| Title: | The Joy of Lex |
| Notice: | A Notes File even your grammar could love |
| Moderator: | THEBAY::SYSTEM |
| Created: | Fri Feb 28 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Jun 02 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1192 |
| Total number of notes: | 42769 |
I recently came across the following quiz in which you try to match up
various words with the approximate date of their first English usage.
If anyone has already seen this quiz, please don't post a spoiler...I'll
post the "official" answers in a few days. In the meantime, you may
want to give your answers to some of the easier ones and take a guess
at some of the tougher ones.
1. countdown a. before 12th century
2. decibel b. 13th century
3. gerrymander c. 14th century
4. knave d. 1550
5. party e. 1700
(festive gathering)
6. pinecone f. 1810
7. polo g. 1870
8. robin h. 1925
9. vicar i. 1950
10. yuppie j. 1980
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 680.1 | ;-D | LESCOM::KALLIS | Anger's no replacement for reason. | Fri Jun 16 1989 21:05 | 57 |
Re .0
"Countdown" was before the 12th Century. During jousts of middle
nobility, when a count was unhorsed, it was considered a "countdown."
"Decibel" originated in the 13th Century, when priests at cathedrals
called the laity to worship by tintinnabulation. When the head of
household heard the pealing of the chime, he'd say to his family,
"decibel."
"Gerrymander" was before the 12th Century. When the name Gerald
was first developed, it wasn't that popular, and few went by it.
When one of the King's Guards asked, "Who's Jerry?", invariably,
if Jerry was present, a serf would point at him and say, "Gerrymander."
"Knave" was developed before the 12th Century, when rogue Viking raiders,
when asked their philosophy, said, "Knaver giv a sucker an even
break." The derivation, from there, is left as an exercise to the
student.
"Party" came from the 13th Century, from a region of Spain with
a strange dialect. When a beloved inhabitant asked whom a fiesta
was for, his compatriots said, "Par ti," meaning "for you."
"Pinecone" originated in the 12th Century, and originally referred
to a "pining cony," or an unhappy rabbit; it was later applied
to food that was tough to eat, such as the seed organ of the pine
tree.
"Polo" comes from the 13th Century, named after the explorer Marco
Polo. Seems somebody tried to emulate him, was beheaded by the
wild tribes of the Steppes, who called the head "Polo" after the
explorer, ND knocked it about a field from horseback.
"Robin" comes from the 12th Century. When Richard the Lionheart
was away on the Crusades, Prince John took over England and installed
the Sheriff of Nottingham as a tax collector. He was opposed by
the son of the Earl of Locksley, who donned green garb and stole
from the rich to give to the poor. Once, this young man actually
took gold from the sheriff, who called after him, "Stop, you dirty
robbin' hood!" This got shortened to Robin Hood, and his friends
called him "Robin." To fool the Sheriff's men, the Sherwood Foresters
started calling birds by the same name; the rest is history.
"Vicar" was the result of a misunderstanding in the 12th Century.
One prelate was known to be rather slow witted; a visiting prelate
was pointed out as, "that one's thicker," but someone thought it
was a church rank. Over the years, "th" phased over to "v."
"Yuppie" comes from the 13th Century, when overly obsequious members
of the court answered in the affirmative to any opinions, in order
to curry favor, and thus get ahead. Their constant "Yup," responses
got them called "Yuppies"; eventually, the term spread to the blatantly
"get ahead" person of any English-speaking culture.
Steve Kallis, Jr.
| |||||
| 680.2 | DLNVAX::JOHN | Mon Jul 24 1989 22:39 | 9 | ||
When are the REAL answers going to appear?
Ann
| |||||
| 680.3 | SSDEVO::EGGERS | Anybody can fly with an engine. | Tue Jul 25 1989 02:38 | 1 | |
Who cares. Those are better than the *real* ones. | |||||
| 680.4 | For those really interested... | GRNDAD::STONE | Roy | Tue Jul 25 1989 18:50 | 46 |
From the lack of anything other than the facetious response, it
appeared that no one was really interested.
The answers are included below. At least I thought they were
interesting...
The "official" answers are as follows:
1. countdown i. 1950 (became well-known because of the American
space program)
2. decibel h. 1925 (popularized after the invention of electric
power)
3. gerrymander f. 1810 (to divide into electoral districts so as to
give one party an advantage. The word comes
from the first man to do it, Elbridge Gerry,
an early governor of Massachusetts.)
4. knave a. before 12th century (from Old and Middle English;
originally meant "a servant")
5. party b. 13th century (from Old and Middle English)
6. pinecone e. 1700 (a combination of two earlier words, "pine" and
"cone")
7. polo g. 1870 (sport invented in the 1860's)
8. robin d. 1550 (from Middle English)
9. vicar c. 14th cetury (originally meant "deputy")
10. yuppie j. 1980 (comes from the initials of "Young Urban
Professional")
| |||||