1.

Jonathan Caws-Elwitt
June 25th, 2007 at 7:13 am

Though it’s not “feather”-relevant, I do have a real-life story pertaining to money and etymology.

I have a certain degree of fluency in French, and so, when I found myself in front of a bakery counter in the Gare du Midi in Brussels a few years back, it was natural for me to converse with the cashier in French. (You’ll notice that the reference to the Gare du Midi is completely superfluous. For the purposes of the story, I could have been anywhere in French-speaking Europe. But, like many writers, I believe in the beneficial effects of enhancing one’s prose through the addition of colorful details–by which I mean we get paid by the word.)

What I was trying to do was apologize for the fact that I had only a large bill with which to pay for my coffee and croissant. “If that’s a problem,” I said in French, “my wife has corners.” You see, though I’ve known since sixth grade that the French for “coins” is “de la monnaie,” what came out of my mouth was the French phrase “des coins,” i.e., corners. My pronunciation was no doubt impeccable, but that hardly mattered, under the circumstances.

A visit this morning to the Online Etymology Dictionary, which a certain Murray Suid turned me on to, reveals that the French and English words “coin” are related:

coin (n.)
1304, from O.Fr. coigne “a wedge, cornerstone,” from L. cuneus “a wedge.” Die for stamping metal was wedge-shaped, and the word came to mean “thing stamped, a piece of money” by c.1386.

Now I don’t feel nearly as stupid. Another life made happier through the healing power of etymology!

2.

Craig
June 25th, 2007 at 8:50 am

Murray, I loved your note that “Etymologists are not licensed to practice medicine.” Herbology is another matter. My herbalist is always discussing roots.

Jonathan: Very nifty sleuthing about coins and corners!

3.

Murray Suid
June 25th, 2007 at 9:03 am

Nick,
Thanks for your delightfully enthusiastic introduction. It’s the kind of “thumbs up” that any writer would gladly pay for. (And I forget: Exactly how much am I paying you for those words?)

Jonathan,
I felt I was right there with you in Brussels–”Bruxelles” as I usually call it (after a quick visit to Wikipedia). Anyway, your vignette not only taught me that doublets are universal, but you also just saved me several thousand dollars because I don’t have to fly to Europe to learn about words. And it wouldn’t haven’t happened without Nick’s website. More proof that Punny Money is a cash cow.

4.

Marie
June 25th, 2007 at 10:06 am

I have never been on this page before so I was intrigued by the little quiz on the right. “What would you do for 50 Million dollars, assuming you wouldn’t be caught.” Taxes seemed like the logical answer but after reading in Murray’s book that decimal is related to decimate and it is rooted in Latin from when the Roman’s would take a tenth for taxes… kind of like moving the decimal point to the right on all you own… or they would decimate by killing one in ten.. that is a steep tax. So fear of getting caught cheating on my taxes and being decimated led me to choose “Trip an old lady.” Yeah, there are a few that I would consider. I see I am in a minority though. Let me get back to Word of a Feather and see if I can find an excuse for my brutality.

5.

Murray Suid
June 25th, 2007 at 11:33 am

Marie,
Thanks for stopping by. Your comment about “brutality” sent me to various sources, where I learned that “brute” is related to “brut” (French for “dry,” meaning “not sweet”). So while you’re brainstorming reasons for knocking down old ladies just to obtain $50 million, why not uncork a bottle of champagne. Could give you some ideas. And if you get caught, you can always say “The bubbly made me do it.”

Related and much more insightful is Nick’s post on advancing your career through drinking: http://www.punny.org/index.php?s=wine

6.

Marie
June 25th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

Thanks for pointing me to Nick’s page. Nick’s observations about “drinking to your own success” is brilliant. I have observed the same phenonmenon but never expressed it so clearly. You don’t want to be the only (sober) one standing around at party’s end with your face scrunched up in disbelief at the dripple being offered as advise or wisdom. This type of non plus hostility is not taken lightly. Been there done that and prefer the intoxicated version of how things went. Which reminds me of noose & denouement in Words of a Feather. Just when you think you may have hung yourself (politically, socially, ie foot in mouth) the denouement reveals you are now best friends with last nights drinking buddies. Thank you Nick, I shall use this clever advice.

7.

Major Fun
June 27th, 2007 at 12:16 pm

Words of a Feather - A Humorous Puzzlement of Etymological Pairs, in case you were wondering, is for people who like to play with words. Or who like the play of words. Pairs of words. Pairs of words you wouldn’t think belong paired up. Like, for example, computer, and reputation. I extract:

“It’s deliciously apt that the tarnishing of his reputation (HAL, the computer in 2001) is what pushes the computer over the edge, for both reputation and computer trace back to the Latin phrase putare, “to reckon,” a word that encompasses solving mathematical and moral problems, implied in the phrase ‘day of reckoning.’”

“Ah,” you probably are saying to yourself, “how apt, how deliciously apt.”

If in fact you find such aptness delicious, Words of a Feather will prove to be a conceptual banquet of conversation-worthy tidbits. “Which reminds me,” you might say in answer to the question “why are you late for dinner,” “did you know that senate and senile are etymologically related, and that it wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that senile acquired the meaning of ‘weak or infirm from age.’”

Written by Murray Suid, author of over 25 books, including Demonic Mnemonics - Eight Hundred Spelling Tricks for Eight Hundred Tricky Words, and an old friend of mine when I was working in Philadelphia some 35 years ago, the book reflects a deep love of language and learning, and, most significantly, a thorough appreciation for the incongruous.

Page after page of entertaining reflections on connections between words that simply shouldn’t belong together - coronation and coroner, mercenary and mercy, stupendous and stupid - Words of a Feather is playful enough to make you want to flock to your local bookseller.

Should you need more incentive, wing your way to the Words of a Feather website.