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From Samuel Cameron:
Unfortunately, while this story sounds interesting, there are no examples of the phrase gild the lily in the written record prior to Shakespeare, who actually wrote "to gild refined gold, to paint the lily; to throw perfume on the violet...". We don't have record of "gild the lily" until the 1920s. |
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From Gregory Key:
Very interesting! |
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From Keith Redo:
Unfortunately, there are no extant forms of f*ck with a p or a g. The word turns up in its current form in the early Middle English period. However, some etymologists do connect it with pugilism and pugnacious, because what are thought to be Germanic relative words have an original meaning of "to hit" or "to strike". While there is an obscure verb pug meaning "to punch" there is no record of it before 1800. The Indo-European root would be, interestingly, *peuk- "to prick". |
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From Bruce Yanoshek:
That was very thoughtful of you. We received it while Melanie was recuperating from the awful virus that we mentioned in our newsletter a few weeks ago, and while we were still in the midst of unpacking from a trying move to a new house. Anyhow, we're convinced that your letter, along with those from other supportive readers, sped Melanie on to a full recovery and gave us the energy we needed to get unpacked enough to find our etymology library and finally get a new issue published. Thanks to you and all of our readers who wrote to wish us well during that difficult time! |
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From Dan Ward:
Unfortunately, all that we learned from your letter is that your office is of the opinion that the whole nine yards refers to nine yards of fabric used to make three piece suits in 19th century England. You've presented us with no proof. Pure opinion does not an accurate etymology make. Moreover, this expression is uniquely American and is quite unknown in Britain. Also, nine yards is an awful lot of cloth. How many additional pairs of pants went with this amazing suit? We'll revisit this one soon (right now there is a very old discussion of the phrase in our Archives). |
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From Ignatius Lam:
Not at all. Our back issues are all still available. Instead of linking to one document containing all five columns of each issue (Spotlight, Words to the Wise, Curmudgeons' Corner, Sez You..., and Laughing Stock), we now link to five separate pages. The links are now on the right side of each back issue box - see below:
The underlined words on the right are all linked to the applicable page. You can even click on the example above to test it. You might remember that in issues before 110, the "Issue X" in the upper left of the box (in this case "Issue 117") was the hyperlink. |
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From Peter Macinnis:
(That from Issue 118.) That one only works if you're non-rhotic (that is, you don't pronounce your r's before consonants), such as native speakers from much of Great Britain, New Zealand, and your home, Peter, Australia. Made Mike (the non-rhotic one of us) laugh! However, as professional smart-alecks, we must point out that "The Marie Celeste" was the title of a short story by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle. The actual vessel on which the story was based was the Mary Celeste. We can't help wondering which one made the most noise. |
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From Shawn
Gamaldi:
Thanks for that information, Shawn. It was worth every penny! (Or is that both pennies?) |
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© 1995-2001 TIERE
Last Updated 08/18/01 06:56 PM