Etymology ain't nothin' to do with insects

[octave]

2 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Lotsa name changes lately....   Ayer's rock to Uluru,

ummm precisely 30 years ago!    

 

It would be boring if all the geographical names in Australia were just English names.  

 

[pmccarthy]

Henry Ayers was not a rich pommy bloke. He was effectively head of the Burra Copper Mines and several times Premier of South Australia. 

[spacesailor]

AND

Now Mrs Fraser's island has gone ! .

spacesailor

[old man emu]

When I add another etymology here, you see that many of the first references go back to very early writings, sometimes even Anglo-Saxon sources. That would make you think that etymology only applies to old words. But in the past 225 years we have had an explosion in all areas of our culture that has resulted in the creation of new words.

 

Today I was writing in another thread and I said that I had googled the information. "To google" in the sense of using an internet search engine appeared in 2000 as a word to describe the use of a particular internet search engine. Even if one uses another search engine, the act of using it is called "googling". "Google"  as a word comes from the 1940's as nonsense word for an extremely large number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeroes.

 

There was a cartoon character called Barney Google in the 1920s and a song. But the "google" in that refers to his eyes, and the meaning comes from a 14th Century reference to squinting.

 

There are other words we use that come from trade names. We hoover the carpet. Have a coke. Americans xerox when they photocopy documents. And there is the bug-bear of private pilots, every light aircraft is a Cessna.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Thanks pmc...  i once had dinner in Ayer's house in North tce Adelaide.. He wasn't an explorer, but as you say, he wasn't a rich pommy either.,

[octave]

5 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Thanks pmc...  i once had dinner in Ayer's house in North tce Adelaide.. He wasn't an explorer, but as you say, he wasn't a rich pommy either.,

Not that it makes much difference to me at least but was he not born in Portsmouth England which surely would make him a pommy and at least later in life certainly could be described as wealthy.  The term rich pommy seems to be accurate if irrelevant. Am I missing something here?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ayers

[pmccarthy]

Well he started off as a book keeper and worked his way in life. Just about everyone around him was a pommy back then.

[octave]

 

When Ayers rock was given that name Henry Ayers was a quite wealthy politician although I don't see what difference it makes.    I don't see anything wrong with using the name Uluru/Ayers Rock.   

[spacesailor]

''   I don't see anything wrong with using the name Uluru/Ayers Rock. ''

ULURU I can pronounce , ( even if spellcheck says it's spelt wrong ).

But

Mrs Fraser's Island has a KG in it's spelling .

'Mrs Fraser's Island , '' World Heritage Area was changed to K'gari (Fraser Island) ''

How do we pronounce KGARI , Drop the G or the K & I can manage it . ( Kari or gari )

I was BAD at ' guttural languages in school , so even French & German are as Bad. the Chinese seem to have a problem with ' rolling ' the tongue .

spacesailor

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by spacesailor
grammer

[old man emu]

It's Gay Mardi Gras time, so let's talk homophones. Here's a good pair to embrace - phase and faze. Which one do you use when describing your emotional response to a situation?

 

If your emotional response is changing from the status quo to either of its possible extremes, then you pass through phases. First used around 1705 as a a descriptor of the appearance of teh moon and planets from Greek phasis "appearance". The general, non-astronomical sense of "aspect, appearance, stage of development at a particular time" is attested by 1841. The later meaning "temporary difficult period" (especially in reference to adolescents) is attested from 1913. The meaning "to carry out gradually" is from 1949, hence phase in "introduce gradually" (1954), and phase out "take out gradually in planned stages" (1954).

 

But what if the circumstances put the wind up you? Well, you can say that you are fazed. It is said that if comes from  a variant of Kentish dialect feeze "to frighten, alarm, discomfit" (mid-15c.), from Old English fesian, fysian "drive away, send forth, put to flight". But I reckon that  a nautical verb feaze "to unravel" (a rope), from 1560s fits the bill better.

 

So, to answer the question, if it's your emotional response you are fazed. Or if you just don't give a .., you're unfazed.

[nomadpete]

6 minutes ago, old man emu said:

It's Gay Mardi Gras time, so let's talk homophones

Nah, let's not ........

It's too late in the day to get serious........

 

 

Which, I guess, makes me unfazed?

Edited February 19, 2023 by nomadpete
Failed to engage a single brain cell

[old man emu]

It would be a good man who could "cover the field"

[Marty_d]

I don't want to cover any of them,  they're all blokes. 

[onetrack]

I had a homophone once, but whenever I tried to call someone on it, it wouldn't connect.

[old man emu]

Jerry used the word "wreaked" in a post elsewhere. That sent me searching for the connection between "wrought" and "wreak"

 

"Wreak" is from the Old English word wrecan originally "to drive, drive out, punish" coming from Proto-Germanic wrekanan (source also of Old Saxon wrekan. Its meaning of "inflict or cause (damage or destruction)" arose about 1815. 

 

"Wrought"  is from the Old English verb wyrcan "prepare, perform, do, make, construct, produce" or Old English wircan "to operate, function, set in motion".  Wrought iron (1703) is iron which is malleable and has been worked into some form.

 

That how, during the Brixton Race Riots of 1985, the rioters wreaked havoc on the wrought iron fences and wrecked them. I had to rack my brain to come up with that one!

[facthunter]

Rort Iron is the same as hoop iron. (LOL)  Wrought iron is carbon free and produced in a puddling furnace where it's skimmed off the top and doesn't corrode much and can be forge welded. Some cast iron is wrongly called wrought iron when it's ornamental. Cast iron has free carbon in it and is relatively low in tensile strength and doesn't bend.  Nev

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, facthunter said:

Wrought iron ... can be forge welded.

Wrought iron (1703) is that which is malleable and has been brought into some form. In other words, it is iron which has been "worked". "Wrought comes from the from past participle of the Middle English verb werken. 

 

Overwrought is a compound word from over + work. Around 1750 it literally meant "over-worked, worked too hard or too much". No doubt a citification of the rural description  of oxen "exhausted by work". Now we use it to describe a person or animal worked up to too high a pitch of emotion, or overexcited. 

[old man emu]

What is a fancy name for this person?

 

[red750]

Forensic investigator.

[nomadpete]

The cleaner

[rgmwa]

Arachnologist

 

[Marty_d]

"Cousin It", if those sunglasses are on properly

[old man emu]

"Forensic Investigator" is the boring name for what she is, but would she like her business card to describe her as a "Spodomancer", a person who discovers hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers from the ashes?

 

It comes from Greek spodos "wood ashes, embers," of uncertain origin, + -mancy "divination by means of."

[Old Koreelah]

 No forensic investigator would risk her hair contaminating the crime scene like that.

[onetrack]

That's spot on. Have you ever seen the coveralls the forensic people wear? They wear them continuously when doing any investigative work, even just fingerprinting.

 

Human DNA gets onto everything, and DNA is now a big part of ensuring a much higher rate of success in criminal cases.