"Be nice" (an etymology thread)

[rgraham666]

Gay became a euphemism for any form of immoral sex in the 19th century.

Not surprising. The Victorians were really serious people.

 

[Xelebes]

And the word dyke come from?

Comes from the old slang word, bulldyker where some hypothesise that it comes from the old slang word for the vulva, dyke.

 

[CharleyH]

The Dutch - the finger in the hole ?

Or maybe because dykes used to wear caps?

Hmm - explain a bit more.

 

[CharleyH]

Comes from the old slang word, bulldyker where some hypothesise that it comes from the old slang word for the vulva, dyke.

And it evolved into a word to describe a certain sect of lesbians, how?

 

[neonlyte]

Hmm - explain a bit more.

You jest...

The Dutch boy who put his finger in the hole in the dyke to stop the water seeping out and flooding the town...

Dutch caps, worn by early dykes... on the head, and no longer fitted, as it were, for contraception.

Yes... I'm making it up as I'm going along

 

[Xelebes]

And it evolved into a word to describe a certain sect of lesbians, how?

One hypothesis is that dyke was another word for cunt. A bull cunt is... well, you can imagine where the connection comes from.

 

[Xelebes]

You jest...

The Dutch boy who put his finger in the hole in the dyke to stop the water seeping out and flooding the town...

Dutch caps, worn by early dykes... on the head, and no longer fitted, as it were, for contraception.

Yes... I'm making it up as I'm going along

Dyke meant a trench in English, not a sea-wall.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Sorry, but you're wrong. The very first meaning of 'nice' is ignorant - it came into English from Latin and French (nescient). The meaning you cite only started around the 15thC and is pejorative.

'That is a nice point' means a petty, finnicky, sticking to the rules, attitude rather than the spirit of the law.

The prob is the word has been a mongrel all its life and now probably is past use.

Thanks, Elfin

I wonder now, if the current usage actually comes from some other source... naw, i can see the probable evolution there.

Dyke meant a trench in English, not a sea-wall.

That sounds right-- rather pastoral

 

[neonlyte]

One might have guessed pirates would feature somewhere in the explanation of the origin of dyke: "The word dike appeared in 1710 in British newspaper stories about cross-dressing pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. One editorial euphemistically referred to their cross dressing with a French word, dike, which refers to men's clothing."

 

[Stella_Omega]

One might have guessed pirates would feature somewhere in the explanation of the origin of dyke: "The word dike appeared in 1710 in British newspaper stories about cross-dressing pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. One editorial euphemistically referred to their cross dressing with a French word, dike, which refers to men's clothing."

No big surprise, eh?

Evidently "Diked" was an alternate pronunciation of "Decked" as in, "Decked out"--
I saw that attribution somewhere today in the interwebs. But that author was saying the he had no support for linking "diked out," meaning dandy-dressing, with anything that might mean a woman dressing masculine-- maybe you just provided that link!

 

[Guest]

bustle (1)
"be active," 1362, frequentative of M.E. bresten "to rush, break," from O.E. bersten, infl. by O.N. buask "to make oneself ready." The noun is first attested 1622. Bustling, of a place, is first recorded 1880.

bustle (2)
"padding in a skirt," 1788, perhaps from Ger. Buschel "bunch, pad," or may be a special use of bustle (1) with ref. to "rustling motion."

However, no one wears bustles any more, and now we're left with the original meaning. Pity, in a way.


