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In high school, no one thinks twice about cheering for the Fighting Trojans or the Tigers. But what about the Hickman Kewpies? Or the Maryville Spoofhounds? Martha and Grant talk about some of the odder names for school athletic teams. Also, in this episode: If you're queasy, are you nauseous or nauseated? How do you pronounce the word sorry? And why do conservative Democrats call themselves Blue Dogs?
This episode first aired December 5, 2009. Listen here:
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Grant and Martha discuss strange names for high school sports teams. Know another example? Talk about it in the forum.
How do you pronounce the word sorry? SORE-ee? SAHR-ee? A Connecticut woman says her family pronounces this word four different ways, and is hoping her way is correct.
Is there a name for those vocal sound we make when shrugging our shoulders or wordlessly affirming something with an "mm-hm"?
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a puzzle called "There's An App For That." The challenge is to guess what new word is formed by tacking the letters A-P-P on to another one. For example, what new word appears when you add A-P-P to the word that means "a soothing balm or salve."
How'd we get the term colorblind, and when it did come to be mean "indifferent to race"?
Really??? Really! A college student in Provo, Utah, says he's hearing this expression of sarcastic incredulity more and more—even catching himself saying this to his cellphone when it dropped a call. He suspects it comes from Saturday Night Live. Does it? Really? Here's a great example of that show's use of the expression.
A Connecticut cop says his dad, a retired professor of English and comparative literature at Yale, has been reading his son's police reports. They disagree about whether complainant is a legitimate word, or whether it should be complainer.
Here's a riddle: "I'm weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I'll make it lighter. What am I?" Martha has the answer.
Grant shares online sites that can help you solve a difficult crossword puzzle or anagram words to help you get the highest scores in Scrabble. WordNavigator and Wordsmith.org's anagram server.
A veteranian says her colleague insists that nauseous means "contagious." Is that right? And if you're queasy, are you nauseous or nauseated?
A Burlington, Vt. man says his mother and grandmother used the expression journey proud to denote being restless, nervous, or excited, especially on the eve of an upcoming trip.
"I'll be there at three-ish." "That shirt is bluish." "It wasn't a house—but it was house-ish." OK, but what in the world does ish mean, exactly?
Conservative Democrats are sometimes called Blue Dog Democrats. Grant explains why. Check out the work of George Rodrigue, the Blue Dog artist.
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Grant Barrett said:
In high school, no one thinks twice about cheering for the Fighting Trojans or the Tigers. But what about the Hickman Kewpies? Or the Maryville Spoofhounds? Martha and Grant talk about some of the odder names for school athletic teams.
My high school was the Danville Warriors but one of the powerhouse teams in Hendricks County, Indiana was the Plainfield Fighting Quakers! They tried to change it but always went back to Fighting Quakers. I don't think Gary Cooper would have approved of their version of "Friendly Persuasion."
My favorite team name I have ever heard was from a high school not too far from where I grew up. They are known as The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms.
Now my high school at one time, according to what I understand was known as the Faribault Ferries. I'm not exactly sure how they got that name, as I don't think you could get a ferry up or down the rive we had running through our town, but I am glad they changed it, if this were a true story.
My hometown had a great team name "The Kilowatts". The small Minnesota town of Granite Falls (around 3500 people) had a power plant with it's own mascot, Reddy Kilowatt. Here's a great link:
http://www.reddykilowatt.org/2008/12/30/the-granite-falls-high-school-kilowatts/
I have a great affinity for this name, although the "Fighting Quakers" is really hard to beat!
Ruhlly.
I was disappointed when, mid-HS, I had to move from the Lyons Township HS Lions to the Kirkwood Pioneers. Yeah, Pioneers are hard workers and brave and all, but it's just not got that fighting image, you know? So I went off to college as the Boilermakers. (Before the drink was invented.) More hard workers, though I guess they had a brawl now and again.
But, Really, I wanted to write in about Really!?!
I was amazed to learn that SNL had "started" Really!?! Sure enough, Googling it, I was soon listening to Seth & Amy talking about Larry Craig and Elliott Spitzer. Really!?!
The reason I was so surprised at SNL (showing my dearth of SNL views since the golden years of Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi) is that I learned Really?!? from my manager, a rabid South Park fan. (Yes, it switched from Really!?! to Really?!?)
I see SNL's weekend update doing Really!?! from October 2006 with Seth and Amy. Wikipedia says Really!?! was introduced in the 2006-2007 season, but not exactly when. The same month, South Park ran their "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce" episode (10/11/06). That's where Kyle is told, by the President, the real truth behind 9/11, and then behind the 9/11 conspiracy theories. All he can manage is Really?!? Really??!!??? Using it in the same exact way as Seth & Amy, except just the pure incredulity listening to explanations, rather than describing behavior and adding Really!?! (Kyle's goes way up in tone, going up into high falsetto voice about mid-first-syllable, while Seth & Amy's Reallys mostly end down, like followed by a period.
So that's where *I* got it. Perhaps the amazing Tina Fey did it first, though I haven't found it Googling. The first reference I've found so far is after she left and Seth started doing Weekend Update with Amy in 2006.
For the last three years, whenever discussing stupid politics, upper management decisions, or other sources of incredulity at idiocy, we've used Kyle's Really?!??.
Well, either it was grand coincidence, or one of them stole it from the other immediately.
And, whatever happened to Moon Unit Zappa and the Valley Girl "Ruh-lly."?
EmmettRedd said:
I don't think you could get a ferry up or down the rive we had running through our town
How about a ferry going across the river?
Emmett
The river was only like 12 feet wide at the most, so I'm gonna have to guess that there was no ferry going back and forth on the river either.
In response to "journey proud" (love it, by the way) I had 2 thoughts.
One is the term I use for what I get before a trip...not so much about the anticipation and excitement (although that's part of it) as the agitation that goes with that horrible nagging feeling that I've forgotten to take care of something important or will forget the tickets or something. I call it a "trip tizzy".
The other thing "journey proud" reminded me of was, my friend's description of it... it's the adult equivalent of a child with his bags packed, jacket on, sititng and bouncing up and down on the end of the bed just waiting for tomorrow's leave-taking.
I remember when a nimrod meant a great and powerful hunter. It was taken from the name of a biblical figure who had great prowess. Then Bugs Bunny, if I recall correctly, started using it mockingly toward Elmer Fudd. Perhaps it was even the Wagner opera hunting scene, but I wouldn't swear to it.
I suspect the sports team was considering the earlier, more classical meaning.
[edit: added the following]
Hm. Somebody named Grant Barrett blogged this recently:
Nimrod according to Barrett
December 7, 2009
Nimrod
Today's word of the day is nimrod. Most Americans today know it only as an insult meaning “jerk†or “loser,†but it has also historically meant “skillful hunter.†That meaning comes from Nimrod, explained in the Bible as a mighty hunter, king of Shinar, grandson of Ham, a great-grandson of Noah. The newer, less-kind meaning probably comes from the phrase “poor little Nimrod,†used by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny to mock the hapless hunter Elmer Fudd. The reference passed by a lot of cartoon-viewers and they interpreted it as an insult they'd never heard before.Filed under: Word of the Day — Tags: bug bunny, hunter, insult, nimrod, Word of the Day — Grant Barrett @ 2:00 am
Proud There's a nautical term "high and proud". Never having seen it defined yet having grown up around the water, I'd suggest that it means riding high in the water especially bow-high and making way. The impression would be that that craft is somehow attempting to climb out of the water akin to rising on a plane yet the term has been around since sailing ship days. They were far from being able to get on a plane. For you "fresh water Yankees", we are not talking about airplanes.
That for the show.
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