Category Archives: Word Soup

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How to Talk Like Jane Austen

A better guide

A better guide, by shawnzrossi

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by shawnzrossi]

Today is Talk Like Jane Austen Day, an annual celebration of the publication of Austen’s novel, Sense and Sensibility, which while “not the first novel she wrote,” was the first she published.

How does one talk like Jane Austen? Here are 10 Austenite words to get you started.

baseball

“It was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, baseball, riding on horseback, and running about the country at the age of fourteen, to books–or at least books of information–for, provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all.”

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, 1817

First up, a debunking. There are claims that Austen wrote about baseball decades before the official invention of the American pastime. However, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term baseball may refer to “any of various related games played with a ball and (usually) a bat, in which a player strikes the ball with the bat or the hand and attempts to run to one or more bases to score point,” and not necessarily American baseball. Furthermore, there were several earlier mentions of the word, starting from 1748.

catch (someone’s) eye

“‘What do you mean?’ and turning around he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said, ‘She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.'”

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813

To catch someone’s eye means to “to attract and fix; arrest.” According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the first recorded usage of this phrase was in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Eye-catcher, “an object or person that seizes the attention,” is attested to 1923, while eye-catching, “visually attractive,” is from 1933.

chaperon

“I am sure I shall be very happy to chaperon you at any time till I am confined, if Mrs Dashwood should not like to go into public.”

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, 1811

Chaperon means “to act as chaperon to or for,” or to accompany. Austen’s was the first recorded “verbing” of the noun form of this word, “a person, especially an older or married woman, who accompanies a young unmarried woman in public,” or “an older person who attends and supervises a social gathering for young people.”

Chaperon originally referred to “a hood or cap worn by the Knights of the Garter when in full dress,” or “a name given to hoods of various shapes at different times,” and came to mean “one who accompanies” based on the idea that the older woman or person shelters the younger one like a hood, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

coddle

“Be satisfied with doctoring and coddling yourself and the children, and let me look as I choose.”

Jane Austen, Emma: A Novel, 1815

An earlier meaning for coddle is “to boil gently; seethe; stew, as fruit,” probably ultimately coming from the Latin calidium, “warm drink, warm wine and water.” The verb sense of “treat[ing] tenderly as an invalid; humor; pamper” was first recorded in Austen’s Emma. Mollycoddle, “to be overprotective and indulgent toward,” is newer, attested to 1870, with molly “used contemptuously since 1754 for ‘a milksop, an effeminate man.’”

Collins

“Coming down, she found a letter from Mr Pinckney. It had been forwarded by her grandmother from Ravenel and was dated at Wheeling. A ‘bread-and-butter’ letter – the English call it a Collins, after the respectable gentleman so named in one of Jane Austen’s novels.”

Frederic Jesup Stimson, In Cure of Her Soul, 1906

A bread-and-butter letter is “a short, hand-written communication to thank someone who has recently provided you with hospitality, usually dinner or an overnight visit,” where bread and butter refers to “hospitality in general.”

According to World Wide Words, the Collins letter is “a literary joke based on William Collins, an elaborately polite character” in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813: “The promised letter of thanks from Mr. Collins arrived on Tuesday, addressed to their father, and written with all the solemnity of gratitude which a twelvemonth’s abode in the family might have prompted.”

coze

“Miss Crawford appeared gratified by the application, and after a moment’s thought, urged Fanny’s returning with her in a much more cordial manner than before, and proposed their going up into her room, where they might have a comfortable coze, without disturbing Dr. and Mrs. Grant, who were together in the drawing-room.”

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814

Coze refers to “anything snug, comfortable, or cozy; specifically, a cozy conversation, or tête-à-tête.” The word made its first recorded appearance in Austen’s Mansfield Park, and was formed by associating, according to the OED, cozy, which originated around 1709, and the French causer, to talk.

itty

“I flatter myself that itty Dordy will not forget me at least under a week.”

Jane Austen, The Novels and Letters of Jane Austen, Volume 11, 1798

Itty, baby talk for something small, made its first appearance in a letter from Austen. Related are itty-bitty (1855) and itsy-bitsy (1890).

Janeite

“The term ‘Janeite’ was coined in 1894 in George Saintsbury’s preface to ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ and Rudyard Kipling wrote a story called ‘The Janeites’ in 1924, about World War I soldiers who get through the ugliness of trench warfare through their shared love of Austen’s novels.”

Rebecca Traister, “I Dream of Darcy,” Salon, June 27, 2007

A Janeite is a fan of Jane Austen and her writings. Other fan words include Trekker, Trekkie, shipper, Browncoat, and x phile.

sympathizer

“Mrs Weston, who seemed to have walked there on purpose to be tired, and sit all the time with him, remained, when all the others were invited or persuaded out, his patient listener and sympathizer.”

