What do you call it when you roll past a stop sign without coming to a complete stop? A California stop, a Michigan stop — or something else? And if someone calls you a voracious reader, would you be flattered or insulted? Also, Puddin’ Tame, the outmoded design elements called skeuomorphs, a clever Spanish proverb, moot point vs. mute point, and the meaning of the military slang term go hermantile.
This episode first aired March 17, 2012.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/68861056" params="auto_play=false&show_artwork=false&color=ff7700" width="100%" height="180" iframe="true" /]
Skeuomorphs
Why do we make a hand-crank motion when asking someone to roll down their window? After all, in most new cars, that's done with the press of a button. An outmoded gesture like this is similar to a skeuomorph, a design element that still used even though it no longer has a function. For example, smartphones still use images of old handsets or tape recorders to indicate phone and voicemail functions.
Puddin' Tame or Pudding Tane
"What's your name?" "I'm Puddin’ Tame, ask me again and I'll tell you the same!" This and other rhymes, such as "What's your number? Cucumber!" derive from French, English, and American children's folklore that dates to at least as early as the 17th century. Iona and Peter Opie have collected a bundle of these children's sayings.
Rolling Stops
What's it called when someone rolls past a stop sign without coming to a complete stop? People across the country have coined terms like California roll or California stop, New York stop, and Michigan stop as a way of expressing pride in their local delinquencies.
A Dole of Doves
Like the famous murmuration of starlings, a dole of doves is another beautiful collective noun from the aviary world.
Geographic Portmanteaus
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game of geographic and astrological portmanteaus. For example, if you're looking for something with a spongy-pointed marker in Pittsburgh, how about a Felt Tip Pennsylvania? Or if someone born in June is a place of exercise putting on makeup, chances are they'd wear Geminishadow.
Apricity
A Vermont kindergarten teacher discusses unusual vocabulary with his class. He's trying to revive apricity, which means the warmth of the sun in the winter. This term comes from the Latin meaning "to bask in the sun." This caller hopes people will warm to the idea.
Voracious Reader
If someone calls you a voracious reader, would you be flattered or insulted? And is it better to be a voracious reader of nonfiction rather than novels? The word voracious, which shares a root with devour and carnivore, might connote a lack of discernment when it comes to eating, but if one reads voraciously, it's typically a point of pride. What other gustatory tropes are there in the ways we talk about reading and eating?
Spanish Proverb
"El pez se muere por la boca" is a wise and vivid Spanish proverb. It means "the fish dies by its mouth."
Go Hermantile
In the Navy and the Marines, if someone goes hermantile, they're angry, shouting, and unpredictable. This slang expression is of uncertain origin. It goes back to World War I but has stayed almost exclusively within the military's lexicon and writings related to the Navy or the Marines.
Asafetida
Asafetida, the plant used in asafidity bags intended to ward off disease, is also a common ingredient in Indian cooking, and it's said to counterbalance heavy spices and relieve stomach cramps.
Including the Scandinavian
Why can't you tear the tag off a mattress? And why do old books say that the right of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian, is reserved? These bits of jargon, not necessarily intended for the consumer, have seeped into our language because of nuanced copyright laws and the like.
Mute Point vs. Moot Point
How do you pronounce moot point? Does it sound like mute, or rhyme with toot?
Another Skeuomorph
Here's another fun skeuomorph: Martha's father bought an exercise bike for the den, but the pedals have reflectors on them.
Why Baby Talk?
Why do we speak to babies in high pitched voices? Often our eyes grow wide, we give big smiles, and we talk in exaggerated, singsongy voices because these are the things that infants respond to. Chances are this parental cooing has gone on since time immemorial.
Photo by Dennis Jarvis. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Book Mentioned in the Broadcast
| The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren by Iona and Peter Opie |
Music Used in the Broadcast
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Is Beautiful | Roy Budd | The Stone Killer Soundtrack | Cinephile |
| Nyx | Karl Hector and The Malcouns | Sahara Swing | Now-Again |
| Double Polygone | Sauveur Mallia | Cosmosynthetic Vol. 2 | Tele Music |
| Evolute | The Dub Delay Band | Changing | Tracky Bottoms |
| Followed Path | Karl Hector and The Malcouns | Sahara Swing | Now-Again |
| Slick Cat | Carol Kaye and Joe Pass | Better Days | Hot Wire Records |
| Let's Call The Whole Thing Off | Ella Fitzgerald | Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Song Book | Verve |
Stop sign running: 1940s, Dallas area: "coasting through in second" - definitely obsolete.
Â
Collectives: almost as rare as a crash of the generally solitary rhino, armadillos are an "armada" - I have actually seen two adults together at 2:00 pm - rare enough to see an individual in the daylight.
Â
Kindergarten language: Then if a white bird that follows cattle wins a bug-eating contest, it is a victorious egret?
Â
Voracious readers: I once had a book store (back in the day of free enterprise, before capitalist chains destroyed them). Most niche fiction (romance, mysteries, westerns, SF, etc.) have voracious readers of one (only) Â of those genera.
Â
Baby talk: Walt Kelly had a character in Pogo comics, a baby "groundchuck", Grundoon, who only spoke in consonants. I have gotten an interesting reaction from even a fussy baby by "speaking in Grundoonese" to them - in an otherwise normal voice. They are first totally confused, then appear to figure it out and break into a broad grin.
One thing you didn't mention about baby talk is the sing-song rhythm. "Iggum boogum diddle wubble...." It's relentlessly trochaic!
On the subject of collective names for animals, I thought this was amusing:
In my family, we've always called rolling through a stop sign a "slow-n-go".
Â
I love "apricity" -- and it makes me think of apricots! I wonder if there's any liguistic connection there? Â
Why do we speak to babies using high-pitched voices? I read an article about that in Scientific American some time back. Turns out the human ear is most sensitive to frequencies between 2-5 kHz. Babies' ears (because of the diminutive size of resonating features therein) are less sensitive to the typically lower frequencies of an adult voice (Tiny Tim notwithstanding). So mothers learned over time that they get more response to audible stimulation in that higher range.
That might be why we also use a higher pitch when talking to our smaller pets. Probably wouldn't matter to your horse or hippo. 
Interestingly, the (annoying) sound of a baby's crying takes advantage of that too. The average pitch of their crying sound is smack dab in the middle of the ear's sensitivity range. Evolution selected for that, since it evoked attention during times of illness, pain, hunger, thirst, etc.