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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Hello, Mila. Yes, the etymology of sideburns has been repeated consistently in every source I've ever seen. I believe you can take it as reliable.
According to Why You Say It, Burnside also sported a hat so flamboyant that it took his name as well.
I have a vague recollection that my history teacher also related that General Burnside additionally tried a facial hair style which involved not shaving underneath his jaw line all the way down to his collar, but that particular fashion statement didn't catch on the way sideburns did.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
And an old Today's Word "metathesis" describes the process og going from "Burnside" to "sideburn".
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
AWAD for March 2,2000 gave Dolly Varden as the name of a colorfully dressed character in Dickens novel Barnaby Rudge.
It is also the name of a very popular trout fly.
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Joined: May 2001
Posts: 53
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 53 |
Even here in Germany I receive Smithsonian and it brought me here! Hooray! It's sometimes hard to be a native English speaker in another country. I can't discuss the questions raised here with my German friends, they wouldn't understand. Visiting AWAD gives me the feeling that my English isn't falling into disrepair!
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Visiting AWAD gives me the feeling that my English isn't falling into disrepair!
Ah, the sweet innocence of newcomers. Just wait.... <evil grin>
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
It's been a while for this thread, though we've dealt with the concept elsewhere.
thersitical: loud and abusive, scurrilous
After Thersites, the gentlemen who is the first commoner in Western literature to challenge the authority of foolish rulers (in Homer's Iliad). As a result, he gets a sound beating for Odysseus and a nasty caricature from Homer -- and the Trojan War continues.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The thread about Thomas the Tank Engine, and steam locomotive whistles reminded me of the Doppler Effect:
Doppler Effect, in physics, the apparent variation in frequency of any emitted wave, such as a wave of light or sound, as the source of the wave approaches or moves away, relative to an observer. The effect takes its name from the Austrian physicist Christian Johann Doppler, who first stated the physical principle in 1842. Doppler's principle explains why, if a source of sound of a constant pitch is moving toward an observer, the sound seems higher in pitch, whereas if the source is moving away it seems lower. This change in pitch can be heard by an observer listening to the whistle of an express train from a station platform or another train. The lines in the spectrum of a luminous body such as a star are similarly shifted toward the violet if the distance between the star and the earth is decreasing and toward the red if the distance is increasing. By measuring this shift, the relative motion of the earth and the star can be calculated (see Red Shift).
"Doppler Effect," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
By measuring this shift, the relative motion of the earth and the star can be calculated (see Red Shift).
And further: the distance to a star can be determined by measuring its red shift. The shift is proportional to the speed of movement to-or-from the observer, and (in the case of stars) that speed is proportional to the distance to the star.
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 200
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 200 |
Another eponym: The Dagwood Sandwich, as illustrated at http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/forbetter/Note: after today, this link won't give you the right illustration, but for the next month you can find it there by clicking back to today's date.
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