 |
||||
Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
|
||||
You are not logged in. [Log In] Wordsmith Talk » Forums » (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) » Words with unusual etymologies » getting dressed for ... Register User Forum List Calendar Active Topics Search
Topic Options
#145146 - 07/17/05 11:30 AM getting dressed for ...
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 10/17/00
Posts: 5400
Loc: rego park
from the root of "to wear" it can be real clothing, (a vest)or a figurative 'clothing' (with the power vested in me..) or you can be vested (in a pension plan) which just means your are invested (but you also get invested with power!)
you divest, or invest, be vested, or wear a vest..
(but if you are invested with spiritual power, (ie, a preist or minister) you don't get devested, you get defrocked! (so you get vested, but your vest is a frock.)
and i am sure vest has other nuances.. (like vestment, and investment)_________________________
my other obsession
Top
#145147 - 07/17/05 11:37 AM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6690
Loc: Vermont
Top
#145148 - 07/17/05 11:54 AM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 10/17/00
Posts: 5400
Loc: rego park
there are some (in a small green part of the world) that mangle and misprononce words so effectively, that poor american visitors to their land thought there was a new name for a waistcoat. and so WESKIT came into being..
WESKIT is how Waistcoat was commonly said.
its a sonic error.
(sonic errors abound--like:
Baited breath
taken for granite
hare's breath...
we could do a whole thread on sonic errors!)
Synjon is another (you know, its how you say the name, (not a very popular one i'll admit, but found in literature) St.John. (Jane Eyre has an important character named St.John.)_________________________
my other obsession
Top
#145149 - 07/17/05 12:34 PM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 10/17/00
Posts: 5400
Loc: rego park
had an amusing experience the first time
I took ferry from Cape Tormentine to Borden on PEI.
There was a safety poster in French, about 'gilets de
sauvettage'. With my best high-school French, I asked
the purser who looked French:'Qu'est que c'est un gilet
de sauvettage?' He snarled at me:'I don't speak French!'
And shut his door before I could ask again in English.
As I walked away, I suddenly had vision of an illustration
in a French language version of Alice in Wonderland, with
the White Rabbit wearing a bright red weskit.
Suddenly it dawned on me: Weskit in French is 'gilet'.
So 'gilets de sauvettage' were life jackets.
so anyone--is the word gilet related to the PIE(that's proto indo european, not PEI(Prince Edward Island--reputed to be the prettiest place on earth) word for clothing (to wear clothing?)_________________________
my other obsession
Top
#145150 - 07/17/05 12:47 PM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6690
Loc: Vermont
gilet
/jilay/
• noun (pl. gilets pronunc. same) a light sleeveless padded jacket.
— ORIGIN French, ‘waistcoat’, from Turkish.
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/gilet?view=uk
Top
Forum Stats 7256 Members
16 Forums
12812 Topics
189753 Posts
Max Online: 853 @ 10/23/07 11:39 AM
Who's Online 0 registered (), 10 Guests and 31 Spiders online.
Newest Members Alan, jincy crow, aml, Goodspeaker, W1343
7256 Registered Users
Top Posters
wwh 13858 Faldage 12533 Jackie 10393 tsuwm 9577 Buffalo Shrdlu 6690 AnnaStrophic 6489 Wordwind 6296 of troy 5400 maverick 4683 WhitmanO'Neill 4189
March Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Board Rules · Mark all read Contact Us · Wordsmith Talk · Top
Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat© 2010 Wordsmith.org
Previous Topic
Index