| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 402.1 | | AKOV68::BOYAJIAN | Science Is Golden | Sat Aug 22 1987 08:30 | 3 |
| plane from airplane from aeroplane
--- jerry
|
| 402.2 | stay cool | COMICS::KEY | Calling International Rescue... | Mon Aug 24 1987 08:25 | 5 |
| Fridge from refrigerator (English English - I don't know why the
Americans have never adopted this: five-syllable common nouns waste
a lot of time...)
Andy
|
| 402.3 | History | MARVIN::KNOWLES | Men's sauna in corpore sano | Mon Aug 24 1987 09:00 | 23 |
|
There must be loads like
phone from telephone
In cases like that, the long word tries to explain what is new
technology; when the new technology is no longer new, everyone's
too busy using it to bother with the explanation. I think this applies
to the examples in .0 .1 and .2 (even, maybe, 'can' - I wonder if
the abbreviated form was ever used before canning factories
were thought of?)
I think replies to this topic will have fewer of the sort
where the abbreviated form has taken on a life of its own,
like
fan from fanatic
I wonder if any new twist in the history of aeronautics will
impart a new and original meaning to 'copter', different from
helicopter?
b
|
| 402.4 | | ERASER::KALLIS | Raise Hallowe'en awareness. | Mon Aug 24 1987 11:18 | 5 |
| One of my favorites was "mental telepathy," now shortened to
"telepathy." Someone asked the legitimate question, "What other
kind of telepathy _is_ there?"
Steve Kallis, Jr.
|
| 402.5 | sick shorts | SSDEVO::GOLDSTEIN | | Mon Aug 24 1987 18:56 | 6 |
| flu from influenza
polio from poliomyelitis
Bernie
|
| 402.6 | | DSSDEV::STONE | Roy | Tue Aug 25 1987 13:20 | 3 |
| AIDS <-- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
It's still usually capitalized, but for how long??
|
| 402.7 | | MAGOO::PFC | What a concept! | Wed Aug 26 1987 09:06 | 5 |
|
car from carriage
(I think.)
|
| 402.8 | | MARVIN::KNOWLES | Men's sauna in corpore sano | Wed Aug 26 1987 09:08 | 4 |
| taxi from taximeter [the 'clock'] from 'taximeter cab'
recap from recapitulate
|
| 402.9 | | IPG::GOODENOUGH | Jeff Goodenough, IPG Reading-UK | Wed Aug 26 1987 10:43 | 3 |
| > taxi from taximeter [the 'clock'] from 'taximeter cab'
cab from 'cabriolet'
|
| 402.10 | musical shorts | SSDEVO::GOLDSTEIN | | Wed Aug 26 1987 19:26 | 3 |
| piano from pianoforte
cello from violoncello
|
| 402.11 | Not so cool | RUTLND::SATOW | | Fri Aug 28 1987 13:13 | 9 |
| re: .2
> Fridge from refrigerator
I'm not so sure that's where `Fridge' came from. It could also be a short for
`Frigidaire', which is interesting in its own right, because it is a trademark
that became synonymous with the generic product (refrigerator).
Clay
|
| 402.12 | | ERIS::CALLAS | Strange days, indeed. | Fri Aug 28 1987 14:45 | 5 |
| Also, there's "mob" from "populi mobile" via "pop. mob." The same sort
of people that rail against "hopefully" these days railed against "mob"
in the 18th century.
Jon
|
| 402.13 | | ERIS::CALLAS | Strange days, indeed. | Fri Aug 28 1987 14:50 | 5 |
| An interesting thing I've noticed about "phone" and "plane" is that
in novels written in the twenties and thirties, you see "'plane"
and "'phone." I wonder when the apostrophe was dropped.
Jon
|
| 402.14 | "Today" was once "to-day," too... | ERASER::KALLIS | Not now. I've got an idache. | Fri Aug 28 1987 16:39 | 5 |
| Well, my favorite holiday was once "The Eve of All Hallows," then
"All Hallow's Eve," then "Hallow's Eve," then "Hallowe'en." Some
silly revisionists have dropped the apostrophe..."
Steve Kallis, Jr.
|
| 402.15 | apostrophising | COMICS::KEY | Calling International Rescue... | Wed Sep 02 1987 08:48 | 9 |
| re: .11
The Shorter Oxford Dictionary describes "Fridge" as being derived
from "refrigerator". Like "phone", it used to be spelt with a leading
apostrophe ('fridge). My mum always spells it "frig"...
Phone is *still* 'phone to many people, at least in Britain.
Andy
|
| 402.16 | | SSDEVO::GOLDSTEIN | | Wed Sep 02 1987 19:04 | 6 |
| Re: .15
Do you still use the aposthophe with 'photo' for photograph or with
'mum' for chrysanthemum?
Bernie
|
| 402.17 | | PASTIS::MONAHAN | I am not a free number, I am a telephone box | Thu Sep 03 1987 03:15 | 2 |
| As far as I can remember the only place I have seen 'chrysanthemum'
abbreviated is the U.S.
|
| 402.18 | | MLNIT5::FINANCE | | Thu Sep 03 1987 06:23 | 9 |
| MLNOIS::HARBIG
In Italy they've shortened refrigerator from
frigorifero to frigor but they haven't cut
telefono to fono and for some strange reason
fono is used for a hair dryer but considering
the full version is asciuga capelli perhaps it
was better to use it for that.
