Continue reading March 2008 Issue

Dear Word Detective: Does “slack,” as in “cut me some slack,” have anything to do with the body covering we call “slacks”? Am I a “slacker” if I wear slacks … no, don’t answer that! Is the word “lax,” which is very similar in meaning and in sound to “slack,” related in any way? Which language do these words come from? In German “Lachs,” which sounds exactly the same as “lax,” means a salmon, not exactly a lazy fish, maybe just a laid back one? — Margherita.

Funny you should mention salmon. I was compiling a mental list the other day

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Dear Word Detective: Where does the word “rude” come from? Is someone who is “rude” someone who is “rue-ed,” as in one regrets his or her company because they are annoying? Or is there a completely different origin? — Aimee.

Well, it’s time to say it again — I have the smartest readers on the planet. That explanation would never have occurred to me. Then again, it never occurred to me to release the parking brake before driving to the Post Office last week. But I do think “ru-ed” is truly inspired. However, I notice from your email address that

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Dear Word Detective: In New Zealand we call a plastic jar a “pottle.” Who else in the world has “pottle” for this usage? Why won’t the yanks and pommies understand me? — Jimmy Langrish, Wellington, New Zealand.

Beats me. Perhaps they all watch too much TV, and their brains have rotted. Do you have TV down there in, let’s see, “New Zealand”? Do you have any oil? Answer the second question first. Anyway, if you send us your oil, we’ll send you TV, and after

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Dear Word Detective: What is the origin of the expression “the pip” as in “I have the pip.” I have seen it in used in old novels by one of the characters, and my mother used to say it (she would be 100 if she were still alive). I understood it to mean “not sick, just feeling miserable for no known reason,” but maybe it was really was an illness now known by another name? — JS Rooney.

Hey, lookie there, another “pip.” English has three distinct “pip” words, perhaps four

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Dear Word Detective: What’s the origin of “piggy back” as in, “I’ll just piggy back my new process onto your existing process”? It seems to imply that by piggy backing, you can take a shortcut, particularly by using something that has already been created. — Doug Phillips.

Well, that’s strange. I knew for a fact that I had written about “piggyback” (usually treated as one word) years ago, but when I checked my archive page, it wasn’t there. After tearing out about ten percent of my hair, I finally realized that I had actually written about “piggyback” for a

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Dear Word Detective: I’m a historical re-enactor and often give public demonstrations. For years I’ve shown my matchlock musket and explained that the match was usually lit at both ends to in case one end went out. I’ve told groups that the the phrase, “burning your candle at both ends” comes from this when it was originally “burning your fuse at both ends.” Please let me know if I’m correct and expound on this if possible. — Lloyd.

Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd. I have one question. Did someone tell you that story, or did you cook it up yourself?

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Dear Word Detective: My paternal grandfather and father both used the term “work-brickle,” usually to describe what a lazy person wasn’t, as in “Don’t count on it being done today — that feller ain’t exactly workbrickle.” Somehow that term popped back into my head the other day, and I asked Unca Google where it came from. Unc had no real idea. So I’m turning to you. Do you know where the term “work-brickle” or “workbrickle” comes from? — Gregory Bloom.

Ah yes, good old Unca Google, bottomless well of … something. We’re not sure what. Sometimes searching Google produces

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Dear Word Detective: Newsweek and the NY Times have both recently used the word “ur-text” in articles with no indication of its meaning. Example: “Principals had ordered Payne’s books and DVD’s by the boxload, mostly her ur-text, ‘A Framework for Understanding Poverty,’ . . .” What does it mean? — Kate Simpson.

Well, what do we mean when we say, “What does it mean?” Do we mean “What is the literal meaning of the word?” Or do we mean the meta-meaning, the cultural significance, of “ur”? And what, after all, is “meaning”? “Meaning” is subjective, of course, but “meaning”

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Dear Word Detective: I recently purchased some DVD’s of the old “Little Rascals” TV shows for my three year old. One of the shows was entitled “Sprucin’ Up,” and I realized, while explaining what that meant to my son, that I had no idea where that might have come from. Webster’s was not very helpful, saying the word spruce is perhaps related to a middle English alteration of the Anglo-French “Pruce” for “Prussian.” Did they consider Prussians very neat and tidy, thus getting the sense of the phrase today? — Chris Lenz.

