I was really surprised to start my week off at work with this word.
Before google started dominating the "search engine world, i was a staunch follower of the website called
www.askjeeves.com, which now is just
www.ask.com.It also reminds me of the popular Bruce Wayne/Batman and his jeeves - Alfred Pennyworth.
Cheers,
neo
If you have not yet read any of the P.G. Wodehouse novels about Jeeves, you should do so. Delightful stuff, marvelously written.
Hear, hear.
And being a real fan of Bruce and Alfred, I cheer him too.
The book on tape version of Wodehouse with Johnathan Cecil as reader is even better than reading it yourself. the variety of accents are marvellous.
I am from the land of Jeeves but today I want to speak of 'ravel'. This is a word I had never heard until I came to the US 39 years ago. I grew up with 'unravel', which curiously, you show used in one of your example. So which is it?
I have always thought of 'ravel' as American English.
>which is it?
that's the whole point of this week's theme - to ravel can mean ravel or unravel! : )
I know that sleep can knit the raveled sleeve of care but that is the only place I have seen it un-un'ned.
My first association at seeing today's word was with the composer Ravel. Then I read the whole story.
Middle Dutch word ravelen lives on as rafelen and it has the same somewhat ambiguous meaning.
Thats interesting Bran.
And I think the word ravel relates to sewing and embroidery because if you unravel the woven material it then becomes very tangled if one is not careful.
Thats interesting Bran.
And I think the word ravel relates to sewing and embroidery because if you unravel the woven material it then becomes very tangled if one is not careful.
That's pretty close to the actual history of the word.