Jane Austen, Emma: A Novel, 1815

A sympathizer is “one who sympathizes with or feels for another; one who feels sympathy,” and is formed from the verb sympathize. Sympathizer’s first recorded usage is in Austen’s Emma, and has come to especially refer to “one disposed to agree with or approve a party, cause, etc.; a backer-up,” according to the OED.

tittuppy

“Did you ever see such a little tittuppy thing in your life? There is not a sound piece of iron about it.”

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, 1817

Tituppy, sometimes tittupy, means “lively; prancing; high-stepping,” or “shaky; unsteady; ticklish.” Its first recorded usage is in Austen’s Northanger Abbey, and comes from tittup, “to move in a lively, capering manner; prance,” or “a lively, capering manner of moving or walking; a prance.” Tittup may be “imitative of the sound of a horse’s hooves.”

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Word Soup Wednesday: Pokemoning, Butt Chugging, Spatter

Welcome to Word Soup Wednesday, in which we bring you our favorite strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from TV.

Bildenkinder

Jim: “Did you ever think that because you own the building, everyone in it – we’re all kind of like your children.”
Dwight: “You know, there’s a phrase about that in German: Bildenkinder. Used almost exclusively by childless landlords to console themselves.”

“Work Bus,” The Office, October 18, 2012

Bildenkinder is a nonsense German word which translates as “formation (Bilden) children (Kinder).” See also perfektenschlage.

brick

Jimmy: “Thanks Jen, you’re a brick.”

“Maybe a Baby,” Call the Midwife, October 14, 2012

Brick is a “a term of admiration bestowed on one who on occasion or habitually shows in a modest way great or unexpected courage, kindness, or thoughtfulness, or other admirable qualities.” This sense is from 1840, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, perhaps from the idea of a brick being solid and reliable.

bush league

Vinny [to Castle]: “Frankly, I am offended that you’d think I’d do such a bush league hit. If I had whacked that guy, nobody’d ever find the body.”

“Murder, He Wrote,” Castle, October 15, 2012

Bush league refers to something amateurish or inferior. It originally referred to the minor league in baseball, from “bush in the slang sense of ‘rural, provincial.’”

butt chugging

Attorney: “I swear to each and every one of you, that every allegation of the gross and immoral activity of butt chugging or alcohol enemas never took place at the Pi Kappa Alpha house.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, October 16, 2012

Butt chugging is “the act of ingesting alcohol through one’s rectum.” The earliest citation we could find was in a May 12, 2010 post in Gawker: “We’ve heard it called ‘boofing,’ ‘slimming,’ and most descriptively, ‘butt-chugging.’”

Chug is short for chugalug, “to swallow the contents of (a container of beer, for example) without pausing,” which came about in the 1940s, says Online Etymology Dictionary, “probably imitative of the sound of swallowing.”

copperhead

Kevin: “You knew about an attack on New York and haven’t made a report to the proper authorities.”
Robert: “Who would I tell? The mayor? Governor Seymour? The editor of the New York Daily News? They’re all copperheads.”

“Better Times Are Coming,” Copper, October 7, 2012

Copperhead is a term used “during the civil war in the United States [for] a northern sympathizer with the rebellion.” It comes from the idea of the copperhead snake which “unlike the rattlesnake, has the habit of striking without previous movement or warning, whence its name is a synonym of hidden danger or secret hostility.”

detective-speak

Woman: “I should really go clean.”
Kevin: “See, in detective-speak you just said, ‘Yes, Jeremiah did know her.’”

“Better Times Are Coming,” Copper, October 7, 2012

Anachronism alert! Speak as a suffix meaning “language, jargon, or terminology” didn’t originate until 1949, says the Oxford English Dictionary, coming from George Orwell’s Newspeak. Copper takes place in 1864.

pokemoning

Jack: “I’m Great Escaping you so you have every right to do the same.”
Zarina: “My generation calls it pokemoning. Gotta catch ‘em all.”

“Stride of Pride,” 30 Rock, October 18, 2012

Great Escaping means having a ragtag group of lovers, like the characters in the film, The Great Escape. Pokemoning has the same meaning, based on a goal of the video game Pokemon to collect “all of the available Pokémon species found in the fictional region where that game takes place.”

sex-idiot

Jack: “Zarina is the society girl I take to black tie events. When I want to talk politics, I call Ann. Tabitha knows how to work my DVR. And Mindy is my sex-idiot.”

“Stride of Pride,” 30 Rock, October 18, 2012

A sex-idiot is an intellectually challenged yet attractive person used for the sole purpose of having sex. See also bimbo and mimbo.

spatter

George: “He’s not a cop. He’s a lab rat. Blood splatter.”
Sirko: “It’s spatter. Blood spatter.”

“Run,” Dexter, October 21, 2012

The difference between spatter and splatter, says the Grammarist, is that spatter means “to scatter or dash (a liquid) in small drops,” while splatter “doesn’t necessarily involve small drops,” and “might be large and messy.”

Spatter is older, originating in the 1570s and perhaps coming from the Low German spatten, “to spout, burst.” Splatter came about around 1754, perhaps from splatterdash, “an uproar; a bustle,” or as a blend of splash and spatter.

