Dear Word Detective: I have followed your column in the Green Bay Press Gazette for years, and, before that, your father’s column in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. As a now retired Speech/Language Pathologist, I love word study. I just noted this phrase in a local story about the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie coming out: “Avast and belay!” I know these words are of English derivation, but have never heard the “belay” word before. Can you provide some background –”Arrrgh, Matey!”? — Marycarolyn Jagodzinski, Suring, WI.

Hiya. It’s always

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Dear Word Detective: I have always maintained that the phrase for being in a hurry is “…champing at the bit.” I am in the minority, however, since everyone I know says “chomping.” Of course, these are the same people who may cite this clarification as a “mute point” rather than “moot,” but I am always trying to educate them. Can I have your assistance? — Anita.

“To champ at the bit” is a metaphor meaning “to be very eager to get started” on a task or enterprise (”The new owners

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Dear Word Detective: What is the origin of the word “conn”? I think I first heard the word while watching Star Trek: “Number One, you have the conn.” Recently, the word has caught on around the office and the question “Who has the conn?” will often be heard. Sadly, most have never seen the word spelled, so they invariably will type “Who has the con”? I guess a second question would be which is preferred, “conn” or “con”? –Andy.

Are you sure about that? I always thought it was “Mister Sulu, you have

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Dear Word Detective: Could you please indicate the origin and definition of the word “rapscallion” or “rapscalion”? — John V. Murphy.

I’ll give it a shot. The usual spelling today is “rapscallion,” although, as we shall see, the spelling varies a bit over the history of this word and its relatives.

“Rapscallion” today is usually used to mean “a rascal” or “a scamp,” a person who may flout society’s conventions, and even, on occasion, break the law, but who falls short of being a major-league evildoer. A “rapscallion” is mischievous, not murderous, often a

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Dear Word Detective: “Roll Up! Roll Up!” There’s a phrase we’ve heard at the circus and even in Beatles and ELP lyrics. When and where did this phrase originate? I’m writing a play that takes place in late 19th century rural England and I’m hoping to be as accurate with my phrase usages as possible! — Annie, New York.

Good question. I certainly remember “Roll up! Roll up!” at the beginning of the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour. But what is “ELP”? The Wikipedia “disambiguation” (I love

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Dear Word Detective: Could you tell me the origin of the word “skittish” please? –David Franklin.

Thanks for an interesting question. The moment I read it, of course, I realized that many readers would wonder whether “skittish” has any connection to the noun “skit” meaning a short, humorous playlet. As it happens, the two words are indeed related, but the connection is a tangled one.

Today we use “skittish” to mean “nervous, restless, fickle or unreliable,” as in “The skittish witness against the mob boss was eventually found to be living in Ulan Bator disguised as a

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Dear Word Detective: My co-conspirators at the office and I have been debating the origin of “hold the line,” which might so easily derive simply from the era of the plug-and-socket manual telephone exchange. Then it occurred that it could have had military beginnings. Are you able to clarify for us? — Ian Wheeler, England.

You don’t say in what sense you’re using “hold the line,” but there are two primary meanings in English. One is, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, “to maintain telephonic connection during a break in conversation.” In such a situation, I might

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Dear Word Detective: A few years ago (very few, it seems to me) people started substituting the word “issue” for “problem.” People stopped having “problems” and suddenly had “issues” instead. This usage still sounds awkward and forced to me, even years later, and I wondered what you could tell me about how and why this got started. You’ve pointed out before that when enough people want to re-coin a word or retool its meaning, there’s not much we can do about it (e.g., your recent comments about “mute” points). But

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Dear Word Detective: I was wondering what the origin is of the term “resting on one’s laurels” or, as my Dad used to say, “sitting on one’s laurels”? Most people I know use it to mean wasting time or being lazy, but I wondered if it doesn’t really have to do with foolish indulgence after reaching the top (laurels being given to the winner of a competition or to signify achievement). — Britt Morris.

