Odd Origins of Words / Odd Words

starbelgrade

Some words have weird origins, some of them are just odd... some that strike me as being like that are;

Pelican Crossing ; Funnily enough, I've never seen a pelican use one, but apparently it comes from PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled crossing.

Boxing Day; I used to think it had something to do with boxing, but it actually comes the fact that employers used to celebrate it by giving their employees gifts.

brown sauce: I believe it contains vinegar. And probably some other stuff. Also it is brown.

Degag

starbelgrade wrote: »

Some words have weird origins, some of them are just odd... some that strike me as being like that are;


brown sauce: I believe it contains vinegar. And probably some other stuff. Also it is brown.

So not very odd?

FearDark

Bumjam:

Bums = good.
Jam = good.

Bumjam = not good.

flanum

cocksucker...

cock.. being the colloquial term for a penis..
sucker.. a thing or person that induces a vacuum on an object..

cocksucker.. somebody that sucks cocks!!

(well im sure somebody somewhere thinks its odd!)!

raah!

Decimate means to kill every tenth man in your legion or other such grouping of soldiers or people. Romans did it to their own soldiers, or so my juinior cert history book tells me. It's been wrong about many many things though.

Anyway, the modern usage of decimate to mean "destroy badly...etc." is fairly wrong.

Massive is a strange word, as these days people use it to mean voluminous, but surely it must have originated from the word mass.

alan4cult

Laser - Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation

Radar - RAdio Detection And Ranging

Degag

flanum wrote: »

cocksucker...

cock.. being the colloquial term for a penis..
sucker.. a thing or person that induces a vacuum on an object..

cocksucker.. somebody that sucks cocks!!

(well im sure somebody somewhere thinks its odd!)!

No, that seems pretty ok to me!

m@cc@

Gestapo: Geheime Staatspolizei

Scuba: self-contained underwater breathing apparatus

marcsignal

Tosser :pac:

.

starbelgrade

Scobey - Scumbag Can't Operate Brain Energy Yet

sponsoredwalk

Sinister - comes from the latin Sinistra which means left-handed.
People used to believe left-handers were of the devil's ilk.

Most still do...;)

Doop

Stole this from a thread read ages ago but.....

....The News....

Break it up its 'new' but just plural

feel a bit crazy tryin to expalin this... but I like it!

Jev/N

Doop wrote: »

Stole this from a thread read ages ago but.....

....The News....

Break it up its 'new' but just plural

feel a bit crazy tryin to expalin this... but I like it!

It actually stands for North East West South

m@cc@

Jev/N wrote: »

It actually stands for North East West South

BS, I'm afraid.

Pherekydes

Here's an interesting one, OP:

etymology forum.

kylith

I always liked that the very British word "Smashing" is actually Irish; 'is maith sin'.

PK2008

flanum wrote: »

cocksucker...

cock.. being the colloquial term for a penis..
sucker.. a thing or person that induces a vacuum on an object..

cocksucker.. somebody that sucks cocks!!

(well im sure somebody somewhere thinks its odd!)!

You seem to know a lot about sucking cock

--Kaiser--

kylith wrote: »

I always liked that the very British word "Smashing" is actually Irish; 'is maith sin'.

There was a book published not so long ago purporting that a lot of American slang came from Irish emigrants, eg.

Jazz from teas
Buddy from a bhodaigh
Cop on from ceapaim
Joint from dionteach
You dig from An duigean tu?

Interesting read but it's quite likely a pile of bollox, however

Link

kylith

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

There was a book published not so long ago purporting that a lot of American slang came from Irish emigrants, eg.

Jazz from teas
Buddy from a bhodaigh
Cop on from ceapaim
Joint from dionteach
You dig from An duigean tu?

Interesting read but it's quite likely a pile of bollox, however

Link

Very interesting.

I dont' think that I've ever heard an American say 'cop on'. That's a very Irish phrase.

General Zod

starbelgrade wrote: »

Boxing Day; I used to think it had something to do with boxing, but it actually comes the fact that employers used to celebrate it by giving their employees gifts.