Blood spatter analysis or bloodstain pattern analysis is a forensic tool “used in crime scene investigations” which helps the investigator understand “the dynamics of an altercation, how blood behaves when it exits the body, and how it reacts when it contacts a surface.”

stump speech

Handler to Congressman: “Just run through some of your stump speech.”

“Sex Education,” Parks and Recreation, October 18, 2012

A stump speech is “a standard speech used by a politician running for office.” The phrase originated around 1820, says Online Etymology Dictionary, from the idea of “large tree stumps being a natural perch for rural orators,” a custom attested from 1775. Stump as a verb meaning “to go about making political speeches” came from stump speech.

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Word Soup Wednesday: Dixiecrat, Etch a Sketch, zinger

Welcome to Word Soup Wednesday, in which we bring you some strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, and just about anything else on TV.

This week’s roundup includes two anachronisms.

beat the Dutch

Andrew: “Now don’t that beat the Dutch.”

“The Hudson River School,” Copper, September 20, 2012

To beat the Dutch means “to surpass everything,” or “say [or do] something incredible.” The idiom originated around 1775, says the OED.

The origin is unclear but, according to this publication from 1887, the phrase may come from the idea of “a fancied superiority of the English settlers in wit and quickness,” and is “in fact, a good-natured way of making fun of the descendants of the Dutch colonists,” though one may question the “good-naturedness” of such a phrase.

boot

Ron: “If you need to boot again, trash can’s on your right.”

“Soda Tax,” Parks and Recreation, September 27, 2012

Boot is slang for “vomit.” Boot and rally means “to vomit (‘boot’) due to over-consumption of alcohol, and then continue partying (‘rally’).” This phrase seems to have originated in the late 1980s as campus slang.

critical mass

Lisa [regarding a black hole]: “If one more thing gets in there, it could reach critical mass!”

“Treehouse of Horror XXIII,” The Simpsons, October 7, 2012

Critical mass in this context refers to “the amount of matter needed to generate sufficient gravitational force to halt the current expansion of the universe,” and is attested to 1940. Critical Mass is also a cycling event.

Dixiecrat

Leslie: “Councilman Milton was first elected as a city councilor in 1948 as a member of the Dixiecrat party. Their platform? De-integrate baseball.”

“How a Bill Becomes a Law,” Parks and Recreation, October 4, 2012

A Dixiecrat is “a member of a dissenting group of Democrats in the South who formed the States’ Rights Party in 1948.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Dixiecrats seceded “because they opposed [the Democratic party’s] policy of extending civil rights.”

The word is a blend of Dixie, “a region of the southern and eastern United States, usually comprising the states that joined the Confederacy during the Civil War,” and Democrat.

dog’s bollocks

Owen: “Aren’t you the dog’s bollocks?”
Roland: “Is that a good thing?”

“Blue Bell Boy,” Boardwalk Empire, October 7, 2012

Anachronism alert! While bollocks meaning “nonsense” originated in 1919, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, the first recorded use of dog’s bollocks, meaning “the very best,” wasn’t until the mid to late 1980s. Dog’s bollocks referring to, in typography, “a colon followed by a dash” (said to resemble the male sexual organs) is attested to 1949, according to the OED.

Dog’s bollocks meaning “the best” is a play on similar terms from the 1920s, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, such as the bee’s knees, the cat’s pajamas, and the cat’s meow.

drygulch

Jake: “He drygulched me.”
Al Capone: “He hit you when you wasn’t looking?”

“Blue Bell Boy,” Boardwalk Empire, October 7, 2012

Another anachronism! Drygulch, which means “to murder; to attack, assault, especially in an ambush,” didn’t come about until 1930, according to The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang, almost 10 years after this episode takes place.

The origin of the word is uncertain. It may come from the idea of the ambusher hiding in a dry gulch or ravine and jumping out a passerby, or perhaps from the idea of being taken by surprise by a flash flood caused by heavy rain filling a dry ravine.

DWB

Larry Wilmore: “Racism works best in person. Distrust but verified.”
Jon Stewart: “Like a cop pulling you over for a DWB.”
Larry: “I’m sorry, what’s that, Jon?”
Jon: “A DWB, you know. . .Driving While Black.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, October 2, 2012

DWB, or driving while black, “refers to the racial profiling of black drivers.” The phrase is a play on DWI, “driving while intoxicated,” and originated in 1990 in a New York Times article, says the OED.

Etch A Sketch

News commentator: “Mitt Romney presented us with the ultimate Etch A Sketch behavior last night.”

The Colbert Report, October 4, 2012

An Etch A Sketch is a drawing toy which one merely shakes to erase. Mitt Romney’s behavior is described as Etch a Sketch due to his tendency to express opinions that are contradictory to his opinions in the past.

Romney was first likened to the toy by his own senior campaign adviser, Eric Fehrnstrom: “[Romney’s campaign is] like Etch A Sketch. You can shake it up and we start all over again.”

menstruation

Nun: “Monthly time.”
Margaret: “You are at odds with menstruation?”
Dr. Mason: “It’s good Latin.”
Nun: “A regrettable neologism.”

