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Fred's Words have touched on a variety of topics, so we devided the "words" into manageable categories. Click a text link below to peruse:
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DIG
Becky asked where "DIG" came from as in; "Hey--I really dig your music man".
I looked in Gulah language and in Wolof. Wolof was spoken in the South for about 90 years and every plantation had at least two Wolof speakers in the slave quarters. They were considered "special" if they could speak an African language--most had forgotten or were born in the Americas. I tried Seirra Leone to see if there was a connection to an African word "dig"---none.
Like jeli for "jelly". Jelly is name of the white milky fluid inside a coconut when it reached a jelled stage. It is a Caribbean/African word. It came into both British and American written English around 1869 via Black southern usage and copied by Whites in the South. Jeli is also a Mandingo word for Minstrel--or "music man". [Jelly was in oral usage for a 100 years or so before it made it into written works].
The blacks used words that had double meanings--they could not speak out against their Masters so they coded words. DIG may be a coded word--I'll keep 'digging' until if find it.
I have a feeling I'll find it in "jive talk" or "hip (hep)" talk as found in the Jazz era back in the '20s and '30s in Harlam. (Used to be a Dutch town--Haarlam).
What's a hepcat? A hepcat is a guy
Who knows all the answers, and I'm telling you why...
He's a high-falutin' student
Of the Calloway vocab.
What's the twister to the slammer?
The twister is the key
That opens up the slammer
To my chicken fricassee.
If you want to learn the ling:
Five from ABC to Zee,
Get hip with
Mister Hepster's Dictionary.
By Cab Calloway 1938
Little Richard (Pennyman) used some of the '20s and '30s jive talk--like "Tutti Frutti" which is a coded Black English set of words. You can look that one up in a Black English Dictionary if you are interested.
The Beatles used "She's So Heavy" which is old Jazz--"heavy" meaning--sort of opposite of "cool".
British Black English for a long time "drifted", but with the Second World War, the airplane, Movies, TV, etc. the Blacks in the British Isles have picked up almost all of the Americas' Black English. You will hear the same; cool, heavy, aks for ask, rap, rock, roll, serious, busted, stone (stoned), profound, arcane, kicks, rip off, groovy, beat me Daddy, hype, chick, fine, jam, stache (or stash), having a ball, pad,--
I just can't find the roots of "DIG". Hang in there Becky--its got to be somewhere in a library. I have not gone into the NET yet--maybe that's a good place to look.
Fred
Dixie
From Lynn in Charlotte (Note: I have also run across other stories about the origin of "Dixie," but alas! I don't remember them now. Tom)
While in New Orleans I ran across (bump) a guide called "Do You Speak Noo Awlins?" Here is their definition of Dixie: Dixie - this word is synonymous with the South. The Citizen's Bank of Louisiana issued bank notes in both French and English during the mid 1800s when New Orleans, the cradle of the South (LS Comment: and it still rocks), basked in the prosperity of river commerce. 'Dix', the French word for 10, appeared on $10 bills. When they headed South, northern traders and merchants would say they were going to the land of "Dixies". Tom added: Seems that I read "Dixie" was in use before the Mason-Dixon line came to be -- old Dixon being on the case was just a coincidence of history. Fred responded: I like the "Dix" version best--the Mason-Dixon Line never rang true. The boundry was too far off. (One of Tom's ancesters didn't count the chains and rods right I suppose).
Doozie
Fred,
We had a word discussion at work last night... Doozie, as in "that's a doozie." Someone piped up that it had something to do with a car, and I suggested Duesenberg. The big dictionary at work confirmed both connections and offered a third, possibly earlier origin. Alas, I have forgotten that third derivation and my bigger (but not better) dictionary at home does not have the word at all... obviously my home dictionary is not a doozie!
Rick.
Rick,
It is also an alternate form of "Daisy" in 14th--16th century English.
Also spelled Doozy.
Related to Doozer.
Variant of "Dinger" as in Hum-Dinger.
From "Oh! Hum! Ain't she a dinger?"
Further amplified by the German words "hummen und tingen". In olde platz it is "humen a dingen". To hum and ring. (the lonely 'a' has a mark over it, but it is not an umlaut.)
Also tied to "Floozy" in Brit-speak. Slang--along the Thames River--sailors, etc. --c. 1880 to 1935
Dress
On Friday's we don't have to wear a white shirt and tie and it reminded me of "dress-down".
Ever wonder about the word "dress"?
You get up in the morning, take a bath, and dress.
Ladies may dress by getting into a dress.
Soldiers "dress right--dress" when standing parade.
Little girls play "dress-up". On Fridays here at Globalstar we "dress-down".
In the British Army, when you mess up really bad--you are dressed down by your officer. (does that mean he takes your clothes off?). I suppose in the sense of "redress".
In French--redrecier----to redress. Redrecier also means to "rectify". Or avenge---to heal.