Max
|
| 402.19 | Veg | MARVIN::KNOWLES | Men's sauna in corporation baths | Thu Sep 03 1987 08:15 | 23 |
| Fruit/flower/veg [there's one] stall holders and shop keepers often
abbreviate names of what they're selling. I don't think the word
"chrysanth" qualifies as a regular word in standard English, but it's
the only abbreviation I've heard for "chrysanthemum". Odd that Am.
English uses "mum" for this flower. In Br. English, "mum" would clash
with "mum" (where Am. English has "mom"), "mum" (as the colloquial
abbreviation of the formal "ma'am" - used rarely, in my experience [for
the Queen Mother and my third form English teacher]), and "mum"
(meaning "schtum" [?spelling]).
Other produce-related abbreviations (off the top of my head):
cauli from cauliflower
mush from mushroom
cue from cucumber
glads from gladioli
I'm sure there are many more, none of them standard or dialectal.
The apostrophe in "phone" is surely on the way out. How many people
persist in putting one on "bus"?
b
|
| 402.20 | "Magic mushes" just doesn't sound right | CLT::MALER | | Thu Sep 03 1987 12:25 | 9 |
| Funny--in the U.S., I've heard and seen "'shroom" for "mushroom,"
spelled half-jokingly with the apostrophe (and I've heard/seen it from
Hawaii, which used to do a great business in magic mushrooms, to New
England...).
I bet this one started with drugspeak, the idea being to obscure
the real subject of discussion with jargon.
@V@
|
| 402.21 | | ERIS::CALLAS | Strange days, indeed. | Thu Sep 03 1987 17:18 | 5 |
| Gee, I never heard "frig" used to mean "masturbate," but as a direct
replacement for the Canonical Anglo-Saxon F-Word. As in, "That frigging
system won't boot!"
Jon
|
| 402.22 | The cold, cold ground | SSDEVO::GOLDSTEIN | | Thu Sep 03 1987 19:45 | 7 |
| Re: .19
'Glads' is used here too, but we shorten 'cucumber' to 'cuke' (long
u). I can see why you don't use 'mum.' What would people think
if you told them that you planted your mum?
Bernie
|
| 402.23 | | UCOUNT::LYNCH | Bill Lynch | Fri Sep 04 1987 16:46 | 128 |
|
Moved here from Note 379...
-- Bill
================================================================================
Note 379.19 DEC-Words 19 of 29
WAGON::DONHAM "Born again! And again, and again..." 5 lines 2-SEP-1987 15:21
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.17:
Better keep your eye on your Mum..."frig" means "to masturbate."
================================================================================
Note 379.20 DEC-Words 20 of 29
ERASER::KALLIS "Raise Hallowe'en awareness." 5 lines 2-SEP-1987 16:02
-< ? >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re .19:
In what language or patois?
Steve Kallis, Jr.
================================================================================
Note 379.21 DEC-Words 21 of 29
PASTIS::MONAHAN "I am not a free number, I am a tele" 2 lines 2-SEP-1987 16:10
-< a common tongue >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
common (*very* common) English - as opposed to Refined English.
No doubt it is different again in American?
================================================================================
Note 379.22 DEC-Words 22 of 29
MLNIT5::FINANCE 8 lines 3-SEP-1987 06:02
-< The Jock Strap Ensemble ? >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MLNOIS::HARBIG
re .21
I remember the title of a very vulgar little ditty
from my student days called, I believe, "Frigging
in the Rigging."
Max
================================================================================
Note 379.23 DEC-Words 23 of 29
WELSWS::MANNION "Farewell Welfare, Pt. 3" 9 lines 3-SEP-1987 06:45
-< An innocent meaning... >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But frig also means to fake something, at least amongst all the
sw support guys I have ever worked with. So "We'll have to frig
it" was not an invitation to group onanism, but usually an admission
that your demonstration wasn't going to work and you had to cheat.
Conjobble has sometimes been used in the same context, though usually
by me!
Phillip
================================================================================
Note 379.24 DEC-Words 24 of 29
MARVIN::KNOWLES "Men's sauna in corporation baths" 1 line 3-SEP-1987 08:36
-< Italian frigging? >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does "frig" in that sense have any link with (It.) fregare?
================================================================================
Note 379.25 DEC-Words 25 of 29
CHARON::MCGLINCHEY "Get a Bigger Hammer" 12 lines 3-SEP-1987 11:23
-< FRIGMOBILE >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While driving in Australia, I nearly ran off the road
when I saw a truck labeled:
FRIGMOBILE
in LARGE lettering. My wife grabbed the camera and took
several pictures of it.
Turns out it was a refrigerator truck.
-Glinch.
================================================================================
Note 379.26 DEC-Words 26 of 29
MLNIT5::FINANCE 17 lines 3-SEP-1987 11:33
-< frig pronounced fridge? >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MLNOIS::HARBIG
re.24
Haven't the faintest idea but phonetically it
is nearer to friggere (to fry) as in:-
"Vai a farti ti friggere!"-"Go to Hell!".
By the way my Cassel's Italian-English Dictionary
gives the following :-
frigorifero, n.m. Refrigerator,"frig";cold storage;
ice-chamber
I've always thought it was fridge but maybe that's
Australian because I think the first ones that
replaced our ice boxes were Frigidaires.
Just in passing I'd hate to have to use an ice-chamber
on a cold winter's night.
Max
================================================================================
Note 379.27 DEC-Words 27 of 29
LEZAH::BOBBITT "face piles of trials with smiles" 5 lines 4-SEP-1987 14:38
-< Please don't ask how I know... >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
shamefacedly I refer you to a number of "victorian novels", including
perhaps the likes of "A man with a maid" and "The pearl", if you'd
like to see frig in the previously mentioned context...
|