The English Language

I knew the word "pixel" but did not know it stood for "picture element". I just thought it stood for something very tiny, like a pixie, about the picture.

Here is a quote from a book I just finished..... re the origin of the term "to debug"

"....they were also debugging programs. A computer bug was a problem in the code. The term had been coined by Thomas Edison and then popularized by navy rear admiral Grace Hopper while she worked as a research fellow at Harvard University. On the evening of September 9, 1947, the operators of a Mark II computer at the university were having trouble with the machine. Upon investigating, they found a moth trapped in the relay points of a panel. They jokingly taped the dead insect in their lab notebook, noting "First actual case of bug being found." After that night they loved to kid that they were debugging their computer program, and the term spread."

Rise of the Rocket Girls, by Nathalia Holt

It might be of interest to copy this across from another thread.
Somebody had commented on the different spellings of Jail and Gaol, getting this reaction;

originally posted by: manuelram16
Thanks, how about 'Nick' ?

My reply;
I think the progression is;
"Nick"= "steal".
Therefore "Nick" also = "arrest"- "You're nicked".
Therefore "Nick" = "place where criminals are taken"- either police station, or, ultimately, prison.
To sum up; If you get into the habit of nicking things, you will find yourself getting nicked and taken down to the local nick, after which you will probably find yourself spending time in the nick. "As a guest of Her Majesty" (i.e. in one of Her Majesty's Prisons).

a reply to: DISRAELI

Good one! I like the term "collared" too.

a reply to: desert

OMG! That's brilliant! debug.....

it was literal. thanks for that one! Dang it - now I am reminded that the other day I learned why a term was the way it was...
and now I forgot what term it was, and why. Boo. I'll see if I can recapture the thought as it flutters around in my brain.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
Indeed. The image of grabbing an escaping offender at the back of the neck. "Feeling his collar". Obviously pre-dates T-shirts.

Watching some more Hinterland....

the line: "Why was I told not to talk to you?"

was delivered.

It made me think about the "never split infinitives!" rule. Which has never seemed necessary to me.

It makes more sense to say:
"Why was I told to NOT talk to you?"

This is straight from a footnote from my History of the English Language text.

Boustrophedon which an adjective describing a method of bi-directional reading and writing (where when you reach the end you do not jump to the next line but drop down one and read backwards! The letters are also reversed!).

The term is a Greek word. The Greek used oxen to pull their plows. When you get to the end you turn the ox back the other way. The word means, "turn in the manner of an ox". I always thought is was pretty neat term.

Wikipedia link (has written examples).

bustra.... bousto.... oh, heck, I'll just copy and paste..... there....Boustrophedon.... what a word!! Strangely, I like it. Makes sense in modern usage. Interesting.

Ok, so, I ran across this word in a book I just finished, Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee by Thomas J. Craughwell.

describing olives "a proper and codortable nourishment".... from the 1780s, Jefferson's writings.
Now, the trouble is, I cannot find a definition. And someone else could not either, when I searched online.

a reply to: desert
This is purely guesswork, but better than nothing;
I started by taking off the "co", to produce "dortable".
"Dorter" is another word for "dormitory".
I'm going to suggest the possibility that "co-dortable" means "compatible with sleep"-i.e. it doesn't keep you awake.

The context might help, to see if that or any other definition makes sense. If he is offering them as a supper dish, then my thought has something going for it.

Otherwise; how might a food item be praised?
"Easy to digest?" "Easy to grow?"

Another option is to scour Thomas Jefferson's writings to see if he uses the word again.

a reply to: DISRAELI

I like your explanation! I am thinking that people back then looked upon certain foods for the healthful aspects, such as digestion and sleep properties. (Nowadays, we use pharmaceuticals.) For ex, today we can understand scientifically why alcohol might be a sleep disruptor in certain amounts, but back then it was done through observations. Olive oil is said by some to promote sleep, so perhaps the usage did refer to "compatible with sleep".

