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Word Origins
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 3:16 pm
by Beemeridian
11
Re: Word Origins
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:05 pm
by NoRRmad
From:
http://www.etymonline.com/baloney.php
The word poo has a long and well-documented history, far older than any large-scale organized sea-trade in northern Europe. Anglo-Saxon leechdom books use scittan in reference to cattle having diarrhea. A Latin text from 1118 refers to "Lues animalium, quæ Anglice Scitta vocatur, Latine autem fluxus interaneorum dici potest."
There are many examples of the verb from the 14th century [e.g., from 1387: þey wolde ... make hem a pitte ... whan þey wolde schite ...; and whanne þey hadde i-schete þey wolde fille þe pitte agen."]. The noun is attested from the 16th century, both in reference to excrement and to contemptible people.
Sorry to be a killjoy...
Re: Word Origins
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:50 pm
by Beemeridian
11
Re: Word Origins
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:44 pm
by NoRRmad
Well...
I heard once that English travelers to India, going by ship, prized the staterooms that faced the land during the journey. So, people with enough money for the expensive cabins would book their passage as "Port Outbound, Starboard Home."
Hence POSH.
But that's not true, either.
Re: Word Origins
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:19 pm
by Beemeridian
11
Re: Word Origins
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:29 am
by marine dad
on't know if it's true or not, but i've always hear that our popular word for sex came from the time when people who committed adultery were placed in public positions of ridicule, such as the english "stocks", with their crime written overhead. adulterers were put there For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge