Jump to content

Etymology ain't nothin' to do with insects


old man emu

Recommended Posts

28 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Then I realised - New Zealanders talk funny.

I remember years ago, I was using a mate's workshop facilities to do some work on a Nissan Patrol I had. I had the tray off and sitting on the ground while I was doing a chassis repair. After a while, a Kiwi mate of his wandered over and asked me what was wrong with my dick. I looked at him like a stunned mullet and queried him as to what he meant. His answer was "Your dick - what are you doing to your dick?". I finally figured out he was saying deck, which apparently was what a ute tray back was called where he came from.

  • Haha 1
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

It had to make an appearance sometime as it such a commonly used word, but its etymology is as much under a blanket as the act itself.

 

"To have sexual intercourse with", until recently a difficult word to trace in usage, in part because it was omitted as taboo and wasn't in a single English language dictionary from 1795 to 1965. The earliest attested appearance of current spelling is 1535 ("Bischops ... may fuck thair fill and be vnmaryit" [Sir David Lyndesay, "Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits"]) The verb form appears to have been found recently in an English court manuscript from 1310. Other very early examples of the word are from Scottish, which might suggest a Scandinavian origin, perhaps from a word akin to Norwegian dialectal fukka "copulate," or Swedish dialectal focka "copulate, strike, push," and fock "penis." The Old English verb for "have sexual intercourse with" was hæman, from ham "dwelling, home," with a sense of "take home, co-habit."

 

Fuck-all "nothing" first recorded 1960, so that puts in doubt the story of the all-knowing POW camp commandant. And Henry Ford's cars didn't introduce hanky-panky on the back seat. Flying fuck originally meant "sex had on horseback" and is first attested c. 1800 in broadside ballad "New Feats of Horsemanship", but who gives a ... The Ancient Egyptians did. Egyptian legal agreements from the 23rd Dynasty ( the one closest in time to us that ended with Cleopatra)  frequently include the phrase, "If you do not obey this decree, may a donkey copulate with you!" 

 

Verbs are classified as transitive or intransitive. "Fuck" is a transitive verb is a verb that requires an object to receive the action. Says it all, doesn't it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apologies if this is off topic, but what happened to Turkey at the ABC (the country, not the bird). It seems like they've had a directive from management that they are not allowed to call it Turkey any more. Some newsreaders are calling it Turk-eeya (like Ikea), some call it Turkey-yee, others call it Turkey-yay.

 

That ABC news reader who looks like an aged barbie doll got her self in a tangle last night. In relation to the earthquakes, she mentioned Turk-eeya, and in the same breath called Syria Sir-reeya, they way they pronounce Sharia. The rest of them at the ABC are pronouncing Syria normally, so I guess it was just Barbie stuffing up. I heard one of them start to call it Turkey until she realised her mistake and cut it short to say Turk-eeya. I haven't seen any other press outlets following suit' it seems to be a new ABC thing.

 

According to Turkey, it might be the correct terminology, but where do you draw the line. Why do they do that and not call Russia Ross-eea, Moscow Moskva, Saint Petersburg called Sankt Peeyettersborg etc.. It seems a bit silly, but maybe the Turkish embassy requested the new pronunciation, which nobody at the ABC seems to have mastered yet.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In May 2022, Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu requested the UN refer to his country using its Turkish-language name: Türkiye.

 

The UN agreed, and it wasn't long before DFAT and the US State Department followed suit.

 

While on the subject, the correct pronunciation of Ikea is Ee-Kay-a.

 

 

  • Like 1
  • Informative 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just another stunt by the Turks wanting us to all learn to speak Turkish, for when they take over the world. It's Turkey to me, and it will always be Turkey to me.

 

FYI, the Turks pronounce Türkiye as "Toor-kee-yeh". They claim the move was to separate the use of the word for the Turkey bird, from the name of their country.

 

Maybe they just got sick of being called a bunch of Turkeys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lotsa name changes lately....   Ayer's rock to Uluru, I didn't like the change much, but Ayer was only some rich pommy guy and Uluru therefore is OK to me.

I feel differently about Lake Eyre. Eyre was a genuine explorer and well deserves to have the lake named after him. Mind you, there are lots of other things named after Eyre, so maybe it doesn't matter too much.

I dunno about the Olgas, now called Kata Juta...  who was Olga ?

Edited by Bruce Tuncks
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kata Tjuṯa / The Olgas (Pitjantjatjara: Kata Tjuṯa, lit. 'many heads'; Aboriginal pronunciation: [kɐtɐ cʊʈɐ]) is a group of large, domed rock formations. 

 

The other name, The Olgas, comes from the tallest peak, Mount Olga. At the behest of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, Mount Olga was named in 1872 by Ernest Giles, in honour of Queen Olga of Württemberg (born Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, daughter of Tsar Nicholas I). She and her husband, King Charles I of Württemberg, had marked their 25th wedding anniversary the previous year by, among other things, naming Mueller a Freiherr (baron), making him Ferdinand von Mueller. The naming was his way of repaying the compliment.

  • Like 1
  • Informative 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...