No chance I'll ever scour timely writings, but... I did search with words "codortable sleep" and up pops up its usage in conjunction with sleep.

originally posted by: desert. I did search with words "codortable sleep" and up pops up its usage in conjunction with sleep.

I've just tried that, and to be honest I think most of them are due to the modern plague of "spell as you pronounce" combined with sloppy pronunciation.
For example, there is a thread on ATS about "getting out are EU", where "are" seems to be the way the writer pronounces "of the".
Similarly all the modern examples of "codortable" seem to be substitutes for "comfortable", which will be why they naturally pop up in connection with sleep. However, Jefferson would not have been guilty of the same fault.

The worst example of "spell as you pronounce" that I know of is "can" as the opposite of "can", so that "you can do that" means the exact opposite of "you can do that". A generation that cannot clearly indicate the difference between "yes" and "no" really has lost the ability to communicate.

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

My lady friends Dad has this as his favorite word.

My Grandmother and I have a game where we email words and try to stump each other. This was one of the few I got her with (and I can't remember it fully), excessive wording for simple concept or something? Crap.

the action or habit of estimating something as worthless. (The word is used chiefly as a curiosity.).

Yeah, I'm competitive with a woman in her 90's. I'm going to get her good!

I wish you all could meet my Grandmother. She would love all of you.

a reply to: Domo1
I believe that one was devised for the purpose of creating a "longest word".
Before then, the longest word in the English language was understood to be "antidisestablishmentarianism" (the policy of opposing the campaigners who want to abolish the Established Church).

a reply to: DISRAELI

It's not the longest word. I thought that too.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
The worst example of "spell as you pronounce" that I know of is "can" as the opposite of "can", so that "you can do that" means the exact opposite of "you can do that". A generation that cannot clearly indicate the difference between "yes" and "no" really has lost the ability to communicate.

I did not know this was happening! So, when I'm ill in bed, my grandchildren will gather round and all say, "You can die now", and I won't know if they want me to recover or die. Or, which ones want me to recover and which ones want me dead.

Now, here are two words that mean the same but are often thought to be opposites, which could have a disastrous result. Inflammable and flammable. ....."Yep, this stuff's inflammable. Look, I'll take this match to it."

a reply to: desert
I have seen an ATS site-owner, who had better be nameless, lend his authority to the statement that that "users can close their accounts"; only readers already familiar with the point will have realised that he meant the negative version of "can".

Besides "flammable and inflammable", there is the paradox that "effeminate" is not the opposite of "emasculate", while "enervating" is far from being the same thing as "energising".
In short, it is easy to jump to the wrong conclusion about whether the effect of a prefix is positive or negative.

What?! Me flunk English? That's unpossible!

Ralph Wiggum (prophet)

Man that just gets me every time (ROFL)..

a reply to: DISRAELI

awesome points, yes!!

effeminate.....tending to behave in a feminine manner

emasculate....to cause a man to feel less masculine



also there is orientated and oriented.....(both are okay, as I understand it).

"can/could care less" is not the same as "can't/couldn't care less"!!!!

gahhh!!!

Okay, I'm gonna crash now....

a reply to: desert

flammable and inflammable are also very bizarre......
bothers me how they mean the same thing..

as for pronunciation, some say "incendinary" - which drives me nuts.....just like "old-timers disease" and "valentimes" and "K-marx".......
I recall once being at an inservice and the leader said "stand up and make a will". We had no idea what she was talking about....
no paper or pens or preparatory instructions....just "make a will."

Eventually it became obvious that we didn't get it.....she said: "A WILL!! You know!! like on a wagon!"


OOOoooohhhh!! A WHEEL!

LOL

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I don't know if this will make sense, likely not but,

In my area there is a common phrase.

Situation: I ask someone if they would do something for me. "Do you mind to take these papers to the other office?"

Reply: "I don't care to". It means yes, they will do it.

Perhaps a southern thing. It took me awhile to get used to.