Had it not more to do that children would capture wrens in a box, and go house to house to show their wren and get a gift from the house?

edit: actually, they did that too, it was called Wrenning, but as in the op wiki says

The traditional recorded celebration of Boxing Day was because Boxing was created and people were really excited has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early Christian era; metal boxes were placed outside churches used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen.[4] In the United Kingdom it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their "Christmas boxes" or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas.[5] However, the exact etymology of the term "Boxing" is unclear, with several competing theories, none of which is definitively true.[6] Another possibility is that the name derives from an old English tradition: in exchange for ensuring that wealthy landowners' Christmases ran smoothly, their servants were allowed to take the 26th off to visit their families. The employers gave each servant a box containing gifts and bonuses (and sometimes leftover food). In addition, around the 1800s, churches opened their alms boxes (boxes where people place monetary donations) and distributed the contents to the poor.

Liam Byrne

OK, bear with me on this one.

A "bank teller" is someone who "counts money that's being lodged".

But they sit behind the "bank counter", so they can't be called that, right ?

There's a separate question whether "go up to the counter" is a variation on that; whether it originally meant the person, rather than the wooden yoke that you stand at.

If you look at the stems of the words - "count" and "tell" - they appear to have no association, not least in modern language.

But if you look at past tenses of the two verbs......"re-tell" and "recount"....it starts to make sense.

At some stage, "tell" and "count" must have meant the same thing.

--Kaiser--

Liam Byrne wrote: »

OK, bear with me on this one.

A "bank teller" is someone who "counts money that's being lodged".

But they sit behind the "bank counter", so they can't be called that, right ?

There's a separate question whether "go up to the counter" is a variation on that; whether it originally meant the person, rather than the wooden yoke that you stand at.

If you look at the stems of the words - "count" and "tell" - they appear to have no association, not least in modern language.

But if you look at past tenses of the two verbs......"re-tell" and "recount"....it starts to make sense.

At some stage, "tell" and "count" must have meant the same thing.

A counter is a ' table where a money lender does business, from the French. contouer "counting room, table of a bank" '

Truley

'Mayday' as in the distress signal comes from the french m'aider meaning 'help me.'

Abrasax

Liam Byrne wrote: »

OK, bear with me on this one.

A "bank teller" is someone who "counts money that's being lodged".

But they sit behind the "bank counter", so they can't be called that, right ?

There's a separate question whether "go up to the counter" is a variation on that; whether it originally meant the person, rather than the wooden yoke that you stand at.

If you look at the stems of the words - "count" and "tell" - they appear to have no association, not least in modern language.

But if you look at past tenses of the two verbs......"re-tell" and "recount"....it starts to make sense.

At some stage, "tell" and "count" must have meant the same thing.

'Teller' from the Old English word 'tellan' (from saxon i think) meaning to reckon,calculate or count.

biko

Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana.

Abrasax

biko wrote: »

Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana.

Tally.
From the latin talea for stick and the french taille, a notch, nick or incision.
A tally stick were sticks with incisions, used to keep count, like the tally-man did in the song.
More than likely related to tellan somewhere down the line.

Feeona

The origin of wikipedia is an amalgamation of 'What I Know Is' and encyclopaedia












Like testing water current by dropping a dye in it, I should put this information up on What I Know Is encycloPEDIA and see how long it takes to get to New Zealand

Banned Account

Regarding the bank post, just to confuse matters more, I believe that the word bank comes from the intalian 'banco' meaning bench.

So now you go up to see a teller at the counter in the bench


(no wonder they failed)

pickarooney

Liam Byrne wrote: »

OK, bear with me on this one.

A "bank teller" is someone who "counts money that's being lodged".

But they sit behind the "bank counter", so they can't be called that, right ?

There's a separate question whether "go up to the counter" is a variation on that; whether it originally meant the person, rather than the wooden yoke that you stand at.

If you look at the stems of the words - "count" and "tell" - they appear to have no association, not least in modern language.

