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Post by ARENA on Jul 15, 2017 8:27:19 GMT
WHISTLE UP A WIND - To entertain false hopes, such as in trying to borrow money for a spree or run ashore. From the sailors' superstition that a wind could be raised by whistling for it; the meaning has long since been reversed, so that 'whistling up a wind' will produce nothing: 'If he thinks that I am going to take him back after what he has done to me, he is whistling up the wind.'
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Post by ARENA on Jul 21, 2017 8:50:50 GMT
Can anyone quess at the origin of the word testify? No googling  |
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Post by ARENA on Jul 22, 2017 8:47:05 GMT
Cockfosters: The name may not sound particularly elegant, but its roots are surprisingly royal. The final stop heading north on the Piccadilly Line (as well as the name of the surrounding suburb), Cockfosters was once the location of Enfield Chase, a royal park home to nearly 8,000 acres and 3,000 deer – as well as to foresters, who protected the park from would-be poachers or woodcutters. The word for the chief forester? Cock forester. The word ‘cockfoster’ was first recorded in 1524, and in 1613, a house, likely the head forester’s lodge, was written down with the same name.
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Post by marispiper on Jul 22, 2017 9:26:58 GMT
Can anyone quess at the origin of the word testify? No googling Well, it seems a bit obvious to think that it it is linked to the verb 'to attest' ie to claim, certify etc. Unless that also has the same odd etymology? |
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Post by ARENA on Jul 22, 2017 9:40:33 GMT
Can anyone quess at the origin of the word testify? No googling Well, it seems a bit obvious to think that it it is linked to the verb 'to attest' ie to claim, certify etc. Unless that also has the same odd etymology? Indeed it is from the same source as attest Both words have their origin in the fact that men were made to swear by their testicles. |
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Post by marispiper on Jul 22, 2017 9:48:55 GMT
What??? I could never attest to that....
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Post by ARENA on Jul 23, 2017 13:19:39 GMT
You would have to clitify.
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Post by marispiper on Jul 23, 2017 16:49:27 GMT
You would have to clitify. I would have to rummage. I've forgotten where it is. |
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Post by ARENA on Jul 29, 2017 21:00:01 GMT
NOVINOPHOBIA.....The fear of running out of wine.
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Post by althea on Aug 6, 2017 14:21:06 GMT
Phobophobia -is the fear of fear itself.
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Post by ARENA on Nov 30, 2017 9:55:33 GMT
Scurrilous (and its much rarer relation scurrile, which has the same meaning) comes from Middle French scurrile. The Middle French word, in turn, comes from the Latin scurrilis, from scurra, which means "buffoon" or "jester." Fittingly, 18th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson defined scurrilous as "using such language as only the licence [sic] of a buffoon could warrant." Qualities traditionally associated with buffoonery—vulgarity, irreverence, and indecorousness—are qualities often invoked by the word scurrilous. Unlike the words of a jester, however, "scurrilous" language of the present day more often intends to seriously harm or slander than to produce a few laughs.
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Post by ARENA on Mar 5, 2018 10:50:27 GMT
RABBLE
Middle Dutch 'rabbelen'
could indicate a pack of animals, a swarm of insects, or a confused collection of things, in addition to a confused or meaningless string of words.
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Post by ARENA on Aug 30, 2018 9:15:51 GMT
The expression the hair of the dog, for an alcoholic drink taken to cure a hangover, is a shortening of ‘a hair of the dog that bit you’. It comes from an old belief that someone bitten by a rabid dog could be cured of rabies by taking a potion containing some of the dog's hair. The correlation suggests that, although alcohol may be to blame for the hangover (as the dog is for the attack), a smaller portion of the same will, paradoxically, act as a cure. There is, it should be added, no scientific evidence that the cure for either a hangover or rabies actually works.
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Post by althea on Aug 30, 2018 10:24:21 GMT
I think that idea is the foundation of Homeopathy. It doesn't work either.
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Post by althea on Aug 8, 2019 18:31:33 GMT
I came across some rarely used words recently.
One expression I particularly like is croochie-proodles. It is scottish and means discomfort due to being in a cramped position. (Unless anyone else knows better.)
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