“Blue Bell Boy,” Boardwalk Empire, October 7, 2012

Menstruation was actually not a neologism during the time of this episode, the early 1920s, but originated in the 1680s. Regarding another “problematical” word, pregnant, the sister had this suggestion: “Gravid has a noble ring.” Gravid comes from the Latin gravis, “heavy.”

pip and a half

George’s boss: “I gotta say, you’re a pip and a half.”

“Bone for Tuna,” Boardwalk Empire, September 30, 2012

You’re a pip is a British idiom that means, depending on the context, You’re a sweetheart, a pain in the neck, or a real character, according to a commenter on this Word Detective post on pip. A pip and a half is, presumably, even more so of a character.

If anyone has any additional information on this expression, please let us know.

Seelengut

Nick: “It’s interesting finding a Blutbad leading a flock of – ”
Pastor: “Seelenguten, Detective.”

“The Good Shepherd,” Grimm, September 28, 2012

Seelengut, a sheep-like creature that can take on human form, translates from the German as “good soul.” A blutbad is a werewolf type creature and translates from the German as “blood bath.”

straw poll

Leslie: “Let’s take a quick straw poll. Hold up green if you agree and red if you disagree.”

“Soda Tax,” Parks and Recreation, September 27, 2012

A straw poll is a casual or ad hoc survey. The phrase originated originated around 1932, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, as did straw ballot. Older is straw vote, which came about in 1866 and, according to William Safire et al, “may allude to a straw (thin plant stalk) held up to see in what direction the wind blows, in this case, the wind of group opinion.”

white horse

Maw Maw: “By the way, if you’re going with the white horse, I think I can get that for you. We’re talking about heroin, right?”

“Not Indecent, But Not Quite Decent Enough Proposal,” Raising Hope, October 2, 2012

White horse, or horse, is slang for heroin or cocaine. Horse referring to heroin originated around 1950. The word heroin originated in 1898 from the German Heroin, a trademark “registered by Friedrich Bayer & Co. for their morphine substitute.”

zinger

News announcer: “Mr. Romney’s team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since August.”
Jon Stewart: “You’ve equipped him with zingers. And you know I find the best zingers are the ones you practice for two months.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, October 1, 2012

A zinger is “a witty, often caustic remark.” The word originated around 1970 and was earlier “baseball slang for ‘fastball’ (by 1957).”

That’s it for this week! If you have any additional information on these words, especially the anachronisms, please let us know. And remember, if you see any Word Soup-worthy words, tweet it on Twitter with the hashtag #wordsoup. Your word and Twitter handle might appear right here!

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Word Soup Wednesday: moochacracy, mad as a hatter, take it on the arches

Welcome to Word Soup Wednesday! While the television show The Soup brings you “the strange, obscure and totally unbelievable moments in pop culture, celebrity news and reality TV,” Word Soup brings you those strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, and just about anything else on TV.

bug

Corcoran: “My leg’s been bugging me.”

“La Tempete,” Copper, September 16, 2012

Anachronism alert! While Copper takes place in 1864, bug meaning “to annoy, pester” originated in 1949, says the Online Etymology Dictionary. For more Copper anachronisms see Prochronisms.

bully pulpit

Nucky [to Margaret]: “My name is on that hospital, and it’s not to provide you with a bully pulpit.”

“Resolution,” Boardwalk Empire, September 16, 2012

A bully pulpit is “an advantageous position, as for making one’s views known or rallying support,” and was coined by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1904. (This episode takes place in the 1920s.) More words coined by U.S. presidents.

keen

Eli [showing his son a model airplane]: “Happy two birthdays ago.”
Will: “Pretty keen.”

“Spaghetti & Coffee,” Boardwalk Empire, September 23, 2012

Keen in this context means “great; splendid; fine,” and originated in the early 1900s.

mad as a hatter

Cullen [to Lily]: “Sober as a judge, mad as a hatter.”

“Purged Away With Blood,” Hell on Wheels, September 16, 2012

Mad as a hatter means “demented or crazy,” and originated around 1829, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, “supposedly from erratic behavior caused by prolonged exposure to poison mercuric nitrate, used in making felt hats.”