But if you look at past tenses of the two verbs......"re-tell" and "recount"....it starts to make sense.

At some stage, "tell" and "count" must have meant the same thing.

In Dutch, and presumably old/middle English, "tellen" means "to count" and a "teller" is one who counts. The counter is probably from the French "comptoir" or similar latin root and refers to the place where prices were reckoned and accounts settled.

A verbal "account" is a personal, summarised version of events and "recount" is derived from this, I suppose.

stovelid

I always liked the story (myth?) that the etymology of the word Hooligan was a notoriously lawless Irish family, the Houlihans, in London. Probably not true.

Tar.Aldarion

Didn't sweetheart come from like sweet tart, ie a prostitute....heh heh heh..thanks sweetheart heh heh heh

neil_hosey

Boycott..

During the irish land war, Charles Boycott was an absentee landlord somewhere in the whesht of ireland.

The tenants of his lands ask for lower rent, he said no, and evicted them!! So they ignored the fúcker and made everyone in the vacinity to ignore him, from shops/traders/postmen/etc...

hence the meaning nowadays..

Joe Cool

Heard that the word 'chunder' meaning to puke came from sailors throwing up from the Crow's Nest, a shortened version of 'watch under!'.

Also the term 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' referred to freezing temperatures causing the brass rings, which held the cannonballs, to contract and shatter causing the aforementioned cannonball to fall to the floor.

Citation needed

Gaunty

The word Bedlam comes from the famous psychiatric hospital of the middle ages in London called Bethlem. It used to be a tourist attraction at one stage for people to go around the hospital unsupervised and talk to the patients and marvel at their behaviour. The hospital was so crazy that the word bedlam found its way into popular language. Hence the phrase 'It's bedlam out there'.

strobe

Whiskey is an anglicisation of uisce. Spirits used to be called uisce beatha (water of life) in Ireland.

Wibbs

A big fight or riot used to be known as a donnybrook, from the annual Dublin fair of that name where a ruckus would likely kick off.

Shampoo and bungalow and orange are all Indian words brought in from the british empire days. Assassin is also from india as a hindu(afair) cult was purported to smoke weed, hashish before going on murderous rampages.

Roman soldiers were often paid in salt, hence the modern word salary latin for salt sal.

"Grammar" has an interesting side. The original comes from the greek, based on the word "draw" It became "grammatica" in latin. Not that interesting but... The word "glamour" which in its original (Scots) context meant to put a spell on someone and magic in general, may well have come from mishearing the word grammar. Written language was felt to hold a special power. So let it be written, so let it be done kinda thing.

Lunatic comes from luna the word for the moon. As the idea of the moon affecting peoples minds was common in the past. Hysterical comes from the greek word for womb(hysterectomy etc) and used to only be used in the context of women. It was thought female madness originated in the womb. Ancient doctors were of the opinion that unwed women, especially ones who were childless would go mad as the humours would build up in the womb and affect their minds. Even today some people working with animals think dogs, horses etc should have some offspring before they are spayed.

Plumber comes from the latin word for lead, which was what pipes were made from back in the day. Another example is the weighted(lead) plumb line used by builders to check verticals.

Alcohol is an arabic muslim word ironically enough. Algebra is too, but not ironically at all as the feckers were bloody brilliant at the old counting and such:) Oh yea and coffee.

Denim comes from the name of a french town that made canvas cloth. Nemes I think? so De Neme from Neme = Denim.

Dandelion plant comes from dent de leon, teeth of lion. Look at the serrated leaves.

Mistress actually means wife or bride funny enough. Husband originally meant man with house. Nada to do with marriage per se.

An Irish/celtic one. When I was learning Irish the word for car was carr. They gussied it up to gluastain(sp?)(fast thing pretty much, like Luas). Presumably because they wanted to distance it from english. Thing is its not an english word, its an ancient celtic/irish word for any wheeled vehicle. Chariot, cart. Indeed chariot comes from the latin Carrus and in latin a war chariot was called a car. a further aside... the romans drove on the correct left hand side of the road like us(bloody french screwed that one )

El_Dangeroso

San Diego, from the Spanish for 'A whale's vagina'.