Gee, I always figured “spruce up” referred

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Dear Word Detective: I’m always fascinated by a word that evolves with two entirely different meanings. Today at work, we were discussing the word “ream,” as in a ream of paper — but this can also refer to a machining process. Since I’d presume paper-making is mechanical in nature (and I’m just guessing here; for all I know, paper really *does* grow on trees), is there any connection between the two? — Tina Stanley.

We all have our weaknesses, and a biggie for me is my lifelong inability to tell when people are goofing on me. My wife Kathy,

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Dear Word Detective: When football players in England are speaking of their coach they refer to them as “gaffer.” I’m an American who just doesn’t understand English slang sometimes. — J.C.D.

Welcome to the club. Personally, I think the Brits are being inscrutable on purpose. I suspect that at some point, maybe back in the 16th century, their government tourism ministry got the bright idea of inventing a range of “quaint” but nonsensical locutions for innkeepers and the like, designed to charm tourists (and, more importantly, to befuddle them so they wouldn’t whine for cold drinks and warm

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Dear Word Detective: In musicians’ parlance, especially trumpet players, the word “clam” is used to refer to a missed note. A “clambake” is used to refer to a concert, piece, or part of a work with a LOT of wrong notes. I’ve no idea if this has any relation to “clam up” of the early 20th century or the use of “clambake” to refer to people smoking pot in a closed automobile. The trumpet player email list will be most appreciative. — Tim Phillips.

“Clam” is an interesting word. Most uses in English refer back in some way to

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Dear Word Detective: I recently visited Williamsburg,VA, where, while eating at a restaurant, I noticed that the fork only had three prongs. I made a mention of it to the waiter and they proceeded to tell me that I was eating with a “threek,” and that a fork had four prongs, a “took” had two prongs, and no civilized person would ever eat using a one-pronged fork, called “a stick.” The reasoning seems to make sense, but was this server correct? — David Thompson.

Oh boy, here we go again. Someday, when I am rich (ha) and have

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Dear Word Detective: I’m trying to find the word the describes the following examples: When you decide to buy a red minivan then suddenly you notice all the red minivans driving around you, or when you plant a flower in your yard then suddenly you notice all the yards with the same flower planted. I’ve heard it in a seminar but can’t remember any part of the word. –Judy Ewens.

Good question. I believe the word you’re looking for is “suburbia.” More than just a locale on the fringes of big cities, “suburbia” is actually a discrete state of

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Dear Word Detective: I often have heard, and have used, the term “smart,” in reference to hurting, as in “Boy, that really smarts.” Is this in any way related to “smart” as an assessment of one’s knowledge? — Van Neie.

As in “I guess trimming my toenails with tin snips wasn’t very smart, because this really smarts”? Good question, and the fact that a sentence like that wouldn’t set off alarm bells in most of our noggins is a tribute to the remarkable ability of the English language to use what appears to be the same word to mean

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Dear Word Detective: What is the origin of the term “pie-eyed”? Apparently the word “pie” is from the printing trade meaning “a muddle of words or letters.” Does the meaning lie there? — Wendy.

Not exactly. English has two kinds of “pie.” The older “pie,” first appearing in Old English, is the original name for the bird we now call a “magpie.” Just where the “mag” came from is uncertain, but it is probably short for “Margaret,” a custom of the day being adding personal names to those of animals (e.g., Tom Turkey, Jenny Wren, etc.). The

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Dear Word Detective: We are wondering if the word “idiot” had the same definition in 1700 as it does today. We are working on a family history. — Joan.

Isn’t genealogy fun? You learn all sorts of interesting things about your ancestors. I read recently that genealogical websites are among the most popular on the internet. The quality of these sites varies greatly, of course, so it’s important to choose carefully. I am very skeptical, for instance, of the one that informed me that I’m actually descended from Eskimo pole-dancers and offered me an

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