Mad as March hare is attested from the 1520s, via the “notion of breeding season.” Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with its Mad Hatter hare was published in 1865, the same year this episode takes place.

moochacracy

Jon Stewart: “Or the incredible tax breaks the government gives the investor class, whose money is taxed at a capital gains rate of 15% as opposed to ordinary having-a-job income which can be taxed up to 35%. Boy I wish we had a poster boy for that element of moochacracy. Oh right.” [Cuts to picture of Mitt Romney]

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, September 19, 2012

Moochacracy is a blend of mooch, “to get or try to get something free of charge; sponge,” and –cracy, “rule or government by.” Mooch probably comes from the Old French muchier, “to hide, skulk,” while –cracy comes from the Greek kratos, “strength.” Stewart continues:

In 2010, Governor Romney had an adjusted gross income of $21.6 million yet paid only $3 million in federal income tax, or 13.9%. Without the preferential investor tax code, Romney would have paid $7.56 million – a government subsidy of $4.56 million, or. . . .enough food stamps to feed Mr. Romney through the year 4870.

reboot

Diane Sawyer: “The Romney camp is said to be engineering a reboot.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, September 18, 2012

Reboot means “to turn (a computer or operating system) off and then on again; restart,” and originated in 1971, says the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The noun form originated in 1980.

redistribution

Stephen Colbert: “[Obama] dropped the R-bomb! Redistribution, which is just fancy talk for ‘a black guy is coming for your stuff’! Here’s his vision for America, folks. You pay taxes into a single federal agency that pools it and redistributes it across the country to build roads and bridges, sometimes in states you don’t live in!”

The Colbert Report, September 19, 2012

Redistribution is “an economic theory or policy that advocates reducing inequalities in the distribution of wealth,” and originated around 1825, says the OED.

steamy

Eva: “You look steamy, Kevin. Can’t wait to pull those clothes off you later.”

“La Tempete,” Copper, September 16, 2012

Another anachronism. Steamy meaning “erotic” didn’t come about until 1952, almost 90 years after this episode takes place. Again, for more Copper anachronisms see Prochronisms.

take it on the arches

Woman [to Nelson]: “Take it on the arches!”

“Resolution,” Boardwalk Empire, September 16, 2012

Take it on the arches is “encouragement for one to move along and walk away via one’s foot arches.”

welfare queen

Jon Stewart: “That says nothing about the real parasites, welfare queens. Public assistance is clearly a path to dependency. I would like to see evidence otherwise.”
Video of Mitt Romney’s mother speaking of Romney’s father: “He was a refugee from Mexico. He was on relief-welfare for the first years of his life.”

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, September 18, 2012

Welfare queen is “a pejorative phrase used. . .to describe people who are accused of collecting excessive welfare payments through fraud or manipulation.” The term seems to have first appeared in a 1976 speech by then presidential hopeful Ronald Reagan.

That’s it for this week! Remember, if you see any Word Soup-worthy words, let us know on Twitter with the hashtag #wordsoup. Your word and Twitter handle might appear right here!

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Punctuation Soup

Happy National Punctuation Day!

Where would be without those little dots, dashes, and squiggly lines? You wouldn’t know that we were excited about Punctuation Day, nor would you know that last sentence was a question. But where do these punctuation words come from? We thought we’d take a look at eight of our favorites.

ampersand

“The history of question marks and their ilk turns out to be epic, particularly in the case of the ampersand, whose evolution takes in everything from Julius Caesar to a 17th-century typesetter called Amper (who didn’t actually exist) and even Nazi Germany.”

Johnny Dee, “Internet Picks of the Week,” The Guardian, September 2, 2011

Admirable Ampersands

Admirable Ampersands by Brett Jordan

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by Brett Jordan]

The ampersand – or & – represents the word and. The word originated around 1837, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, and is a “contraction of and per se” and means “(the character) ‘&’ by itself is ‘and’.” Furthermore, “in old schoolbooks the ampersand was printed at the end of the alphabet and thus by 1880s had acquired a slang sense of ‘posterior, rear end, hindquarters.’”

Read more about the history of the ampersand.

chevron

“The arches are almost flat, and decorated with a kind of chevron moulding very rarely met with.”

C. King Eley, Bell’s Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle

The chevron is also known as the guillemet, “either of the punctuation marks ‘«’ or ‘»’, used in several languages to indicate passages of speech,” and is “similar to typical quotation marks used in the English language.”

While guillemet is a diminutive of Guillaume, the name of its supposed inventor, chevron comes from the Old French chevron, “rafter,” due to the symbol’s similarity in appearance. The Old French chevron ultimately comes from the Latin caper, “goat.” The likely connection, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, is the similarity in appearance between rafters and goats’ “angular hind legs.” Chèvre, a type of goat cheese, is related.

colon

“The colon marks the place of transition in a long sentence consisting of many members and involving a logical turn of the thought.”

Frederick W. Hamilton, Punctuation: A Primer of Information about the Marks of Punctuation and their Use Both Grammatically and Typographically

The colon is “a punctuation mark ( : ) used after a word introducing a quotation, an explanation, an example, or a series and often after the salutation of a business letter.” The word comes from the Latin colon, “part of a poem,” which comes from the Greek kolon, which translates literally as “limb.”

Then there’s the semicolon. Ben Dolnick professed his love for the hybrid punctuation mark, despite Kurt Vonnegut pronouncing semicolons “transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing,” while Stan Carey admitted to being semi-attached to them as well.

comma

“All the interesting punctuation debates I have are internal, as I debate whether or not a comma is necessary in a given spot, or whether two clauses are sufficiently related to be separated by a mere semi-colon.”

