ElizaD - 26 April 2007 01:58 PM

To attempt an explanation, in other words, would be a sleeveless errand. And bootless to boot.

Except that we kind of expect round here to understand what a post is all about and hence what relevance it has, and to be able to get an explanation if we don’t. If Thews’s joke meant nothing at all, what was the point of posting both that and the equally confusing Chomsky reference?

Quite so, eliza, and I agree. Just couldn’t resist the pun.

I wonder if I ought to tell them about my previous life as a complete stranger?

It seems to me that Thews is continuing in a Wordorigins tradition of occasional random foolishness, and should be judged no more harshly than others who so indulge.

Mmmmm gooseberry fool. Never heard of it until I went to GB, but reason enough to make the trip!

shmegege - 26 April 2007 01:45 PM

lionello - 26 April 2007 10:11 AM

the English Channel is, in fact, called in Spanish “El canal de la mancha” --- don’t know why; “sleeve” is in Spanish “manga”, as Thews points out (it may once have been “mancha” --- who knows?). I don’t think it’s anything to do with the “La Mancha” of Don Quijote,either. That La Mancha is nowhere near the sea.

On an interesting side note, the meaning of ‘mancha’ or ‘manxa’ is something like ‘no water’.  About 18,000 or so years ago, the Channel was a full land bridge between what are now England and France, and so there was no water in the region.  Of course I don’t mean to suggest that there might be a link (pun intended) here, but intriguing nonetheless.

Guess I should read the full thread a little more carefully next time!  I see the Spanish meaning has been mentioned above.  Silly Shmegege.

I don’t think there were many Spanish-speaking punters around 18,000 years ago in what is now Spain - various lingos have come and gone in the meantime!

In French, a ‘manche’ is indeed a sleeve but also used to apply to an arm of sea:

MANCHE en Géographie, se dit d’Un canal, d’un espace étroit de mer renfermé entre deux terres. La manche de Bristol. La manche de Tartarie. Etc.

(Translation would be: MANCHE in geography, concerning a canal, a narrow width of sea enclosed by two land masses. “The Bristol Channel”, “the Tartar Channel”, etc)

Definition from ‘Dictionnaire d’autrefois’:
Manche, p.391

It seems to me that Thews is continuing in a Wordorigins tradition of occasional random foolishness, and should be judged no more harshly than others who so indulge.

Which, in time-honoured Wordorigins tradition, he has been.

BlackGrey -

I don’t think there were many Spanish-speaking punters around 18,000 years ago in what is now Spain - various lingos have come and gone in the meantime!

Wasn’t suggesting for a minute that this was the case; thanks for the input all the same.

Sorry shmegege! I should have read your whole message properly.

Anyway, the way global warming is going, it could be that the Sleeve will begin to mean ‘sleeve of land’ in the next few decennia if the Gulf Stream gets turned off....

the meaning of ‘mancha’ or ‘manxa’ is something like ‘no water’.

Where are you getting this from?