The rarely used English noun list, meaning desire or craving, is entirely different from the word list that denotes a series of things. The little-used meaning is at the root of the term listless, which in its original sense meant a lack of desire. Similarly, the word listy is an old term that means desirous. Another word that isn’t what it seems is the adjective full-blown, which means fully developed, such as a full-blown case of pneumonia. The blown in this sense literally means in bloom or having blossomed, and is from the same linguistic root as the word peachblow, which means having the color of a peach blossom. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Little Known Meanings of List and Blow”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
Two words that have blown my mind this week.
One of them is listless.
Did you ever think about listless?
Listless.
Yeah.
How am I lacking a list, right?
That’s it.
I’m listless.
That’s it, right?
What’s happening to me?
Right.
If you’re listless, you’re sort of…
Dragging your butt.
Lethargic.
Lethargic.
Yeah.
And malaise.
Yeah.
But are you missing a list?
No, it must be something else.
The grocery list?
Is it like a ship listing?
I don’t know what it is.
That was my thought.
No, that’s the opposite.
But that’s not the origin of list list.
What is it?
List is an old word that means desire.
If you’re listy, then you’re desirous, and it’s related to lust.
So if you’re listless, you’re lacking lust.
Lust for life is missing.
Okay, and what’s the other one?
The other one is full-blown.
Oh.
Like a full-blown case of narcissism or something like that, right?
And it means entirely, right?
I never thought about that, except in my mind there was glass blowing involved.
I don’t know.
But what is it?
Yeah.
The blow in this case has to do with a blossom.
Oh, of course.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There’s an old use of the word blown, which means that a flower has opened.
Okay.
Yeah.
And it’s related to blossom.
And the word peach blow is one of my favorite words.
It has to do with the color of a peach blossom.
Peach blow.
Peach blow.
But if something is full-blown, it’s fully in bloom.
That’s outstanding.
Yeah.
The story behind words.
That’s what we’re doing here.
Yeah, none of it is arbitrary.
There’s always a story behind language.
Sometimes we know it.
Sometimes we don’t.
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