“So It’s National Punctuation Day Again,” Motivated Grammar, September 24, 2009

The comma is “a punctuation mark ( , ) used to indicate a separation of ideas or of elements within the structure of a sentence,” and comes from the Greek komma, “piece cut off, short clause,” which comes from koptein, “to cut.”

The comma is a seemingly simple punctuation mark about which people have a lot to say. Earlier this year, Ben Yagoda discussed comma rules and comma mistakes, and addressed some comma questions. At Lingua Franca, he explored some comma beliefs. Stan Carey responded, as did The New Yorker, who defended what Mr. Yagoda called their “nutty” comma style. Johnson questioned the comma splice while Motivated Grammar assured us that comma splices are “historical and informal” but not wrong.

Finally, let’s not forget the importance of the Oxford comma:

Via Language Log / Jeff Bishop

For even more about commas, check out our list of the day.

interrobang

“A single character combining a question mark and an exclamation — called an interrobang — didn’t catch on because it doesn’t read well in small sizes and never made it to standard keyboards, while, thanks to email addresses, the @, also known as an amphora, has become ubiquitous.”

Heller McAlpin, “Fond Of Fonts? Check Out ‘Just My Type’,” NPR Books, September 1, 2011

The interrobang, “a punctuation mark in the form of question mark superimposed on an exclamation point, used to end a simultaneous question and exclamation,” comes from a blend of interrogation point, an old term for the question mark, and bang, printers’ slang for the exclamation point.

The at or @ symbol’s “first documented use was in 1536,” according to Smithsonian Magazine, “in a letter by Francesco Lapi, a Florentine merchant, who used @ to denote units of wine called amphorae, which were shipped in large clay jars.”

irony mark

“In 1899, French poet Alcanter de Brahm proposed an ‘irony mark’ (point d’ironie) that would signal that a statement was ironic. The proposed punctuation looked like a question mark facing backward at the end of a sentence. But it didn’t catch on. No one seemed to get the point of it, ironically.”

Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer, “10 Things You Might Not Know About Punctuation,” Chicago Tribune, July 18, 2011

BuzzFeed listed some other punctuation marks you may not have heard of, while The New Yorker tasked readers with inventing a new punctuation mark. The winner was the bwam, the bad-writing apology mark, which “merely requires you to surround a sentence with a pair of tildes when ‘you’re knowingly using awkward wording but don’t have time to self-edit.’” For Punctuation Day, The New Yorker has asked for a punctuation mash-up: “combine two existing pieces of punctuation into a new piece of punctuation.” Check their culture blog for the winners.

punctuation

“The systematization of punctuation is due mainly to the careful and scholarly Aldus Manutius, who had opened a printing office in Venice in 1494. The great printers of the early day were great scholars as well. .  . .They naturally took their punctuation from the Greek grammarians, but sometimes with changed meanings.”

Frederick W. Hamilton, Punctuation: A Primer of Information about the Marks of Punctuation and their Use Both Grammatically and Typographically

The word punctuation came about in the 16th century, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, and originally meant “the action of marking the text of a psalm, etc., to indicate how it should be chanted.” The word came to mean “system of inserting pauses in written matter” in the 1660s, and ultimately comes from the Latin pungere, “to prick.”

virgule

“Commas were not employed until the 16th century; in early printed books in English one sees a virgule (a slash like this /), which the comma replaced around 1520.”

Henry Hitchings, “Is This the Future of Punctuation?” The Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2011

The virgule, now more commonly known as the slash is “a diagonal mark ( / ) used especially to separate alternatives, as in and/or, to represent the word per, as in miles/hour, and to indicate the ends of verse lines printed continuously.”

Virgule ultimately comes from the Latin virga, “shoot, rod, stick.” Related are verge, virgin, with the idea of a “young shoot,” and virga, an old term for “penis,” as well as “wisps of precipitation streaming from a cloud but evaporating before reaching the ground.”

For even more punctuation goodies, check out Jen Doll’s imagined lives of punctuation marks; McSweeney’s seven bar jokes involving grammar and punctuation; and Ben Zimmer’s piece on how emoticons may be older than we thought. Also be sure to revisit our post from last year on punctuation rules.

Finally, it’s not too late to enter the official National Punctuation Day contest. You have until September 30.

Happy punctuating!

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Atomic Bombs, Time Machines, and Lurve: Words from H. G. Wells

British writer H. G. Wells was born today in 1866. Dubbed “The Father of Science Fiction,” Wells was also “a prolific writer in many other genres.” But we know and love him best as the creator behind The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine. Time travel with us as we look back on 10 words and phrases Wells coined or popularized.

atomic bomb

“His companion, a less imaginative type, sat with his legs spread wide over the long, coffin-shaped box which contained in its compartments the three atomic bombs, the new bombs that would continue to explode indefinitely and which no one so far had ever seen in action.”

The World Set Free, 1914

An atomic bomb is “a nuclear weapon in which enormous energy is released by nuclear fission.” According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the phrase atomic bomb was first recorded in the above 1914 work of Wells.

