http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php en dave@wordorigins.org Copyright 2009 2009-06-29T14:22:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/welcome_to_wordoriginsorg/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/welcome_to_wordoriginsorg/#When:21:22:00Z Wordorigins.org is devoted to the origins of words and phrases, or as a linguist would put it, to etymology. Etymology is the study of word origins. (It is not the study of insects; that is entomology.) Where words come from is a fascinating subject, full of folklore and historical lessons. Often, popular tales of a word’s origin arise. Sometimes these are true; more often they are not. While it can be disappointing when a neat little tale turns out to be untrue, almost invariably the true origin is just as interesting. About Wordorigins.org 2009-06-03T21:22:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/word_myths_by_david_wilton/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/word_myths_by_david_wilton/#When:21:19:00Z Wilton, D. (2004). Word myths: debunking linguistic urban legends. New York, Oxford University Press. The paperback version of Word Myths is available. Or click here if you want the hardcover version. Did you ever think that Ring Around The Rosie makes reference to the Black Death of the Middle Ages? Or that the whole nine yards refers to the length of a machinegun ammo belt? Or perhaps that Eskimos have 500 words for snow? If so, then you have been taken in by a linguistic urban legend. Like classic urban legends, these linguistic legends are popular and pervasive. Instead of propagating cautionary tales about the dangers of modern life, linguistic urban folklore propagates stories and “facts” about language. About Wordorigins.org, General Language References 2009-06-03T21:19:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/astronomy_astrophotography/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/astronomy_astrophotography/#When:14:26:00Z This has nothing to do with word origins or language, but I am also an amateur astronomer and just getting started with serious astrophotography. Several friends have asked that I post some of my astrophotographs to the web, so I’ve added a section to the website to do just that. I’ll also probably add occasional blog posts on what works and doesn’t work about my photography of the night skies. Bear in mind that I’m still pretty new at this and am refining my techniques, so most of these images are flawed in one way or another. But I’m learning. Astronomy 2008-07-20T14:26:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/more_on_language_and_thought/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/more_on_language_and_thought/#When:14:22:00Z Lera Boroditsky of Stanford University discusses the question of ”how does our language shape the way we think?” The Harmless Drudge 2009-06-29T14:22:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/jupiter_neptune/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/jupiter_neptune/#When:19:04:00Z This isn’t the greatest of images, but it does show a conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune. Neptune is the dot near the top of the frame. The moon below Jupiter is Europa, the one close in above Jupiter is Io, and the one above and somewhat more distant is Calisto. Jupiter is way overexposed in order to show its moons and Neptune, so there is no surface detail. This wasn’t a planned shot; at the end of the night I just snapped away in hopes I might get something. Shot 27 June 2009; Fremont Peak State Park, California; ISO 800, 7 images of various exposures—each less than a second, f/5.2, Canon EOS 5D & Televue NP127is. Calibration, alignment, & stacking with Images Plus 3.0; other post-processing with Photoshop CS4. Astronomy 2009-06-28T19:04:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/m16_eagle_nebula/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/m16_eagle_nebula/#When:22:32:00Z Emission nebula in Serpens Cauda: M16 (NGC 6611). Distance is approximately 7,000 light-years. Shot 26-27 June 2009; Fremont Peak State Park, California; ISO 800, Exp 2 hrs, 25 min (58x2.5m), f/5.2, Canon EOS 5D & Televue NP127is. Calibration, alignment, & stacking with Images Plus 3.0; other post-processing with Photoshop CS4. M16 is, perhaps, the most famous deep-sky object, thanks to this image, which is one of the most famous photos ever taken: Of course this was taken by NASA/ESA using the Hubble Space Telescope. Their equipment is a bit better than mine. Astronomy 2009-06-27T22:32:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/success_of_fail/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/success_of_fail/#When:14:56:00Z Mark Peters over at Good has a blog post on the current ubiquity of fail. (He doesn’t like it, but respects its success.) The Harmless Drudge 2009-06-26T14:56:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/oed_update_june_2009/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/oed_update_june_2009/#When:16:57:00Z This month the Oxford English Dictionary released its quarterly update, covering the range from rean to recyclist. This material was originally published in 1904 under the editorship of William Craigie. Along with the revised entries, several new words have been added. These include: bailout, n.2, the rescue of a financial institution car-booter, n., a British term for someone who attends car-boot (car trunk to us Yanks) sales rechallenge, n. and v., a return challenge, to challenge someone who has challenged you turducken, n., a culinary delight consisting of a boned chicken stuffed inside a boned duck, which in turn is stuffed inside a turkey. The Harmless Drudge 2009-06-24T16:57:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/antedating_of_ms/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/antedating_of_ms/#When:14:15:00Z Ben Zimmer in his Word Routes blog has the story behind finding the earliest known use of the form of address Ms. The Harmless Drudge 2009-06-24T14:15:00-08:00 http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/mckeans_law_entraps_buchanan/ http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/mckeans_law_entraps_buchanan/#When:14:35:00Z McKean’s Law (also known as Gaudere’s Law or jocularly as Muphry’s Law) states, “if you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.” This past weekend this law was succinctly and humorously demonstrated by Pat Buchanan criticizing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for her attempts to improve her English as a young student at a meeting of an anti-immigration group while standing underneath a banner that read, “2009 National Conferenece.” Those who advocate for English as a national language of the United States are, at best, ignorant of the facts about immigration and language acquisition and, at worst, are racist. And never mind the hypocrisy in Buchanan’s argument. He wants everyone to speak English, but when a woman (American-born, not even an immigrant) who has grown up in a Spanish-speaking household in New York wishes to improve her English skills, he derides her attempts to do so.  The Harmless Drudge 2009-06-23T14:35:00-08:00