Word of the Week – Backfire

by Roseanna White | Jul 28, 2014 | Word of the Week

Don’t you hate it when plans backfire?

Ever stop to wonder how long they’ve been doing it–with that exact word, anyway? No? Well, pause to wonder. 😉

One of the first meanings of backfire to find its way into English was a literal fire–one lit on a prairie to stop the advance of a wildfire and deprive it of fuel. This backfire joined the language in 1839, as a noun, with the verb of this meaning following in the 1880s.

But that’s certainly not what we mean by it in casual conversation today, right?

The next familiar meaning is fro 1897, that of “premature ignition of an internal combustion engine.” So the car that backfires. Sure.

What I find interesting is that the figurative meaning of “to affect the initiator rather than the intended object,” from 1912, is the newest meaning…from the oldest one. This of course alludes to the back-firing of a fire arm, when there’s an explosion from the breech of a gun–which dates from 1775-1780 in America. Backfire is, then, it seems, a word from the American Revolution. Who knew? (And okay, so I’m extrapolating that from the dates, but it seems logical, LOL.)

(The photo above is a normally operating flintlock rifle, not a backfiring one. Just FYI)

Word of the Week – Soccer

by Roseanna White | Jul 14, 2014 | Word of the Week

With all the World Cup stuff going on right now, this one seemed appropriate. And is why my kids asked, “Why do we call it soccer and everyone else call it football?”

So naturally, I looked it up. =)

As it turns out, soccer comes directly from football…sort of. It started as an abbreviation of Football Association. For reasons fairly obvious, rather than abbreviate with the first three letters of association, university kids would abbreviate it socc instead. Sometimes socca. In the 1890s, it was pretty common for university slang to apply an -er ending to just about anything. Rugby players were called ruggers, for example, so by 1891, soccer had joined the language. Probably first applied to the players, but it apparently stuck and became applied to the game itself.

Word of the Week – Celebrity

by Roseanna White | Jul 7, 2014 | Word of the Week

In the closing scene of The Lost Heiress, my hero is observing that someone has become a bit of a celebrity…so naturally, I had to look it up to make sure that it was in use like that in 1911.

I discovered that celebrity comes directly from the Old French and Latin word that means “a celebration.” Not surprising when you look at the words, right? So from 1400 to about 1600, it means “a solemn rite or ceremony.” Then it shifted to mean “condition of being famous.” Not the person, mind you, but the condition. So a person would have celebrity, they would not be a celebrity.

That “be” meaning didn’t come along until 1849–when it came to mean “a famous person.” So safe for my 1911 speaker, to be sure. Phew! 😉

~*~

On Colonial Quills today, you’ll find a guest review of Circle of Spies and a giveaway with it! The review is written by a reader from Goodreads, and if you enjoyed the book, I’d love it if you’d drop by and chime in! Read the Review & enter to win!

Word of the Week – Sentence

by Roseanna White | Jun 16, 2014 | Word of the Week

I’m so, so happy to be all done working on the old house. Finished up all that on Friday, and spent 12 hours yesterday getting this house back in order and putting away all the stuff we moved over! It feels awesome to know that today will be spent at my computer, not cleaning. And much needed–I have two weeks to turn in The Lost Heiress, and much work to do!.

But for now, our word of the week. =) Ever wonder at the two different meanings of sentence? On the one hand we have the grammatical meaning of a complete thought. On the other, we have a judgment rendered in court.

Interestingly, they both come from the same root. The Latin sententia means “thought, way of thinking, opinion; judgment, decision,” and also “a thought expressed; aphorism, saying.” This led to meaning “an authoritative saying.” From about 1200 on, it was used in this way, applied to any teaching or doctrine.

In the early 1300s, it began to be applied to court decisions. From there, it took on the connotation in the mid-1300s of “understanding; wisdom; edifying subject matter.” Then it shifted into “the subject matter of a book or speech” at the end of the century. And by the middle of the next century, it narrowed down to that idea of “a complete, grammatical thought.”

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Word of the Week – Hazard Symbols

by Roseanna White | Jun 9, 2014 | Word of the Week

While we were in the doctor’s office on Friday, we were musing about the biohazard symbol…and wondering what it meant and how it came to be chosen. So thanks to the wonders of smart phones, my hubby looked it up. 😉

I’m just going to quote directly from the source on this one.

“We wanted something that was memorable but meaningless, so we could educate people as to what it means.” In an article in Science
in 1967, the symbol was presented as the new standard for all
biological hazards (“biohazards”). The article explained that over 40
symbols were drawn up by Dow artists, and all of the symbols
investigated had to meet a number of criteria: “(i) striking in form in
order to draw immediate attention; (ii) unique and unambiguous, in order
not to be confused with symbols used for other purposes; (iii) quickly
recognizable and easily recalled; (iv) easily stenciled; (v)
symmetrical, in order to appear identical from all angles of approach;
and (vi) acceptable to groups of varying ethnic backgrounds.” The chosen
scored the best on nationwide testing for memorability.

Interesting, eh?

I’m fond of this one, LOL. Basically a drawing of a shout, it’s just a warning or hazard sign–a rather generic one, used in Europe when a specific hazard doesn’t fit. So you might see it on a road, for instance. Though apparently some places insist on a description sign posted under it so people know what they’re to be exclaiming about.

And finally…

The skull and crossbones is a rather universal symbol for poisonous material. But because it’s also on the Jolly Roger…and because playing pirates has become so much fun…in the U.S. the good ol’ skull is often replaced with Mr. Yuk, because they’re afraid the above will actually encourage children to play with it. Go figure!

And sheesh, what a bleak post, LOL. But hopefully as interesting to you as it was for me! Now go out and have a hazard-free day. 😉