Shan’t.
On the morrow.
Fiddlesticks.
Old bean.
Tarnation.
Sup.
I’d like to bring these words and phrases back into common usage. What would you bring back?
The Oxford English Dictionary entries for “fun” trace the word back to 1699, where it appears in B.E. Gent’s A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew, a first-edition slang dictionary. You can read the entire book here.
The book’s long subtitle indicates its late-17th-century whimsy:
"in its several Tribes, of Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves &c, with an addition of some Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c., Useful for all sorts of people (especially Foreigners) to secure their Money and preserve their Lives; besides very Diverting and Entertaining, being wholly New."
What’s the entry for “fun” look like?
"Fun, c. a Cheat, or slippery Trick; also an Arse. What do you fun me? Do you think to Sharp or Trick me? I'll kick your Fun, c. I'll Kick your Arse. He put the Fun upon the Cull, c. he sharp'd the Fellow. I Funnd him, c. I was too hard for him, I out-witted or rook'd him."
Whoever talks nowadays about harmless fun is putting a spin on the word. Right from the start, the idea of fun has included an element of danger, of trickery, of assing around, of wits, of subversion.
diphthong, asymptote, … ?
September 16th, 2012 | Posted by in Humor and Fun | Questions - (8 Comments)What other words can you get away with saying in middle school?
Let’s build a collection.
The Oddity of the Feminine Cucumber
June 27th, 2012 | Posted by in Irregular Dictionary | Sex and Gender | Uncategorized - (1 Comments)My wife’s immune system, currently AWOL, demands vigilant precaution. To prevent infection, we’ve banned a multi-use bar of bath soap and replaced it with body wash. When picking Dove’s Cucumber body wash up at the grocery store, I was amused to see a bonus bottle attached: an extra “Men’s” wash set apart from the girly cucumber stuff. Why do body washes have genders? And why is cucumber wash feminine in our culture? After all, the squash is so darned… long. If there’s any veggie one might consider masculine, wouldn’t it be the cuke? Not in American society; even the little wee bottle of “Men’s” wash is masculine by comparison.
The feminine cucumber is unusual cross-culturally, even within the European seedbed of gendered nouns from which American language grew. Only the German Salatgurke is feminine. The French concombre, the Spanish pepino, the Italian cetriolo, the Russian ogurets, and the Latin cucumis or cucumeris are all masculine words.
When you think of the cucumber, do you associate it with masculinity, with femininity, or with neither? Why?
Steve King’s Fractured English Language Acts
December 4th, 2011 | Posted by in Legislation | Politics | Republicans - (1 Comments)In the 112th Congress, Republican Representative Steve King of Iowa has introduced the English Language Unity Act (H.R. 997) in order to “unify” the country by requiring that English be used in official business. There’s already a unifying document out there called the United States Constitution, and it says that people should be allowed to speak the way they want to, but Steve King would like to push freedom aside to introduce government regulation of the words you’re officially allowed to use. It’s a breathtaking proposal from a man who describes himself as a proponent of “limited government.” It’s also a curious move given Steve King’s poor personal command of English:
“That’s I got the first start on what it was like and how important it was to learn English.” — September 12, 2011
“And I congratulate the President of the United States for issuing the order and making the decision to go into that compound in the fashion that they did.” — May 5, 2011
“The talk much was about how becoming an American and being an American was a gift.” — September 12, 2011
“I would make the point that the leader and the Speaker have established their integrity and their mendacity for years in this Congress, and I don’t believe it can be effectively challenged, and those who do so actually cast aspersions on themselves for making wild accusations.” — January 6, 2011
“When they do that, they foreclose many of their own opportunity.” — September 12, 2011
“The corporations that collect taxes don’t pay them; they transfer it through them by the way they charge us for the $152 billion a year that it costs to comply with the Federal Tax Code.” — November 18, 2011
Why doesn’t Steve King bring his own English into conformity before he goes about trying to enforce conformity on the rest of us?
You’re One Sick Piglet. Let’s Get this Kitten in Gear!
September 24th, 2011 | Posted by in Questions - (0 Comments)Did you ever notice the use of “puppy” and “baby” as a stand-in generic nouns in our everyday speech? Look at that baby go, we say as a particularly fast car shoots past. You’re one sick puppy, we declare to the lampshade wearer of the party. Why isn’t it a sick piglet or a sick kitten? Why don’t we say it’s time to get that toddler in gear?
Sick piglet really rolls off the tongue. It’d make a great band name.
One Country One Flag One Language – The KKK Code In The 2012 Presidential Election
August 16th, 2011 | Posted by in Election 2012 | Politics | Republicans - (7 Comments)Mitt Romney declares that, “English needs to be the language that is spoken in America. We cannot be a bilingual nation like Canada.”
Rick Santorum votes for a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, declaring that “the flag of the US is a unique symbol of national unity”. Thaddeus McCotter not only votes for legislation to ban flag burning, he one-ups Santorum by afterwards playing an electric guitar with an American flag pasted on to it.
“We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,” says Newt Gingrich. Defending his legislation to ban flag burning, Gingrich lectures that “The values of absolute freedom are values destructive” to democracy.
Michele Bachmann harumphs that “We’re losing our country. People are not assimilating themselves to America. They’re not speaking English, and you must speak it if you want to succeed here in this country.”
The common thread uniting these comments is found on this coin.
It’s a coin minted by the Ku Klux Klan. It’s an expression of White Nationalism, which has found its way into the politics of Republican presidential campaigns in the past, and will surely find its way into the Republican presidential campaigns of 2012.
They tell us that there’s one real America, a traditional America – and that America speaks English and honors the flag. One Country One Flag One Language – that’s the KKK motto that fits the Republican playbook to a T.
As seen on this coin, the KKK also loved to throw in love for the Bible into their racist campaigns, just as current Republican candidates, love to speak of Christianity a requirement for political office.
The KKK loved to promote itself through codes of the sort seen on this coin. AKIA stands for A Klansman I Am. OSFK stands for One School Flag Kountry.
The Republican presidential candidates are working with consultants who know how to throw around KKK codes with the best of them. Republican speeches will defend the flag, promote the English language, and rally around the Bible – and the message will be clearly received.
English-Speaking Government In North America 404 Years Old
May 14th, 2011 | Posted by in Homeland Insecurity - (2 Comments)404 years ago today, the first permanent English colony in North America was established at a desperate little fort called Jamestown in what is now Virginia. Government run by predominantly English-speaking people has been in North America ever since, though, throughout that time, there have always been large numbers of non-English languages spoken by large numbers of people.
The largest ethnic group in the United States is now people of German ancestry. So, what’s the point of legislation that demands that the government of the United States of America operates in English only?
Are the English speakers still battling against Powhatan?