Later terms include the shortened atom bomb – about 1921, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) – and even shorter A-bomb (about 1945). Real-life atom bombs were developed in the 1930s.

fourth dimension

“Really this is what is meant by the Fourth Dimension, though some people who talk about the Fourth Dimension do not know they mean it. It is only another way of looking at Time. There is no difference between time and any of the three dimensions of space except that our consciousness moves along it.”

The Time Machine, 1895

The fourth dimension refers to “time regarded as a coordinate dimension and required by relativity theory, along with three spatial dimensions, to specify completely the location of any event.”

While the term had been in use since about 1875, says the OED, it was in Charles Howard Hinton’s 1880 article, “What Is the Fourth Dimension?” that the idea of time as the fourth dimension was first implied, and in Wells’s The Time Machine that an explicit connection was made between time and the fourth dimension.

heat-ray

“In the road lay a group of three charred bodies close together, struck dead by the Heat-Ray; and here and there were things that people had dropped–a clock, a slipper, a silver spoon, and the like poor valuables.”

War of the Worlds, 1898

Wells’s heat-ray weapon, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, was a precursor to the ray gun, a staple in science fiction which originated around 1923. X-rays, “relatively high-energy photon[s] having a wavelength in the approximate range from 0.01 to 10 nanometers,” were discovered in 1895.

invisible man

“I have walked through Moscow’s snowy streets and felt that I must be an invisible man as the pedestrians passed me by with apparently unseeing eyes.”

W.W. Chaplin, “Russians Friendly, But Just Try to Get Any Military Secrets!” St. Petersburg Times, December 21, 1942

H.G. Wells’s novella, The Invisible Man, was published in 1897, and the term, invisible man, is now used literally and figuratively to mean someone who cannot be seen or is willingly unseen. Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, was published in 1952. From an article by Eugene Kane in The Milwaukee Journal, September 7, 1986:

After that experience, I tried to find other writings by Ellison, but was frustrated by the lack of his books at libraries or bookstores. In a way, he himself became an invisible man.

lurve

“I am pleading the cause of a woman, a woman I lurve, sorr—a noble woman—misunderstood.”

The War in the Air, 1908

While lurve, an alteration of love, may seem like a modern term, it has long been a British colloquialism, says the OED, first recorded as a verb in Wells’s writings in 1908, and as a noun in 1937.

Lurve may be based on the rhoticity – the pronunciation of “the letter r … after vowels,” says Dialect Blog – of some British accents.

Rasputin

“My professional gifts give me a kind of Rasputin hold on one or two exalted families.”

Star-Begotten, 1937

Rasputin, Russian for debauchee, is the “acquired name” of Grigory Yefimovich Novykh, says the Online Etymology Dictionary, “mystic and faith healer who held sway over court of Nicholas II of Russia.” Wells’s seems to be the earliest recorded example of Rasputin used figuratively for anyone “felt to have an insidious and corrupting influence.”

scientific romance

“In many respects it began in 1894, in two rooms at No 12 Mornington Road (now Terrace), Camden Town, where Wells, having ditched his first wife, lived in adultery with Jane, his second, and secured his first contract writing ‘scientific romance’ for the Pall Mall Budget.”

Gerald Isaaman, “Books: Review – HG Wells: Another Kind of Life,” Camden New Journal, May 27, 2010

Scientific romance refers to both science of a speculative nature and what is now know as science fiction. Wells didn’t coin the term scientific romance, but his writings, along with those of Jules Verne, were some of the earliest examples.

Romance in this context means “an invention; fiction; falsehood,” or “a tale or novel dealing not so much with real or familiar life as with extraordinary and often extravagant adventures.”

sox

“He abbreviated every word he could; he would have considered himself the laughing-stock of Wood Street if he had chanced to spell socks in any way but ‘sox.’”

Kipps, 1906

Sox is an alteration of socks. The baseball team formerly known as the White Stockings were dubbed the White Sox in 1901, according to Slate.

time machine

“Godfrey’s time machine – also known as The Baseball Card Shop in Hoover – has proved resilient, transporting fans back and forth through the game’s history, even as many of his competitors have closed their doors during the past decade.”

Tom Bassing, “The Time Machine: Sports Memorabilia Shopkeeper Transports His Customers,” Birmingham Business Journal, July 27, 2003

A time machine is “a fictional or hypothetical device by means of which one may travel into the future and the past,” and first appeared in Wells’s 1898 novel of the same name. The term may be used literally or figuratively, as above.

time travelling

“I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar sensations of time travelling. They are excessively unpleasant. There is a feeling exactly like that one has upon a switchback—of a helpless headlong motion!”

The Time Machine, 1895

Time traveling is “hypothetical or fictional travel at will to the past or the future, typically by means of a machine. . .or a wormhole.” The term first appeared in Wells’s 1895 novel, The Time Machine. For more time traveling words, see this list.

