727-1759), German botanist

Dec 31, 2008 - Wise Words for the Day
" He drew a circle that shut me out
heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win,
we drew a circle that took him in."
--- Edwin Markham, Outwitted

"Tom Swifties" - a development in Wellerism.

Wellerism is an expression of comparison comprising a usually well-known quotation followed by a facetious sequel. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable defines Wellerism thusly:

Sam Weller in Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers" (1836-7) was prone to producing punning sentences such as:

'Out with it, as the father said to the child when he swallowed a farden [farthing]'.

This type of verbal play, involving a metaphorical and a punningly literal sense, soon gained popularity under the name of wellerism, and a craze for devising such expressions rapidly sprang up on both sides of the Atlantic. A crude example familiar to children is:

'I see, said the blind man, when he couldn't see at all.'

or

"'It all comes back to me now', said the Captain as he spat into the wind."

****

Tom Swifty :
A Tom Swifty is a Wellerism in which an adverb relates both properly and punningly to a sentence of reported speech. For example:
"The doctor had to remove my left ventricle," said Tom half-heartedly.
explaination: half-heartedly = half of a heart. [A heart is composed of a left and right ventricle] Hence the above sentence is a "Tom Swifty".
or
"Your Honour, you're crazy!" said Tom judgementally.
explaination: judge (= your honour) + mental (= crazy) + ly.

**

Etymology of Tom Swifty:
The quip takes its name from Tom Swift, a boy's adventure hero created by the prolific American writer Edward L. Stratemeyer. Under the pseudonym Victor Appleton, he published a series of books featuring the young Tom Swift. Tom Swift rarely passed a remark without a qualifying adverb as "Tom added eagerly" or "Tom said jokingly". The play on words discussed here arose as a pastiche of this, coming to be known by the term Tom Swifty.

####

In a true Tom Swifty, it is an adverb (word specifying the mode of action of the verb) that provides the pun, as in the following example:
"I swallowed some of the glass from that broken window," Tom said painfully.
explaination: pain (like 'pane' = window glass) + full (= full stomach) + y.

####

But frequently the pun occurs in the verb, and there may not be an adverb at all. Strictly speaking such puns are not Tom Swifties, but they are generally included in the term. For example:
"My garden needs another layer of mulch," Tom repeated.
explaination: re (= again / another) + peat (= mulch) + ed.

####

And sometimes it is neither a verb, nor an adverb, but a short phrase (usually acting like an adverb in modifying the verb) For example:
"I've only enough carpet for the hall and landing," said Tom with a blank stare.
explaination: blank (= uncovered) + stare (like 'stair' = staircase).

####

Traditionally Tom is the speaker, but this is by no means necessary for the pun to classify as a Tom Swifty. Sometimes the pun lies in the name, in which case it will usually not be Tom speaking. For example:
"I'm going to end it all," Sue sighed.
explaination: Sue sighed (like 'suicide' = to kill oneself).

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Many – probably most – Tom Swifties are morphological; i.e. the words must be broken down into morphemes (smaller components) to understand the pun. This is true for many of the examples on this page, and is illustrated particularly well by this example :
"This is the real male goose," said Tom producing the propaganda.
explaination: propa (like 'proper' = real) + ganda (like 'gander' = male goose).

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Often the adverb (or whatever) has a homonym (a word which is pronounced, and perhaps spelled, the same, but has a different meaning) which leads to the punning meaning of the sentence. For example :
"I have a split personality," said Tom, being frank.
explaination: frank (= open, man's name).


Dec 24, 2008 - Wise Words For the Day

Empty-handed I entered the world
barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going-
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.
-- Kozan Ichikyo.

Hypothesis explaining Origin of Languages

In the 19th century, philosophers and linguists proposed a number of hypotheses to explain the origin of language, and most of these have very astonishing nomenclatures. I almost did a double take each time I read of them. The first such names were coined by Otto Jesperson as a way of deriding the hypotheses as simplistic speculation. Once the names caught on, new hypotheses that have arisen often have been given names with a similar style.

The "ding-dong" hypothesis:
This hypothesis places the origin of human language in onomatopoeia: the various imitative sounds that humans make to mimic the sounds of the world around them. So boom becomes a word for thunder, and oink for a pig. It is unclear how this process could supply words for silent objects like rocks; much less prepositions and other grammatical particles or abstract concepts. Words marked by onomatopoeia are conspicuous and somewhat unusual in most languages. The "ding-dong" hypothesis is therefore not considered as a total explanation for the origin of language.

The "bow-wow" hypothesis:
Similar to the "ding-dong" hypothesis, this one has humans forming their first words by imitating animal sounds.

