{"id":31924,"date":"2018-09-10T18:41:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T02:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sparselysageandtimely.com\/blog\/?p=31924"},"modified":"2023-12-18T19:55:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T03:55:45","slug":"what-does-this-line-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/?p=31924","title":{"rendered":"What does this line mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caveat lectorem:<\/b> Some readers have asked to receive an email alert with a link to new postings on this blog. Thank you. The link is created the moment a posting goes online. Readers who find their way here through that link can see an updated version by simply clicking on the headline above the posting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A line of wild turkeys advances on Mitchell cabin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This week’s posting mostly concerns the unrecognized origins of everyday words<\/strong>. But it will be pun-tuated by lines of animals. My authority is the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins<\/em>. Computer techie Keith Mathews gave me his copy when he moved from Point Reyes Station to Augusta 11 years ago.<\/p>\n

Let’s start with “hobnob.<\/strong>” Although it sounds like slang, it’s actually “a word of impeccable ancestry,” according to the dictionary. It first showed up at the time of Chaucer as habnab<\/em>, meaning “to have and have not.” The word originated in the 14th Century as a term for “the social practice of alternating in the buying of drinks.” Eventually it came to mean having social exchanges with someone.<\/p>\n

Or how about “boondocks?”<\/strong> After all, don’t we West Mariners live in them? “Boondocks” comes from the Tagalog word bandok, <\/em>meaning “mountains.” <\/em>During their occupation of the Philippines in World War II, US servicemen picked up the word and used it as a general term for “rough back country.” In time, “the boondocks” came to mean “the sticks.”<\/p>\n

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Deer tend to approximate a line when crossing fields while grazing. If one of them is alarmed by something, it inevitably alerts the rest<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Most Americans who use the word “ramshackle” know nothing of its origin. <\/strong>As the dictionary notes, it comes to us straight from Iceland, where the word is ramskakkr<\/em>, meaning “badly twisted.” In English that term came to mean “about to fall to pieces.”<\/p>\n

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Horses in the field seem to line up only when walking on a trail in rough terrain<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Canada<\/strong>. My mother was a Canadian immigrant, but I never knew the origin of the name Canada<\/em> until I read the Morris Dictionary<\/em>: “According to the best authority, canada<\/em> was originally a word in the Huron-Iroquois language meaning ‘a collection of lodges.'” The French explorer Jacques Cartier coined Canada<\/em> when he wrote in 1535 that he had talked with an Indian chief who waved his arms about when he said kanata<\/em>, apparently referring to all the land in the region. In fact, the chief was merely referring to a nearby village. But mistakes happen.<\/p>\n

Corduroy<\/strong> is an especially sturdy fabric, which is one reason I usually wear cords. But despite its workhorse connotation in English, the word originated in French as corde du roi<\/em>, meaning “cord fit for the king.” In fact, corde du roi<\/em> was once used exclusively by kings as part of their hunting regalia. Quant \u00e0\u00a0 moi, je suis ce que je suis, <\/em>as Popeye says when in Paris.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caveat lectorem: Some readers have asked to receive an email alert with a link to new postings on this blog. Thank you. The link is created the moment a posting goes online. Readers who find their way here through that link can see an updated version by simply clicking on the headline above the posting. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-personal","category-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31924"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40549,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31924\/revisions\/40549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}