DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

Here's a funny word.... 'FRAUGHT'
So I looked it up....
late Middle English, ‘laden, equipped’, past participle of obsolete fraught ‘load with cargo’, from Middle Dutch vrachten, from vracht ‘ship's cargo’. Compare with freight.

[Tizer]

Cathy has posted a joke with the words `trap doors'. The word trap is also used by geologists to refer to massive, solidified lava flows which have occurred repeatedly in the same place over long time periods. It results in a stepped rock formation and was first named by Swedish geologist whose word for stairs is `trapp'. One of the biggest formations is the Deccan Traps in India. Wikipedia

[Stanley]

I've heard the term referring to the rock formation but never knew the origin. Thanks Peter.....

[Stanley]

'TARRY' attracted me so I went for a furtle....
The verb "to tarry" means to delay or linger, originating from Middle English tarien and terien, which meant "to vex, harass, cause to hesitate, delay". These Middle English words likely came from Old English tirian, tirgan, or tergan ("to worry, provoke") and ultimately trace back to the Proto-Germanic "terganą" or "targijaną" ("to pull, tease, irritate") and the Proto-Indo-European "derHgʰ-" root. The adjective "tarry" means "consisting of or like tar" and comes from the noun "tar" plus the suffix "-y"

[Cathy]

That was a tricky one to read, a bit of a tongue twister

[Stanley]

I think they are struggling a bit with the origin Cathy. It all seems a bit tenuous to me....

[Tripps]

Knee jerk instant reaction, takes me to one of Aunty Josie's poems.

“To bed! To bed!”
Says Sleepy-head;
“Tarry awhile,” says Slow;
“Put on the pan,”
Says Greedy Nan*;
“We’ll sup before we go.”

Could the word be connected in some way with the French 'tard' meaning late? It's as credible as the "proto Germanic".

[Stanley]

I think you have a much more plausible shot at the origin David. The thing that triggered me was the song 'Let him go, let him tarry let him sink or let him swim....' and when I was furtling I was surprised to find that it is an Irish folk song.

[Cathy]

Heard a new word today - Flocculate - on a cooking show.
.
In cooking, to Flocculate is to cause small suspended particles in a liquid to clump together, forming larger particles called flocs.
It happens in Brewing, Winemaking, Cheesemaking, Salad Dressings and more.
.
Flock you late. Say it over and over , get into it, what a great word to say.

[Stanley]

I was aware of the word Cathy but have never had an opportunity to use it!
I tripped over an unusual word I have mentioned before. 'YEAN'.
"The verb "yean" comes from the Middle English word yenen, which derived from the Old English geēanian or ēanian, meaning "to give birth to young," particularly for sheep or goats. The root is Proto-Indo-European h₂egʷnós, meaning "lamb," connecting "yean" to related words like the Latin agnus (lamb), the Greek amnos (lamb), and the English word "ewe"".

[Julie in Norfolk]

I came across flocculation while I was looking after or at least monitoring water treatment plants, so for me the word not only has a meaning but a smell as well!

[Stanley]

You've triggered off a memory there Julie. At one time, when I was off the road and working in the garage at West Marton Dairies I was given responsibility for running the sewage treatment plant for the dairy. I soon learned that it was a good day when the solids flocculated and bad when they didn't and remained in emulsion.....

[Tizer]

The writer of a letter to our local newspaper is concerned that young people are not learning words that have long been part of our daily language. He describes going into a shop to buy something and being told that they didn't have the item in stock. The manager turned to the young sales assistant and asked her to place an order and to put a note in the diary for a fortnight to inform the customer when it arrives. The assistant asked "What's a fortnight?"

He also tells how a lady friend encountered a similar response when buying travel insurance. The young agent was filling in the form for her and asked for her marital status. She answered "spinster" to which the agent replied "What's that".

[Stanley]

I've noted the same syndrome Peter. I put it down to screen culture, today's youngsters hardly read at all. You see the same problem when dialogue is put up on screen as text. Common words are misspelled by the apps that are doing the transcription. Perhaps that inability to use common words is the reason why at the end of each year the dictionaries report so many new words and usages....

[Julie in Norfolk]

I fear that the misuse of language skills is an increasing trend and born of sheer laziness.

Modern tools (computers, smart phones etc.) are taking away the need to think. I was always taught that you should not use a calculator until you had learned how to do the calculation. You should then approximate the answer to ensure that your calculator had provided the right answer. Working from left to right is not correct when there is a complex equation to resolve.

The same should be said for use of English (or whatever language you are learning). Don't use autocorrect, check what you are writing, make sure that you can be understood. I'm not the best at anything, but I do try.

[Stanley]

There is so much sense in that post!

[Tizer]

And it's what I was taught as I became a scientist and later in publishing.

[Julie in Norfolk]

My favourite word error of the moment is "aloud", as with "he was not aloud to do that"! When I say favourite, it actually makes me gnash my teeth. And yes, after writing the word "gnash" I did look up the etymology.

[Stanley]

For years I pronounced 'misled' wrong. I thought the mis bit was pronounced like the 'i' in prized.....
This reminds me of the little girl who asked her Mum why man used to be executed for laughing.... Her Mum asked why she thought that and the girl showed her an old news report where a man was hung for manslaughter.... (Man's laughter!)

[Tripps]

My favourite word error of the moment is "aloud", as with "he was not aloud to do that"

I call them 'word ignorances' (in a kind way). They are getting more common.

I like "tarnished with the same brush" and "tow the line", and I saw "doesn't pass mustard" recently.

PS read this and you will join the few who know the correct form of this saying. . . . .

Let's clear up a common mistake
Many people say "Cut your cloth according to your size" or "Cut your cloth according to your material." But the correct idiom is: Cut your coat according to your cloth. OR Cut your coat to suit your cloth.

[Julie in Norfolk]

Yesterday's stand out claim:

"Rubbish and needles scattered on the toe path next to the river."

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

Her Mum asked why she thought that and the girl showed her an old news report where a man was hung for manslaughter.... (Man's laughter!)

The news editor should have been hanged for that mistake!

[Stanley]

'FARRIER' attracted my attention this morning.
The word "farrier" comes from the Latin term ferrum, meaning "iron," and evolved through Middle French ferrier ("blacksmith") and Old French ferreor. The root indicates a craftsman working with iron, which historically referred to the blacksmith who also cared for and shoed horses.

[Tizer]

That makes me think of French railways: Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français