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Word Soup Wednesday: Creatrix, EKIA, hop the twig, and more

Welcome to Word Soup Wednesday! While the television show The Soup brings you “the strange, obscure and totally unbelievable moments in pop culture, celebrity news and reality TV,” Word Soup brings you those strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, and just about anything else on TV.

Creatrix

Bender: “What the hell’s a free will slot?”
Monk: “All robots have such a slot, placed there by the Creatrix herself.”

“Free Will Hunting,” Futurama, August 8, 2012

A creatrix is a female creator, where –trix is the feminine form of –tor. See also dominatrix, aviatrix, rixatrix, and more. Futurama’s Creatrix is also known as Mom, “the owner and CEO of MomCorp,” an Apple-like company.

EKIA

Sloan: “What does EKIA mean?”
Don: “Enemy killed in action.”

“5/1,” The Newsroom, August 5, 2012

The EKIA here refers to Osama Bin Laden. The full message that President Obama received was, “Geronimo EKIA,” where Geronimo was the code name for Bin Laden. Some controversy arose around this code name as Geronimo is “the nickname of a Native American leader considered by many to have been a hero and a freedom fighter.”

get

Maggie: “It’s what’s called a get. It’s promotable.”

“The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate,” The Newsroom, August 19, 2012

A get is, presumably, a hot news story, although some question “whether a real newsroom would consider [an interview with a high school classmate of Casey Anthony] a get worth fighting for.”

greater fool

Sloan: “The greater fool is actually an economic term. It’s a patsy. For the rest of to profit, we need a greater fool, someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their lives trying not to be the greater fool. We pass him a hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.”

“The Greater Fool,” The Newsroom, August 26, 2012

The greater fool theory, also known as survivor investing, “is the belief held by one who makes a questionable investment, with the assumption that they will be able to sell it later to ‘a greater fool.’”

hop the twig

Eva: “He’s put food in my belly and a roof over my head ever since we hopped the twig.”

“Slaughterhouse,” Hell on Wheels, August 26, 2012

While hop the twig more commonly means to pass away or die, it also once meant ‘to run away from one’s creditors, as a bird eludes a fowler, ‘hopping from spray to spray,’” which is the meaning in this context.

imagination inflation

Pierce: “It’s imagination inflation. The agents interrogating Brady told him he had stabbed the judge with the knife so that’s the false memory that he forms. But he didn’t do it.”

“Nemesis,” Perception, August 27, 2012

Imagination inflation refers to the phenomenon of believing a non-existent event has occurred as a result of having imagined it.

knocking shop

Madam: “How the hell are you two skinny chaps gonna protect my knocking shop?”

“Viva La Mexico,” Hell on Wheels, August 12, 2012

A knocking shop is a brothel. Knock was once slang for “to copulate with.” See knocked up.

mauvais dents

Kelly: “From what our ancestors wrote, it’s a vicious killing machine. One of them can wipe out an entire village. But you better be careful. Mauvais dents is like a cat. He’ll watch, he’ll wait.”

“Bad Teeth,” Grimm, August 13, 2012

Mauvais dents translates from the French as “bad teeth” of “bad fangs.”

meatbag

Bender: “Goodbye, sweet meatbags! Sweetbags.”

“Free Will Hunting,” Futurama, August 8, 2012

Meatbag is a derogatory term used by robots for humans. It was first used by Bender in Futurama’s first episode, “Space Pilot 3000“, which premiered on March 28, 1999. We couldn’t find an earlier usage, but if anyone finds one, please let us know.

RINO

Will: “I’m what the leaders of the Tea Party would call a RINO, Republican in Name Only, and that’s ironic because that’s exactly what I think about the leaders of the Tea Party.”

“The Greater Fool,” The Newsroom, August 26, 2012

RINO, pronounced like the animal, rhino, “is a pejorative term that refers to a member of the Republican Party of the United States whose political views or actions are considered insufficiently conservative or otherwise conforming to liberal positions.” While the term Republican in name only has been in use since the 1920s, the acronym arose in the 1990s.

rotgut

Elam: “That there the good stuff, not that rotgut y’all drank.”

“The Railroad Job,” Hell on Wheels, September 9, 2012

Rotgut is “bad or adulterated liquor, injurious to the stomach and bowels; in the United States, specifically, whisky adulterated with deleterious substances to cheapen it while increasing its apparent strength.” The term originated in the 17th century, and is especially significant in this scene as Elam’s drinking partner has a bleeding injury in his “gut.”

sardini

Zoidberg: “I’m having fun. . .and a sardini.”

“Viva Mars Vegas,” Futurama, August 22, 2012

Sardini is a blend of sardine and martini. Other martini blends include vodkatini, appletini, saketini, and our favorite, the bacontini.

sawbones

Doctor: “He needs a more qualified surgeon ma’am, not some battlefield sawbones like me.”

“The Railroad Job,” Hell on Wheels, September 9, 2012

Sawbones is slang for a surgeon, and originated around 1837.

That’s it for this week! Remember, if you see any Word Soup-worthy words, let us know on Twitter with the hashtag #wordsoup. Your word and Twitter handle might appear right here!