Not only do all of the objections involving other sorts of onomatopoeia explanations apply here, it is worthy to note that the names of animal sounds are strongly culturally determined and differ remarkably from one culture to the next, as the article on oink sets forth. It seems difficult to accept that humans learned to speak to one another by talking to the animals.

The "pooh-pooh" hypothesis:
According to this hypothesis, the first words developed from sighs of pleasure, moans of pain, and other semi-involuntary cries or exclamations. These vocalisms then became the names of the phenomena that made people say them.

Most of the objections to the "ding-dong" hypothesis apply here also. Such words are found in most languages; they are conspicuous by their preverbal nature and incomplete assimilation into the lexicon. Moreover, they are culturally determined, and themselves show a great deal of arbitrariness.

The "ta-ta" hypothesis:
Charles Darwin lent his authority to this hypothesis. According to this, human language represents the use of oral gestures that began in imitation of hand gestures that were already in use for communication.

The difficulty with this hypothesis, is that it begs the question: it requires that a fairly sophisticated repertoire of gestures be in place already for humans to imitate with their mouth gestures. It assumes the existence of a language of gestures without explaining how it arose.

The "uh-oh" hypothesis:
According to this hypothesis, human language begins with the use of arbitrary symbols that represent warnings to other members of the human band. It is agreed that one sort of vocal cry means that lions have been spotted in the area, and another one indicates a snake. You holler one thing at your neighbour to warn them, "Don't eat that! It'll make you sick!" and something distinguishable to warn them "Don't eat that! It's mine!"

This hypothesis seems to have the potential to explain the perceived diversity of human speech; obviously the warning cries uttered here are to some measure arbitrary.

The "yo-he-ho" hypothesis:
According to this hypothesis, language arose in rhythmic chants and vocalisms uttered by people engaged in communal labour.

This may have more to do with the origins of poetry than with language itself. Sea chanteys, jody calls, and similar work songs all show humans engaged in communal work improvising with their language around the rhythms of their work. It is uncertain from this hypothesis how meanings came to be associated with the vocalisms uttered by the workers.

The "watch the birdie" hypothesis:
This one is associated with ethologist and linguist E. H. Sturtevant. According to this hypothesis, human language became elaborated because humans found selective advantage in being able to deceive other humans. Since exclamations and vocalisms can involuntarily reveal your true mental state, humans learned to feign them in order to deceive others for selfish advantage.

The psychedelic glossolalia hypothesis:
This theory states that speech was inspired by psychoactive fungi. The line of reasoning is thus: A common symptom of tryptamine intoxication is glossolalia, more commonly known as “speaking in tongues”. As the continent of Africa began to dry, grassland savannas opened, forcing humans out of the forests and into the plains where the dung of large herbivores was ubiquitous. Species of tryptamine-bearing fungi like Psilocybe, which live on animal dung, would have been very attractive to human populations seeking a new food source. Regular ingestion of the fungi could, over a long time, have stimulated complex vocalizations that eventually led to communicative speech.

How humans could have made the transition from random vocalization to symbolic language is not entirely clear. This one sounds all scientific to me... other than its halucinatory LSD angle.

The Biblical account in Genesis:
"The entire earth had one language with uniform words. When they migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar, and they settled there. They said to one another, 'Come, let us mold bricks and fire them.' They then had bricks to use as stone, and asphalt for mortar. They said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top shall reach the sky. Let us make ourselves a name, so that we will not be scattered all over the face of the earth.' God descended to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built. God said, 'They are a single people, all having one language, and this is the first thing they do! Now nothing they plan to do will be unattainable for them! Come, let us descend and confuse their speech, so that one person will not understand another's speech'. From that place, God scattered them all over the face of the earth, and they stopped building the city. He named it Babel, because this was the place where God confused the world's language. It was from there that God dispersed humanity over all the face of the earth."
-- Book of Genesis 11:1-9

This would be fine, if there were not be any other religions in the world. I am sure other religions have their own incoherent and mythological stories too.

***

Other than that, History contains a number of anecdotes about people who attempted to discover the origin of language by experiment. The first such tale was told by Herodotus, who relates that Pharaoh Psamtik I caused two children to be raised by deaf-mutes; he would see what language they ended up speaking. When the children were brought before him, one of them said something that sounded to the pharaoh like bekos, the Phrygian word for bread. From this, Psamtik concluded that Phrygian was the first language. King James IV of Scotland is said to have tried a similar experiment; his children were supposed to have ended up speaking Hebrew. Akbar,the 16th century Mogul Emperor of India is said to have tried a similar experiment; his children did not speak.


November 24, 2008 - Wise Words For the Day:
"Time and again human consciousness fixates, and slams the door on its greatest gift, the open-endedness of infinite possibility. As a result we do not experience reality but merely our concept of it"
-- Jose Arguelles in "The Transformative Vision", p. 26