I Was A Bustlemaker Once, Girls

When I was a lad of twenty and was working in High Street, Ken.,
I made quite a pile in a very little while - I was a bustle maker then.
Then there was work in plenty, and I was a thriving man
But things have decayed in the bustle making trade, since the bustle making trade began.
I built bustles with a will then, I made bustles with a wit,
I made bustles as a Yankee hustles, simply for the love of it.
I built bustles with a skill then, surpassed, they say, by none,
But those were the days when bustles were the craze, and now those days are done.
I was a bustle maker once, girls, many many years ago,
I put my heart in the bustle maker's art and I don't mind saying so.
I may have had the brains of a dunce, girls, I may have had the mind of a muff,
I may have been plain and deficient in the brain but I did know a bustle maker's stuff.
I built bustles for the slender, I built bustles for the stout,
I built bustles for the girls with muscles, and bustles for the girls without.
I built bustles by the thousands, in the good old days of yore,
But things have decayed in the bustle making trade and I don't build bustles any more.
Many were the models worn once; but mine were unique, tis said,
No rival design was so elegant as mine; I was a bustle maker bred.
I was a bustle maker born once, an artist through and through,
But things have decayed in the bustle making trade
And what can a bustle maker do?
I built bustles to enchant, girls, I built bustles to amaze,
I built bustles for the skirt that rustles, and bustles for the skirt that sways.
I built bustles for my aunt, girls, when other business fled,
But a bustle maker can't make bustles for his aunt when a bustle maker's aunt is dead.
I was a bustle maker once, girls, once in the days gone by,
I lost my heart to the bustle maker's art, and that I don't deny.
I may have had the brains of a dunce, girls, as many men appear to suppose,
I may have been obtuse and of little other use
But I could make a bustle when I chose.
I built bustles for the bulging, I built bustles for the lithe,
I built bustles for the girls in Brussels and bustles for the girls in Hythe.
I built bustles for all Europe once, but I've been badly hit,
Things have decayed in the bustle making trade
And that it the truth of it.

Patrick Barrington

 

[Katyusha]

Literally.

The first meaning for the word means in the strictest sense, or actually and without exxageration. Now, not only is the usage different, it's entirely opposite. "He literally blew his top," Pam remarked when describing her husband's flat tire..

This one drives me nuts. I use "literally" in its original form and it bugs me when people use it for emphasis on something.

I think I'm taking after my father...help...

 

[Katyusha]

Like:

Dates back to the 13th century and comes from a combination of words in several languages such as Old and Middle English, Old High German, and Lithuanian. Like was originally used in concert with the words as and unto.

Also used as a noun; "the likes of you," or meaning one of many objects that are similar, "juniper, cypress and the like;" as a preposition, "it's like the last time we were here," and can be used in place of typical, "It's so like you to act this way;" as a verb, "I like Italian food," "She would like another drink;" and as a conjunction, "I did it exactly like you told me to."

These days it's often used as an adverb to emphasize something in conversation, "It was like, amazing;" or used in place of the word said, "And I was like, 'Oh good god." It can be an approximation, "He was like six feet tall," and even an apologetic, "Can I, like, crash at your place tonight?"

It's so taken for granted in the English language that we hardly even think about how it's being used; like all simple words with a jillion meanings, we just use it, and never think about it.

 

[cantdog]

Your "preposition' example is actually a conjunction.

 

[fifty5]

Transparent

Originally used to describe things like window glass which were so 'transparent' that they could be ignored.

Now used to mean 'apparent' - entirely visible.

<threadjack>
Different but related...

"Harass" - with the stress on the second syllable instead of the first (first syllable emphasis is shown as the correct usage in the seventh edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary). Introduced by Michael Crawford (maybe by direction) in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em as an example of Frank Spencer's ineptitude, but now the common pronunciation.
</threadjack>

 

[Edward Teach]

Scan

Used to mean "examine closely," but now is often used to mean the opposite.

 

[tickledkitty]

Eddie, darling. You're looking dapper.

 

[Edward Teach]

Eddie, darling. You're looking dapper.

And you're looking, well, edible.

 

[tickledkitty]

And you're looking, well, edible.

Oh, I am the incredible, edible, delightfully delicious kitty of your dreams.

 

[Edward Teach]

Oh, I am the incredible, edible, delightfully delicious kitty of your dreams.

I'm tickled

 

[tickledkitty]

I'm tickled

I bet.

I'm getting loopy. G'night Eddie, ol' buddy, ol' pal.

 

[Edward Teach]

I bet.

I'm getting loopy. G'night Eddie, ol' buddy, ol' pal.

Strawberry Wine will get you every time, TK.