26 What's in a word? (Urban legends)
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This article is from the Urban legends FAQ, by Terry Chan tchan@dante.lbl.gov and Peter van der Linden linden@eng.sun.com with numerous contributions by others.
26 What's in a word? (Urban legends)
[Bear in mind that AFU is not a dictionary server. Try checking out
the OED and the _Dictionary of American Regional English_ for
etymological history; _The Penguin Dictionary of Historical Slang_,
by Eric Partridge (abridged by Jacqueline Simpson). Penguin books.
For you computer jocks, there's always alt.usage.english.]
F.*The etymology of the 4-letter word "f*ck" is an acronym of old. [e.g.
"Fornication Under Consent of the King."]
T. Lord knows, there're lots of variations of initials/names for "Jesus Christ"
T. ...like Haploid/hermaphrodite/Harold/etc. If you must, post it to rec.humor.
U.*'HAL' in the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" was derived from letters for "IBM"
T. ...Arthur C. Clarke has maintained that it was not.
Tb.The expression "86" (to put the kibosh on), originated in 1920s diner slang.
T. A.J.Balfour appt'd Secretary Ireland by Uncle Bob.Nepotism? Bob's your uncle
T.*JF Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner." Could be either "I am a native of
Berlin" or "I am a jelly doughnut." Berliners knew what he was talking about
T. Hebrew was considered as official language of the US. [Guess what happened?]
F.*German was once within one or two votes of becoming the official US language
T. Fijian on the AT&T ad says ""Bula vinaka, beachside!" ("hello, thanks").
T. Many languages don't pronounce foreign words/phrases as they really are.
Fb.US Civil War Gen. Hooker is the source for a common term for streetwalkers.
Tb....Though he may have helped popularize it.
F.*Thomas Crapper invented the flush toilet.
T.*Thomas Crapper did exist and made improvements to modern flushing mechanisms
T. Martin Gardner said Crapper was bogus, but retracted it in one of his books.
F.*The word 'crap' is derived from Thomas Crapper.
F. Otto Titzling invented the brassiere.
F.*The words to "Louie, Louie" are dirty.[Thanks to Maiko Covington for lyrics]
T.*Eskimos have some megaboss number of `words' for snow.
F.*...There's something significant about this.
T.*...English does too, and also a large number for liquid water.
F.*This validates the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (ie, language determines thought).
F.*"Posh" is from "Port Out, Starboard Home" from Colonial English days.
T.*"Hamburgers" and "Frankfurters" are named after cities in Germany.
T.*"In like Flynn" is from Errol Flynn's acquittal on statutory rape charges.
T.*"Okay" or "OK" is originally from a misspelling fad: "Oll Korrect" (all
correct); popularized by "Old Kinderhook" Van Buren in election campaign.
T. The du Pont Co. has claimed (1940) that "nylon" was an arbitrary coinage,
but also (1978) that it was a modification of "no run" spelled backwards.
F. Jack Kerouac wrote that "Pig" stands for "Protector of Immutable Government"
T. "Futhark" is an acronym.
F. The song "Puff the Magic Dragon" is about smoking pot or Vietnam war weapon.
T. Winston Churchill once said something memorable.
T. There is no good etymology for the phrase "The whole nine yards."
T. Suggestions have included: Volume in a concrete mixer, coal truck, or
a wealthy person's grave; amount of cloth in a man's custom-made (i.e.,
"bespoke") suit, sports games, funeral shroud, kilt, in a bolt of cloth,
square area in a ship's sails, and volume in a soldier's pack.
T.*Studies indicate that the majority of US currency has traces of cocaine.
F.*The childhood rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie" has ties to the Black Plague.
...see Ian Munro's http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~imunro/ring.html
T.*The Chinese characters for "Coca-cola" could sound like those for "bite the
wax tadpole."
F.*The old Chevy Nova was a failure in Spanish speaking countries because it
translates to "No go." [Esp. since "Nova" means "star."]
Tb.Pepsi had a similar episode where "Come Alive with Pepsi!" is rendered as
"Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead!"
T. Lots of people think threads like the etymology of company names such
as "Exxon" are interesting and/or have some relevance.
F.*The expression "rule of thumb" came from an old practice that permitted
husbands to beat their wives as long as it was with a stick no larger
than his thumb.
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