How and why do words from one language find their way into another? Vietnamese, for instance, includes lots of words borrowed or adapted from French. Such linguistic mixing often happens when languages brush up against each other and speakers reach for a word that feels more useful. Plus: “unparalleled misalignments” are pairs of phrases in which the words in one phrase are synonyms of words in the other, but the phrases themselves mean different things. Here’s an example: blanket statement and … cover story. Also, fulguration, dehisce, remote control vs. clicker, why we call a great speech a stemwinder, husky, upscuddle, a take-off quiz, advice for observing while traveling, and more.
This episode first aired October 26, 2024.
Unparalleled Misalignments
Unparalleled misalignments are pairs of phrases in which the words in one phrase are each synonyms of the words in the other, but the phrases themselves mean different things. For example, the phrase blanket statement can be paired with cover story. Another example is dad bod and father figure. Or how about drink menu and spirit guide? Coming up with these is a fun mental exercise! Ricki Heicklen has many more at her website.
Clicker, Zapper, and Other Words for the TV Remote Control
Jameela in Charlotte, North Carolina, says her family refers to their television’s remote control as the clicker, but her friends insist on calling it the remote. These devices go by other names as well, including doofer, flicker, zapper, and channel-changer. Early versions made a clicking sound when used to change the channels, hence the name.
And Natural Attraction?
Here’s an unparalleled misalignment in which the words in one pair are synonyms of the words in the other pair: organic chemistry and carbon dating.
Husky as in Solid, not Husky as in the Hairy Dog
Chris in Omaha, Nebraska, asks about the use of the adjective husky to describe the boys’ clothing section in a department store. This coded term refers to clothes made for heavier fellows. Husky was originally a positive term connoting the idea of being “strong” and “vigorous,” a reference to the tough outer husk of a plant. This husky has nothing to do with the use of husky to denote the thick-coated breed of working dog. That word is a corruption of the same indigenous term that produced the outdated word Eskimo, used to denote some native peoples of Canada and now often considered offensive.
Also Penny Lane?
What’s an unexpected term for tollbooths? How about … Bill Gates?
Take-off O Puzzle
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has devised another take-off puzzle, meaning that taking off the first letter of a word results in a second word. This time, the initial letter is the letter O. For example, if someone has unlatched the gate to the pigsty, what two words are clued? Remember, the first of those two words begins with the letter O.
Dehisce
Janet in Montgomery, Alabama, reports that a day after she had surgery on her hand, the wound burst open, and a doctor noted that her wound dehisced. She’s used to hearing dehisce used in botany to mean the splitting of a plant structure to release its contents. Dehisce derives from a Latin term that means “to gape” or “to yawn.” There are lots of similarly poetic medical terms. Tibia, Latin for “flute,” was applied to the similarly straight leg bone. The Latin term fulgur, which means “lightning,” produced fulguration or “cautery,” used to excise a tumor. Plethora, meaning “a multitude of things,” was originally a medical term referring to “an excess of blood or other bodily fluids.” Your biceps muscle, which has two parts, takes its name from Latin for “two-headed,” and the word muscle itself comes from Latin musculus, literally “little mouse,” a reference to a muscle’s resemblance to a little rodent twitching beneath the skin.
Also Green Card?
Here’s an unparalleled misalignment, with a punning payoff: sickness pay and coffee. (Get it?)
Upscuddle, Upscuttle
An upscuddle, also spelled upscuttle, is defined in both the Dictionary of American Regional English and the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English (Bookshop|Amazon) as a type of quarrel. A 1913 reference uses the term this way: “If they quarrel, it is a ruction, a rippit, a jower, or an upscuddle—so be it there are no fatalities which would amount to a real fray.” Upscuddle originated in Ireland and Scotland, and scuttle is an old dialectal term meaning “to take part in a street feud.”
Resisting Travel Clichés
In The Timbuktu Review, travel writer Wayne Curtis offers excellent advice about how to resist cliches when writing about visiting a new place.
“Cord” of Wood
David from Plymouth, Wisconsin, wonders about the expression a cord of wood. The phrase goes back to the 17th century and has to do with using a cord to measure a specific quantity of stacked wood.
Also Force Field?
Here’s a clever unparalleled misalignment, in which the word or words in one phrase are each synonyms of the words in the other, but the terms themselves mean different things: break ground and Cleveland.
Funistrada, Braised Trake, and Buttered Ermal
If you’ve never dined on funistrada, braised trake, or buttered ermal, you’re not missing out, nor are you alone. All of those are made-up food names that were part of a 1972 survey given to thousands of members of the U.S. military to determine their food preferences. These three names were part of a list of 378 real food names; the fake were just in there to test whether the servicemembers were paying attention. Most responded that they’d never heard of those three, but a few said they had, and in fact ranked funistrada preferable to lima beans. The names sound somewhat plausible, though, which recalls studies of the bouba-kiki effect, which refers to the way people tend to associate certain sounds with certain ideas. In the case of the bouba-kiki effect, they associated the nonsense word bouba with round, curvy shapes and the nonsense word kiki with more pointed, spiky shapes.
Loanwords and the Complicated Socio-Politico-Historical Relationships Between Languages
How and why do words from one language find their way into another? Vietnamese, for instance, includes many words borrowed or adapted from French, a vestige of colonialism. For example, the Vietnamese word for “train station,” ga, comes from French gare, which means the same thing. Such linguistic mixing often happens when languages brush up against each other and speakers reach for a word that feels more useful or simpler. Vietnamese has also borrowed or adapted English words, and at least 30 percent of Vietnamese has roots in China.
Bees that Snuggle for Coolth
Irish writer Edna O’Brien’s short story “Madame Cassandra” from her book Saints and Sinners (Bookshop|Amazon) opens with a character observing, “I always love the way bees snuggle into the foxglove … for the coolth and the nectar.”
Stemwinder, an Excellent Speech
A young caller from the Hudson Valley of New York wonders about his grandmother’s use of stemwinder to praise a speech she thought was excellent. In the early 1800s, people used pocket watches that had to be wound with a tiny key. Once someone figured out how to wind a watch with a little knob on a permanent stem instead, the new type of watch became extremely popular and people began applying the term stemwinder, not just to that model of watch, to other similarly impressive things.
Names for a Patch of Blue Sky
Lee in Charleston, South Carolina, remembers her dad used to refer to a blue patch of sky after a rain as kitten’s britches. Similar terms include Dutchman’s trousers, old woman’s apron, and cat’s vest, all suggesting that small but promising bit of blue.
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Books Mentioned in the Episode
| Dictionary of American Regional English and the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English |
| Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English (Bookshop|Amazon) |
| Saints and Sinners by Edna O’Brien (Bookshop|Amazon) |
Music Used in the Episode
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funky Miracle | The Meters | Look Ka Py-Py | Josie |
| Root Down | Jimmy Smith | Root Down | Verve |
| Thinking | The Meters | Look Ka Py-Py | Josie |
| Ginseng Woman | Eric Gale | Ginseng Woman | Columbia |
| Yeah, You’re Right! | The Meters | Look Ka Py-Py | Josie |
| Sagg’ Shooting His Arrow | Jimmy Smith | Root Down | Verve |
| Gypsy Jello | Eric Gale | Multiplication | CBS |
| The Other Side | Sure Fire Soul Ensemble | Step Down | Colemine Records |