We have turkey dressing at Thanksgiving.
We put clothes and socks in a dresser.
Or a dresser is also called a "side-board" for food. It is not used much anymore.
How about a dressing-glass (mirror). A dressing room--a dressing table--a dress shirt--a dress gown--
We have both guys and gals that are flashy dressers.
We address letters. We address golf balls. Lincoln had a Gettysburg Address. Rev. Martin Luther King had a "Dream" address.
Eisenhower had a Gettysburg address--he lived there after his retirement as a general and a president.
My house has an address. We recently dressed it up by having the stucco painted.
Software has many addresses.
Then there is "dressage"--a well trained horse.
A dress circle--the main seats at an opera house.
Early use of dress meant "speech or talk". And before that the Latin directus--to direct.
The modern word comes from French--dresser or drecier.
Address comes from the same root---ad + drecier. To arrange.
I guess I'll stop and address my desk--it's a mess. Or should I dress my desk. I can throw a pretty cover on it and walk off and leave it a mess--at least it will be dressed.
At least I am dressed right for my plane flight tonight to Las Vegas.
Enuff already!!
Ruminations on the Language
Let's face it -- English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, that you comb through annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preacher praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? If you wrote a letter, perhaps you bote your tongue?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike?
Have you noticed that we talk about certain things only when they are absent? Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown? Met a sung hero or experienced requited love? Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable? And where are all those people who ARE spring chickens or who would ACTUALLY hurt afly?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm clock goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it.
Foundling
"Old Blue Eyes" is gone--I first remember him just before the War--maybe the Fall of 1941.
I was 10 and he was about 26.
All the "bobby soxers", "swooners", "crooners", "zoot suiters"--there are some words for someone--
They were talking about Frank Sinatra on this morning's news as I was driving from San Jose and El Dorado Hills--they mentioned the word "foundling". One of Frank's ancestors in Italy, evidently was a foundling and was raised in a Catholic orphanage back in the early 1800s.
Foundling, found, founder, founding, find, findings, founderous, foundry, foundation, fond, fondant, all come from Latin.
fundare, fundus, fondre---
Fundare--the base of something (foundation of a house).
Foundry came from Latin but thru Greek--derived from "chein"--to melt or to pour or in Old German--geotan (we are back to "jelly" again as in the recent word); gelatin--which goes back to Italian--gelato--
Foundling--to be found.
Founding (fathers)---from founder--having a standard
Founder--illness in cattle or horses--usually from eating too much or very green hay--can be an inflammed hoof in a horse--rare usage. Almost means "bloat" when a cow founders. From fundus--meaning "to lame".
"Fond" comes from the same set of words--fundus--meaning--"the bottom" or bottom piece of something. (akin to foundation).
We won't get into "fondle" but it too comes f rom the same Latin word--fundus. "To fondle ones hair as a nervous habit".
"Fond" also means "to pamper" No No--Not the diapers.
To be "fond of someone"--affection
Fondly---affection
"Gefunden" in German--(I think I spelled that right)--to find.
These "found" words are almost as wonderful as "dress".
Frish
If you were to go into Frisia or Ost Friesland you would think you were hearing an English dialect. (Ost means east). Ostfriesland is just east of Friesland in Germany while Friesland is in the Netherlands. The language is not Dutch and is called Friesisch. (Rick if I spelled this one wrong please correct me).
One of the Germans I worked with in the 1970's once visited there and because he spoke very good English, he was amazed that he got along better with his English words than he did with his native German.
For example:
| Cow | ko |
| Lamb | lam |
| Goose | goes |
| Boat | boat |
| Dung | dhong |
| Rain | rein |
| A cup of coffee | In Kopke kofje* |
* the "j" is a modifier and sounds as an "eh" when it precedes an e.
Boy--what a mixed up language English is--we are Kelt, Saxon, Angles, Indians, Norse, Danes, and now Frish--
Golf
Golf is a word that the whole world knows--Where it came from--we are not sure.
In old Dutch the word "kolf" means club.
Most people think it was invented in Scotland.
However, if you look back towards its beginning--most of the golf balls imported into Scotland and England WERE MADE IN HOLLAND.
When I was a kid they were still using a "brassy", a "niblett", and a "woody". These all have numbers now.
My favorite "golf" thing is:
Granny on 'Beverly Hillbillys' had a bucket of golf balls in her hand.
"I ain't never seed one o them golf birds, but they shore do lay lots o eggs."
"They don't cook up no good tho. I biled these for an are an you still cain't break the shell."---------------------------A sophisticated Hill Billy would be a "Mountain William" as in William Jefferson (Bubba) Clinton.
Groggy
Well folks, the flu bug that has invaded Las Vegas finally bit me -- but with it came a new connection.
