Humorous etymology?

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Dinosaur, May 23, 2008.

  1. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,885
    Several years ago, somebody said the following was the origin of the word polytics.
    • Poli from Greek "poly" meaning many & tics from Anglo Saxon meaning blood sucking parasites.
    Does anyone here know of other such word origins?
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. skaught The field its covered in blood Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,103
    it would certaily be fitting.
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. darini Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    47
    lol, best definition ever.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    cheers
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. iceaura Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    30,994
    The movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" had the Greek etymology of "kimono".

    Something to do with snow, IIRC, and robes worn as protection agaisnt the cold.
     
  8. melodicbard Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    208
    But Kimono is japanese

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  9. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    But the people were Americans. Japanese is so phonetically impoverished that it's full of homonyms. I'm sure you could come up with ten different combinations of words that would be pronounced ki-mo-no. In fact the Japanese do that for a pastime, especially with names. I had a friend whose name means "Little Sunshine Girl," but she could write it in different kanji to mean "Honey Child." Sorry, it's been thirty years so all I remember is the anecdote, not the actual name.
     
  10. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,885
    In the Greek wedding movie, the bride's Greek father atrributed almost everything to the Greek culture. Why not the etymology of a Japanese word?

    I do not remember that incident from the movie but remember the father giving the Greek culture credit for almost everything.
     
  11. melodicbard Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    208
    Dinosaur,

    I haven't watched the movie and so did not get the joke, thanks for clarifying.
     
  12. FelixC Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    134
    D:
    1. greeks may have bragging rights to much of "western" culture, definitely to many words in the English language, either directly or via concepts
    "demos" "kratos"
    "ge" "metria"
    found this <cite> http://www.etymonline.com </cite>

    2. don't you find it ironic that we're using a "greek" word to say "origin of"?
     
  13. Zephyr Humans are ONE Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,371
    The Kimono scene starts at 2:16 in this vid.
     
  14. quantum_wave Contemplating the "as yet" unknown Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,677
    I'm not sure I get the Kimono joke, accept that grandpa was "barmy".

    Reminds me of a game we used to play, pretending to come up with the source of words. It was best to make it up and say it with an aire of elitist pretense.

    For example:

    Barmy comes from barm, a form of the British "bum" for rear end, and a colloquial use of army meaning "smarmy", an insincere ass, hence barmy means a dumb ass. I guess the game wasn't all that much fun

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    .
     
  15. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    Feline -

    From when people had to stand in line
    Just to pay their kitty cat fee
    So they would not pay a fine
    When the cat roamed free.
     
  16. nghia_dtvt5 Registered Member

    Messages:
    18
    Kimono is Japanese,i agree
     
  17. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,057
    I thought "barmy" came from the foam on a glass of beer, which is called "barm". Thus "barmy" is "frothy", the approximate equivalent of "airhead".

    I used to think that "barmy" was "balmy" because of the British inability to pronounce th letter "ah" (the letter between "cue" and "ess").

    There's a good joke in Hitchcock's The Secret Agent: John Gielgud is meeting the head of the Secret Service, who says, "You can call me 'Ah'." Gielgud asks, "'Ah' exclamation?" and Ah replies, "No. 'Ah' as in 'rhododendron'."
     
  18. KitemanSA Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    624
    I heard it poly = many ... and ... tete = french for face. So a polytetian was one of many faces.
     

Share This Page