Pan Pan!

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi there. This is Skip in Gainesville, Florida.

Hello, Skip. Welcome to the show.

Well, thank you.

What’s on your mind today?

Well, it wasn’t really a question so much as an observation about a word that I found interesting, the word pan.

It started years ago when I used to crew on sailboats and was sitting around with some other sailors and we were discussing radio protocols.

I’m sure everyone knows Mayday, Mayday, which is the urgent call.

But there’s also two other radio calls that are of a lower-grade urgency.

Security, which is just announcing some danger or risk people should look out for.

But then the other one is Pan, done three times, Pan, Pan, Pan.

Well, the discussion was, is it pronounced Pan, Pan, Pan, or Pon, Pon, Pon?

The group that said PAN said this is derived from the French word PAN, which means breakdown.

The PAN group said that it was derived from an acronym, Possible Assistance Needed.

So, you know, we discussed that for a while and noticed that the Coast Guard usually said PAN.

But then we started talking about the word and how many different meanings that we could think of for the word PAN.

Obviously, the cooking utensil and any similar pan type thing, like a pan on a set of scales or pan for gold or in an old flintlock, there was a pan for the powder.

But then also to pan as in you criticize or not like a movie.

And then from video, when you’re sweeping a camera horizontally, like a panorama, and then an all-inclusive term like Pan American.

And then, of course, there’s the God Pan.

And I think we found a few more.

So I wondered if you had any additional meanings for the word pan.

Yeah.

I mean, everything you said is right about pan, pan, pan or pan, pan, pan.

I’ve heard it pronounced both ways, but you’re right that it does come from a French word, that means a breakdown or a mechanical failure.

And you’re right that it’s a call of urgency, but not distress, like you’re lost or you need help, and it’s an urgent situation, but there’s no immediate danger to anybody or to the craft you’re on.

And then let’s see, you mentioned the pan on a flintlock.

You know, that gives us flash in the pan.

Did you know that?

If a flintlock misfires?

Oh, yes.

Yeah, the little pan on a flintlock is where you put your gunpowder.

And so if there’s a flash in the pan, it just flashes, but it doesn’t actually fire.

And then let’s see, what were the other pans you mentioned?

There’s frying pan, which comes from a really, really old, old, old word that just means something like iron vessel, as far as we know.

It’s, you know, way back there in the mists of history.

And what’s interesting is that if you’re panning a show, you know, like a theatrical production, apparently that comes from the idea of putting somebody on the pan, like putting them on a frying pan.

You know, you put them on the frying pan and then you roast them.

You’re saying really negative things about them.

And then let’s see, you mentioned panorama comes from Greek words that mean all sight or all spectacle.

And the pan in panorama is not related to the god pan.

He was a satyr that carried on in the woods and fields and in ancient Greece.

And he caused a lot of mysterious sounds, you know, playing his flute and things like that.

And pan caused a lot of fear with these mysterious noises.

And that’s where we get panic.

If you’re panicking with something.

Oh, really?

Wow.

So many origins for similar words.

It’s quite interesting.

And what about the term like when it’s used in an all-inclusive like Pan-American, which is across America?

Right.

That’s the same idea.

That comes from a Greek stem, pan, that means all.

So panorama is all vision or all sight, and Pan-American or Pan-African, it’s the whole continent or the whole set of continents.

Well, we had a fun discussion.

We sat around for quite a while talking about pan, and I kind of remember that evening from many years ago.

It was a fascinating word.

Skip, I want to leave you with one more fact before you go.

The original thing we talked about, the pan, pan, pan, or pan, pan, pan, that on pan, which means out of service or malfunction in French, originally came from sailing.

The pan was a part of a sail in the 16th century.

So the pan originally did refer to ships in distress, and then later in French referred to anything in distress, and then later referred to anything malfunctioning or out of service.

So it’s got a long history, but started in sailing.

And here we are still using it for sailing.

You got to call us again sometime, Skip.

Well, great.

I can pick up a few more.

I love playing with the English language.

It’s so fascinating.

I love your show.

Thank you very much.

Take care of yourself.

Thanks for calling.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Bye now.

Well, you’ve been sitting around with your friends talking about this word and that, and it’s time to call us and talk with us about it.

877-929-9673 or send those emails to words@waywordradio.org.

Thank you.