Experiment and experience both come from the Latin experiri. In Spanish experiencia can be used as a synonym for experimento–I think this is particularly true of the pre-C20th language–and something tells me I’ve read nineteenth century English in which the same applies. Experiential evidence is, however, in short supply. Regrettably, this is often the case…
Wondering idle & aloud whether the origins of that outrageous compliment “the dog’s bollocks” are to be found in a time when we appreciated the finer cuts of dog. Brewery De Klok (“The Clock”) in Zottegem in Belgium used to produce a beer called Poepentsoe. This means literally “the pig’s hole (ie posterior orifice)” but…
OED: A black, magnetic, isometric oxide of nickel and ferric iron, NiFe2O4, belonging to the spinel group. 1921A. F. CROSSE in Jrnl. Chem., Metallurgical & Mining Soc. S. Afr. XXI. 126/2 One of the most interesting mineralogical discoveries..in the Transvaal..is an extraordinarily rich nickel ore… This ore is as far as I am able to…
A semi-literate, a verbose nitwit, from Writer’s Block. Romance language speakers are nothing like as innovative or as welcoming of innovation as the Dutch.
The hash-crazed killer etymology we all know and love is, according to Nouvelle Langue Française (via Langue sauce piquante), a nonsense, invented in 1809 by a dilettante orientalist, Silvestre de Sacy. We should, instead, be looking to the Arabic, assas, guard.
One would almost suppose from nationalist eulogies that Aragón came from paragon. In fact it is a corruption of paraguas, umbrella, which, placed upside-down, clearly resembles the hydroelectric dams which the region so cherishes. There is a river Paragua in Venezuela, and in the City pressure is growing to rename that stately stream that with…
The inhabitants of Llobatera, Venezuela call stomatitis (sores and/or inflammation inside the mouth) “tener sapos en la boca”. I don’t know if this is related to having a frog in your throat, and I imagine there’s no way of finding out.
Wynand Myburgh may be part of the Mark Liberman/Chris Waigl “base” eggcorn complex. The 28 “base guitar” ghits in Google Books include such sterling refs as Asante & Mazama’s Encyclopedia of Black Studies, and the following passage from Black Ice by C Rowe Myers seems to confirm that in some cases writers are using it…