How odd. If folks really think that “resting on one’s laurels” means simply “being lazy,” they’re skipping a rather important step, the one where the

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Dear Word Detective: Many years ago, a high school teacher told me that the expression “showing or learning the ropes” came from the days of sailing ships whereby a new sailor had to learn the functions of all the rigging and lines which were, of course, what we refer to as “ropes.” Years later, a retired navy chief told me that the sailors in those days would have never called the lines and rigging aboard a ship “ropes.” It was a good way to get

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Dear Word Detective: Do you know when we first started referring to the media or those working in journalism as “the press”? — Karen.

I sure do. Sometime around 1926. Next question. Just kidding. You don’t want a year — you want the whole story, and I’m here to give it to you. Actually, I’m here at the moment because the alternative seems to be replacing the screens on the sun porch, and my hand is still bandaged from the last time I tried that. Here’s a handy home repair tip for you folks: if the directions say “Then

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Dear Word Detective: I listen to a word show called “Says You” on public radio. They have a show segment of odd word definitions. One person has the correct definition, two others make up a definition and the other team has to guess the correct one. One week’s word was “winklehawk.” I’m not sure of the proper spelling. It is the “L” shaped tear in a piece of cloth or clothing. It was one of those words that stuck with me. Do you have any idea of the origin? — Dave Straka.

That show sounds like fun. I must

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Dear Word Detective: We have always used the phrase “big as Ike” in my family, and I’m sure I’ve heard other Southern folk use it too to mean “crystal clear, it was right in front of me,” etc. Do you know the origin of this phrase? — Jack Connell.

“Big as Ike” is a new one on me, but I grew up in suburban Connecticut, an environment not known for its colorful turns of phrase. We tend, in fact, to say things like “colorful turns of phrase,” which is about as much

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Dear Word Detective: The common people or “hoy polloy” (hoi polloi) — what is its derivation? — Gary Southmayd.

Where did the common people come from? Beats me. Somebody left the door open, I guess. My question is how they all apparently got driver’s licenses without putting down their cell phones to sign the forms.

Onward. Presuming you meant “Where did the phrase ‘hoi polloi’ come from?” the answer is easy. “Hoi polloi” is Greek for “the many,” and has been used to mean “the masses of common people” in English since the

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Dear Word Detective: A recent internet exchange where somebody was pegged as a “nit-picker” for pointing out errors in grammar and usage produced this post: “In terms of the phrase ‘nitpicking,’ a ‘nit’ is a small ball of cloth that is produced by yarn in things like sweaters and such. Nitpickers were the people who removed such things from the garment so that it had a smooth appearance, and as such, were required to be very exacting and detail-oriented. This is where the term in common use came from.” The previous discussion had all been

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Dear Word Detective: Why is my curiosity “piqued” instead of “peaked”? And is this related to the irritation form of “pique”? And finally, in modern usage, is anything else but your curiosity ever “piqued”? — Phillip Thrash.

Well, if you were writing something on the internet (MySpace personal profile, comments to some spotty blog, etc.), your curiosity might well be “peaked.” The internet has turned out to be a bottomless well (or pit, depending on one’s perspective) of creative word substitutions such as the use of “peaked” for “piqued” (which occurs, according to a

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Dear Word Detective: Why are “terrible” and “terrify” bad, when “terrific” is so good? — James Avery.

Hmm. This isn’t a riddle, is it? I hate riddles. I especially hate the riddle about “the three words ending in ‘gry’,” which I have been receiving at least six times per day, seven days a week, for at least ten expletive-of-your-choice years. And now I’m suddenly wondering why I haven’t been selling the answer for ten bucks a pop. People certainly seem desperate enough. Good grief, that would have

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Back in June, I answered a reader’s question about “gnu,” which is another name for the “wildebeest,” a large and, some would say, exceedingly weird-looking African antelope. For those who may have missed the column, the word “gnu” is the name for the animal in the language of the Khoikhoi ethnic group of southwestern Africa, and is presumed to have been coined as an imitation of the gnu’s snort.

Shortly after I wrote the column, I received a friendly email from a reader, Christian McCusker, who pointed out that I had failed to mention an important

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