MyDoorsAreOpen
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2003
- Messages
- 8,549
As a true word nerd, I'm a big fan of dissecting idioms for their likely etymology -- "think about what you're literally saying there". There are a few I've run across where, when I thought about what they originally meant, I'm rather dumbfounded as to how they ever lost their clearly vulgar origins. I dedicate this thread to putting on trial some common English word usages and idioms whose crass origins are clearly not often thought about by most people who use them. If you'd like to dispute my proposed etymologies in favor of something more genteel, please enlighten me. Maybe my mind is just in the gutter too much. Also, feel free to add your own.
* Splurge. The expression "I'm gonna splurge on that" really highlights this word's original meaning best of all. Sure, it's probably a portmanteau of splash + surge. But that doesn't change the fact that it likens a sudden glorious outflow of cash to the male orgasm. It's not far removed from a number of other words that are not said on TV, like "spooge"
* Pain in the rear. I've had people explain this one away as an analogy to sitting on a tack, but I'm pretty sure the "Squeal like a pig, boy!" scene from the movie Deliverance best captured its original meaning.
Along these same lines:
* How could you do me like that?
* Shafted
* Stiffed
* Stuck
* Bug (as a verb). I think people have let this one slide because they think it references flies, which annoy people and hang out on walls unnoticed. I think it's actually a shortened form of "bugger". Could you imagine gently tapping a stranger on the shoulder and saying, "Look, I hate to bugger you, but..."
* Monkey around / monkey business. I realized the racist origin of this expression after hearing various low-class people say things like "That's some [looked-down-upon ethnic group] shit, right there!", after being ripped off.
* Johnny on the spot. In other words, comparable to a very able lover who can always get it up at a moment's notice, and jams in just in the right place to please his lady. Really a clever expression, if this is indeed its origin, since even its dirtiest beginnings had a double meaning.
* Knack. I'd forgive Americans for not seeing the racist origins of this one, but not Brits or Irish.
* Jack[ed]. (Noun or verb, all of its meanings.) Apparently all of the meanings of this word derive from the proper name Jack, in reference to it being an extremely common name among common folk. Strikes me as kind of classist / elitist, from that perspective. I guess you could see it as a backhanded compliment when used to mean "muscular", comparing someone to a working class laborer, stereotypically named Jack. But its ugly side really shows when it's used to mean "nothing", or as a verb to mean "rob", since you're associating those things with the working class. Before you think I'm oversensitive or overthinking this, consider that it's mild-to-moderately offensive to use a presumed common first name as a catch-all term for an ethnic or class group. I'd think twice before using "Guido" or "Yuki" or "Jimbob" to refer to someone whose name I didn't know or care to know. Why is "Jack" really any different, when you think about it?
That's enough intellectual self-strokery for now. Feel free to comment or add. I could be way off base with some of these.
* Splurge. The expression "I'm gonna splurge on that" really highlights this word's original meaning best of all. Sure, it's probably a portmanteau of splash + surge. But that doesn't change the fact that it likens a sudden glorious outflow of cash to the male orgasm. It's not far removed from a number of other words that are not said on TV, like "spooge"
* Pain in the rear. I've had people explain this one away as an analogy to sitting on a tack, but I'm pretty sure the "Squeal like a pig, boy!" scene from the movie Deliverance best captured its original meaning.
Along these same lines:
* How could you do me like that?
* Shafted
* Stiffed
* Stuck
* Bug (as a verb). I think people have let this one slide because they think it references flies, which annoy people and hang out on walls unnoticed. I think it's actually a shortened form of "bugger". Could you imagine gently tapping a stranger on the shoulder and saying, "Look, I hate to bugger you, but..."
* Monkey around / monkey business. I realized the racist origin of this expression after hearing various low-class people say things like "That's some [looked-down-upon ethnic group] shit, right there!", after being ripped off.
* Johnny on the spot. In other words, comparable to a very able lover who can always get it up at a moment's notice, and jams in just in the right place to please his lady. Really a clever expression, if this is indeed its origin, since even its dirtiest beginnings had a double meaning.
* Knack. I'd forgive Americans for not seeing the racist origins of this one, but not Brits or Irish.
* Jack[ed]. (Noun or verb, all of its meanings.) Apparently all of the meanings of this word derive from the proper name Jack, in reference to it being an extremely common name among common folk. Strikes me as kind of classist / elitist, from that perspective. I guess you could see it as a backhanded compliment when used to mean "muscular", comparing someone to a working class laborer, stereotypically named Jack. But its ugly side really shows when it's used to mean "nothing", or as a verb to mean "rob", since you're associating those things with the working class. Before you think I'm oversensitive or overthinking this, consider that it's mild-to-moderately offensive to use a presumed common first name as a catch-all term for an ethnic or class group. I'd think twice before using "Guido" or "Yuki" or "Jimbob" to refer to someone whose name I didn't know or care to know. Why is "Jack" really any different, when you think about it?
That's enough intellectual self-strokery for now. Feel free to comment or add. I could be way off base with some of these.
