Comments for The Word Detective

Comment on February 2012 Issue by admin

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:31:47 +0000

This is the 70th anniversary of Casablanca, but I’m afraid to watch it again (for the 1400th time) because I’d probably end up locked in the basement.

Comment on Copacetic by Neil Alexander

Neil Alexander — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:54:21 +0000

All the suggested etymology for copacetic or copesettic – both are acceptable spellings according to the Chambers Dictionary – are interesting but it doesn’t really matter how the word came into popular usage in the USA, just that it is now part of the language! English, unlike French, is a living, growing language, hence the need to revise dictionaries like Chambers every year or so, which by the way, is the most widely used spelling reference guide for EVERY UK national newspaper and for most crossword setters and Scrabble players.
The term copacetic has yet to cross the Atlantic to the UK, apart from in US produced TV shows, mainly on the Discovery Channel oddly enough. I looked it up in Chambers after first hearing it used to describe a car being checked for originality by Wayne Carini’s elderly, deaf and truly excellent mechanic (name unknown), on the Discovery Turbo show, Chasing Classic Cars. I originally assumed copacetic was an anglicized Italian word, most likely from the south of the country or Sicily. Don’t really know why I made this assumption, except that Wayne is obviously of Italian descent and the word has the kind of semi-guttural sound associated with that area of Italy. In conclusion, I think it’s a nice word, but even the Chambers Dictionary, which is known for its exhaustive research into the etymology of entries, has its origin listed as “obscure”! I hope the word eventually crosses the pond, and soon begins to be used by people here in the UK. I also hope this entry is copacetic, if a little long and wordy!
Neil fae Bonnie Scotland!

Comment on Bespoke by Ben Wrankle

Ben Wrankle — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:00:08 +0000

My first encounter with bespeak was in Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby, where a “Great Bespeak” is held for Miss Snevellicci, one of Nicholas’s actor friends. From the context it’s clear that it’s a benefit performance for Miss Snevellicci.

Comment on Swamp Yankee by Maggie

Maggie — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:11:51 +0000

Myself, and my family, are natives of western Massachusetts. I grew up hearing my mother use the term “swamp yankee,” usually in a slightly derogatory way. It was a term akin to “white trash,” but not as harsh– essentially it describes the rural, under-educated poor (which, at least in this part of the state, generally means poor whites). For example, we got a new washing machine, and the old one sat out in our driveway for a few days, waiting to be picked up by the people who were getting rid of it for us. My mother was quite distressed to have this in the yard, frequently remarking “We look like a bunch of swamp yankees, with that thing sitting out there!,” during that time. I don’t know where Ms. Schell got the idea it was limited to RI, CT, and southeastern MA. Although, I will admit that it was a term probably passed down to my mother from my grandmother (born in 1916), and our family in particular seems to use more old fashion expressions that most (something I found out in high school when I would use a familiar saying and find that no one else had ever heard it before…).

Comment on Gin up by curious1

curious1 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:02:05 +0000

Don’t you think it originates from the cotton gin? You would “gin up” a bunch of cotton ….

Comment on Anniversary by Marie

Marie — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:21:59 +0000

Dear Word Detective,

I would like to add a small data point to your entry on “galoot.” The word occurs repeatedly in the wonderful British series of children’s books, Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome, where a slightly bossy girl calls her younger sister “you tame galoot!” The books are set in the 1930s and have a pronounced nautical influence — the girls’ uncle is a retired Naval or merchant Marine officer, her friends are children of a serving Royal Navy captain, etc. This dovetails nicely with your reference to soldiers on board ship, although I must confess that in my ignorance, seeing the word combined with “tame,” I first assumed it to be an animal or bird…

Comment on Tilting at windmills by Richard

Richard — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:02:24 +0000

I’m unsure if I ever properly thanked you, and your cats, for your help in understanding this phrase. Seems nowadays, one can type anything in and get an answer. But, you were my only reliable source back then. Thanks, very much, for being there!

Comment on Turtle Hull by B.K. Warfield

B.K. Warfield — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:47:20 +0000

My grandparents in east Texas called the car trunk the “turtle hull” but never explained why. I’ve wondered whether it was a corruption of the term “turtle hold” on old sailing ships. They also used “car shed” for garage or carport.

Comment on Brickbat by Todd Marshall

Todd Marshall — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:46:25 +0000

Henry Ford is quoted as making “a furnace of clay and brick-bats” in about 1873. This would support the broken brick definition and not a reference to a missile or a brick mold.

Comment on Caucus by Emile Zola

Emile Zola — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:43:16 +0000

To many it might be the theory of relativity, but to me it’s nothing more and nothing less than Latin and the plural is causi. Case closed. Next!

Comment on February 2012 Issue by Denise D Simon

Denise D Simon — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:30:59 +0000

If it’s any consolation, menopause seems to be having much the same cognitive affect on me, only I cry at the Simpsons. You know, when at the end of the show, Homer finally does the right thing and all is forgiven. I lose it every time.

Comment on Druthers by Mary DeLashmit

Mary DeLashmit — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:41:08 +0000

In your Mark Twain quote, I disagree that “druther” is a verb. I believe it is still primarily an adverb, defining “have”, but includes the sound of the sloppily ellipsed “d”: “you['d] druther have it”. (Note the phrase you quote further down: “I’d druther live in the woods…”)