I'm feeling a bit "groggy" today -- and it suddenly dawned on me that the word must come from the old drink, grog. I imagine it was pretty powerful stuff, so after a few tastes one would become a bit disoriented and confused, i.e., "groggy." The
drink has passed out of favor as the beverage of choice, but the word stayed with us.
Tom
-GRY WORDS
Subject: Brain Teasers.
To: Charles Grafton (68 )
From: Kurt Feierabend Dec 14 1996 6:54PM EST
Reply #69 of 99
Thanks, Charles.
To all: Here is an excerpt from the web site:
"I'm sure that you are sick of hearing about it, but I have the correct answer to the 'gry' trivia. The first problem with these things is that they are inevitably phrased wrong, so that it is impossible to get the question correct. Some answers you have are on the right track, such as 'three', etc., but they still are unsatisfactory. The actual phrasing is as follows:
Angry and hungry are two words that end in '-gry'. There are three words in the English language. What is the third word? Everyone knows what it means and everyone uses it every day. Look closely and I have already given you the third word. What is it?
The answer is 'language'. The key sentences are the second and third. If you just read those two, the answer is obvious. The first sentence is a ruse to throw you off. 'Language' is the only answer that fits the hints that follow those two sentence.
So, all the searching in dictionaries is pointless. I hope you'll pass this information along. Before I finally discovered the correct phrasing of the question and the answer, I looked there and did not find a satisfying answer."
Walt Meier walt@orbit.colorado.edu
I guess that will have to stand unless someone has a good spell checker that can automatically process a very large file and wouldn't mind running it through. I'm sure most unix systems are nearly identical, but another checker which is as good but slightly different would probably be able to reduce the list I've made using the unix system to a much, much smaller list. Word processors that check word by word and wait for you to acknowledge each mistake will not work, though.
Hoecakes
In the old South one of the snacks often eaten mid-morning by slaves and whites alike were "hoe-cakes".
On some menus in southern eating places you will see them listed still. Today they are more like hot cakes or pancakes only with more cornmeal than flour.
Along about 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning the Overseer would call a halt to work being done in the cotton fields and everyone would take a "break". A small fire would be built and the corn batter would be brought forth and the workers would clean off their hoes and heat them in the fire. They would pull them away and pour a small amount of batter on the wide bladed hoe. Cook it on one side and then turn it over just like a pancake is done today.
They would roll it up sort of like a taquito and pour bee honey in it and have a "snack". Almost instant energy--and back to work they would go. (Taquito means "little taco" in Mexican Spanish. Someone from Spain would have no idea what you are talking about).
Hoes are not used anymore for cooking, but the name "hoe-cake" stuck.
Why did I do this word?
I was watching an old black and white movie the other night and Walter Brennen had some hoe-cakes. He was hiding out in a swamp in the Everglades. He thought he had killed someone, but really had not. He had hid out for 15 years in the Everglades.
Of course he did not use a hoe to cook the cakes either.
Everglades---Glade is from French--woods or forest--so Ever and glade = always wooded (from the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, 1986)
Glade in Latin is "saltus," no connection to the French word at all.
Horseradish>
A friend of mine and I were sitting at a sushi house at lunch today enjoying the ear-watering effects of "wasabi". Wasabi is made with a base of horseradish and is quite good at clearing the sinus(es) (or is that Sinai? No, that's a desert or is that dessert?) Anyway ..... .... he said, "I wonder where the word 'horseradish' came from"? So I immediately thought of the Mr.Wizard of Words, YOU!
Fred’s Answer:
Kevin asked about horseradish.
It has been recorded in writings since the mid 1500s. It is a big old ugly plant and as much as 10 times the size of a regular red radish and more than 3 times the length of the white (icicle) radish--hench "horse". "Bigger than a horse". Or "a horse of a radish". Another version says that "when first eaten a few centuries ago--it made one "hoarse". I can attest to that--wow!
When I was a young lad in Junction City, Kansas, my mom rented a home from "Hoppy" Hopkins. This was a duplex and we shared the garage out back by the alley. Homes in those days all had an alley. Hoppy used to grow horseradish out by the garage and when ready he would grind it up and then "cure" it in an old wringer type washing machine. That way he could use the drain in the bottom to drain out the horseradish "leavings". He would bottle it and label it by hand and sell it. He had a big list of customers and always sold out. Each year he would grow more and more radish plants as word got around. Great stuff! It would really clear your head.
-Want a great dip for chips? Mix a pint of sour cream and two bottles of horseradish. These are the long slender bottles you see in the Supermarket. The diameter of the bottle is about the size of a half-dollar or maybe a dollar. They are maybe 5 inches tall. Two bottles will be enough believe me. Stir well and let set at room temp. for about 2 hours--then put in the Frig. Serve it to your guests with your favorite chips (also have plenty of cold drinks around--and ice).. [don't get the creamed horseradish--it is not as hot]. Fred