Wibbs

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

San Diego, from the Spanish for 'A whale's vagina'.

welll......... though that leads to the pejorative term for people of latin origin, "Dago". Thought to come from captured spanish soldiers loudly repeating prayers to San Diego/Saint Diego/Saint Didicus.

OhThePenguin

Spoonerism: when you accidentally mix up the sounds or syllables of words
Word comes from Rev. Spooner who used to constantly do this.

Some examples are:
A blushing crow (crushing blow)
A well-boiled icicle (well-oiled bicycle)

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy

fontanalis

Quintessential, from the Greeks and they're belief in the fifth element.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)

Irrational dreives from numbers that can't be broken down to fractions, again I think it was the Greeks and their dealings with maths.
Disaster means bad star, again with the Greeks and astrology.
Everyone should read soem Carl Sagan.

Abrasax

Wibbs wrote: »

Assassin is also from india as a hindu(afair) cult was purported to smoke weed, hashish before going on murderous rampages.

The Hashshashin were killers for the Persian warlord, Hassan-i-Shabbah.
Apparently he used to get them stoned on smoke and opium and, when they were unconscious, transport them to a luscious garden somewhere, where some delectable ladies would make sweet love to them. Then they'd be drugged unconscious again, brought back to where they were and Hassan would tell them they'd just been to paradise and this was the reward that awaited him if they did his bidding, thus ensuring their loyalty.
Thus, Hassan-i-Shabbah lent his name to both assassins and hashish.

Liam Byrne

Fitzcaraldo wrote: »

So now you go up to see a teller at the counter in the bench

(no wonder they failed)

Not only that, but in order to account for your account the teller needs to count at the counter in the bench and you have to recount both your lodgements and your money in order to counter his account!!!! (thankfully he's probably sitting on a chair instead of being on a bench behind the counter in a bench!)

I just hope his wages aren't benchmarked!

Liam Byrne

Wibbs wrote: »

Lunatic comes from luna the word for the moon............It was thought female madness originated in the womb

Or is it related to the fact that a month is based on the moon's "cycle", and that whole PMS malarkey ? :rolleyes:

--Kaiser--

Swash buckling.

Back when the phrase originated, a common weapon combo would be a sword used in conjunction with a small, dinner plate sized shield called a buckle (used more to parry attacks than to block or absorb). To 'swash' is to make noise, boast and act in an arrogant fashion.Young men would walk about town with their sword and buckle rattling by their side. Hence the phrase (the common phrase "Buckle your swash" is incorrect, you would actually swash your buckle)

Jev/N

m@cc@ wrote: »

BS, I'm afraid.

I thought it was a perfectly cromulent word..

Just goes to show you can't trust what is asked at a table quiz!

Pretty_Pistol

The American term "So long" (goodbye) comes from when Irish immigrants would say slán.

CrazyRabbit

Dyslexia
Abbreviate

Somebody must have been takin' the piss.

FlutterinBantam

'Me farmers is killing me'

Olde English referring to Farmer Giles=Piles- rhyming slang

Also Chalfonts as in 'Chalfont St. Giles'

Can also be referred to as bum grapes, as in a bunch of grape like protrusions hanging from one's hole.

Also arse nuts, hole plums, spaggots or bum jewelery.

Correct term is hemorrhoids.

goose2005

"Cabal" from the five ministers most powerful under Charles II (Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale).

Incidentally, there is no boards.ie cabal.

Din Taylor

Acronyms weren't in use until the twentieth century. An acronym explanation for a word in use before then is generally bollox.

For example Fornication Under Consent of the King. It actually comes from the Latin fuccant.

--Kaiser--

Din Taylor wrote: »

Acronyms weren't in use until the twentieth century. An acronym explanation for a word in use before then is generally bollox.

For example Fornication Under Consent of the King. It actually comes from the Latin fuccant.

Agreed. Another one is Golf (Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden)