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Ever wonder where words come from? Pretty easy to guess how "whisper" derives (it's onomatopoeic), but others are not so obvious. (6 questions in all, scroll down for answers.)
1. tuxedo
men's formalwear with black satin lapels, silk-striped trousers and cummerbund
Where does the word "tuxedo" come from?
(choose the one best answer)
a. From its rather obvious resemblance to Aptenodytes Tuxidoa, the tuxedo penguin.
b. Coined by Mark Twain, who once ridiculed formalware as "tucksied and tailored."
c. After 16th-century hero Commodore Maximillian Tuxedor, 3rd Earl of Cummerbund.
d. Worldwide wedding wear made its 1886 debut in Tuxedo Park, upstate New York.
Heir to the tobacco fortune,
Pierre Lorillard IV was a blueblood
New Yorker of French extraction
who set the fashion world on its collective ear in 1886.
His family commissioned and wore
the first of these future prom rentals
to the Autumn Ball at his exclusive
country club north of New York,
in a village called Tuxedo Park.
This former Indian Territory is named for
Algonquian Chief P’tauk-Seet (which means ‘wolf).
Both the “p” and the Chief are silent
– so D is correct
2. negligee
a woman's nightgown or camisole, often of soft or delicate fabric
Where does the word "negligee" come from?
(choose the one best answer)
a. Named after Lady Neglee, a consort of sorts in the courts of Henrys VII and VIII.
b. From "an egligee" (harem word for "eligible"), the "n" transfers through metathesis.
c. It was originally the ceremonial veil which was hung from the neck of a protegee.
d. Derived from Latin "neglegere," meaning "to neglect" referring to the housework.
Racier than a scanty panty.
More titillating than a sheer brassiere.
Able to silence all conversation without a single sound.
Look! Up on the stairs! It’s blurred!
It’s plain! It’s super, man!
A contraction of “neg” + “legere” (literally, “to not pick up”),
the naughty negligee takes its name from
the effect the outfit has upon even
the most casual observer.
Because from the beginning, it was clear
no one was going to get any work done
as long as she was wearing THAT
– so D is correct
3. pumpernickel
a dark, sourish bread made from coarsely ground whole rye grain
Where does the word "pumpernickel" come from?
(choose the one best answer)
a. A tribute to this modern manna's so-secret ingredient: roasted pumpkin seeds.
b. From the German words pumpern, meaning "break wind," and nickel for "goblin."
c. Named for a Bavarian style of kneading, in which air is pumped inside the dough.
d. During the 1920's in New York, it was the plumpest loaf you could get for a nickel.
Egyptians were the first
to get a rise out of bread,
accidentally allowing a wheat-and-water gruel
to ferment before baking it in 2600 BC.
Fast forward 3000 years to the Black Forest
where German Friars baked a black loaf
so indigestible it was said to make even the Devil flatulent.
The Torah, the Koran and the Bible all refer to "bread,"
but you might imagine early clerics
having to light a couple extra candles
the morning after that first
pumpernickel loaf
-- so B is correct.
4. sabotage
willful destruction of property or obstruction of operations, deliberate subversion
Where does the word "sabotage" come from?
(choose the one best answer)
a. Named after the WWI combat tactics of Generalissimo Maximillian Sabota.
b. Latin finance term meaning "at risk;" opposite of arbitrage, meaning "riskless."
c. Derived from the Old French word for shoe, sabot, a kind of wooden clog.
d. Coined during mutiny court-martial of South American ship, the S. A. Botage.
From overt treachery
to covert acts which merely hinder progress,
sabotage often involves well-orchestrated coercion,
intimidation, betrayal and treason.
By as early as the 14th century,
an entire class of highly skilled mercenaries
was trained and (for a price)
available as assassins and chaos agents.
But they weren't called "saboteurs"
until AFTER French mill workers
threw their shoes in the loom,
"clogging" it to protest mechanization
-- so C is correct.
5. karaoke
an audio / video sing-along system which plays music and displays lyrics
Where does the word "karaoke" come from?
(choose the one best answer)
a. Adapted from the Brazilian call-and-response song style known as Carioca.
b. Contraction of the modern-day Japanese words for "empty" and "orchestra."
c. Named for a WWII-era entertainer named Carrie, who was from Oklahoma.
d. Literary reference to The Legend of Karoki, a city now known as Okinawa.
Like most dynamic languages
Japanese is big on loan words,
but whereas they used to come from Chinese
today they're mostly coming from English.
Do you have a kompyuta
(computer) on your desuku (desk)?
Maybe there is a karar-terebi
(color TV) on your teburu (table)?
In fact no one sang Karaoke before 1981
because the Japanese hadn't invented it yet,
the name coming from kara (void)
and oke, short for okesutora (orchestra)
-- so B is correct.
6. gargoyle
a roof ornament or spout, often in the form of a crouching, grotesque beast
Where does the word "gargoyle" come from?
(choose the one best answer)
a. Italian slang for "pygmy," it's the opposite of "gargantuan" which means "gigantic."
b. From the signature of Austrian architect Greg Argoyle, who also gave us the socks.
c. It's an Olde English contraction of "garish" and "guile," they were to fool the spirits.
d. Derived from the Middle French word gargouille, which referred to the "throat."
Shortly after the
first roof was invented,
someone began complaining
about the deluge by the door;
so the first downspout was created to divert the flow.
By the 13th century, church design
had them dispensing blessings as well!
Sometimes in the shape of an angel,
occasionally in the form of an animal,
mostly looking like some scary creature;
but always shedding water out their mouths,
it's where we get the word "gargle"
-- so D is correct.
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