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Topic Options #97232 - 02/28/03 08:43 AM saboteurs of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5400 Loc: rego park In NYC the dutch influence remains, in a sad way. aside from place names, and an orange in the city flag, (city flag colors are a sort of turquoise blue, white and orange) the memory of New Amsterdam in NY is reduced to occasionally finding a pair of wooden clog shoes as tourist junk. wooden clog shoes--more properly called sabots-- and saboteurs are people who clog up the machines of industry, and bind up the works by throwing in there wooden shoes. saboteurs started out like 'luddite's' or 'jethro tull's'--as peasants fighting industrialization with what ever tools they had at hand. _________________________ my other obsession Top #97233 - 03/06/03 06:34 AM Re: saboteurs dxb Pooh-Bah Registered: 03/06/02 Posts: 1692 Loc: UK We still use the expression "clogging up the works". I found this in the AHD, which accounts for the unusual spelling of calibre: ------------------------------------------------------------------- sa·bot ( P ) Pronunciation Key (s-b, sb) n. 2)A lightweight carrier in which a projectile of a smaller caliber is centered so as to permit firing the projectile within a larger-caliber weapon. The carrier fills the bore of the weapon from which the projectile is fired; it is normally discarded a short distance from the muzzle. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, where did that come from I wonder. ED.: Is that OK now? Top #97234 - 03/06/03 06:43 AM Re: Cut and paste quotes Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13659 Geez, dixby, can you stick some CRs in there? Top #97235 - 03/06/03 07:18 AM Re: Cut and paste quotes dxb Pooh-Bah Registered: 03/06/02 Posts: 1692 Loc: UK CRs? Credit ratings? Top #97236 - 03/06/03 07:51 AM Re: Cut and paste quotes Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/24/02 Posts: 7185 Loc: Vermont Carriage Returns! you've sent the page widesy! _________________________ formerly known as etaoin... Top #97237 - 03/06/03 08:50 AM Re: Cut and paste quotes dxb Pooh-Bah Registered: 03/06/02 Posts: 1692 Loc: UK Oh! It was OK on my screen. Thanks for telling me, I'll avoid using it. Top #97238 - 03/06/03 09:05 AM Re: Cut and paste quotes Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13659 It looked OK on my PC here at work; it was just on the Mac it went widesy. Top #97239 - 03/06/03 09:57 AM Re: Cut and paste quotes dxb Pooh-Bah Registered: 03/06/02 Posts: 1692 Loc: UK I see. the Wonderful World of Simplicity and Perfection! Top #97240 - 03/06/03 01:34 PM Re: Cut and paste quotes Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/24/02 Posts: 7185 Loc: Vermont ouch! _________________________ formerly known as etaoin... Top #97241 - 03/06/03 01:51 PM Re: sabots wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858 In looking the word up in my dictionary, the etymology mentioned "savate" which I have not heard for a long time. savate n. 5Fr, orig., old shoe: see SABOT6 a form of boxing in which stiff-legged kicks as well as punches may be used WWI doughboys got some "kicks" out of French gendarmes, quite literally. They came home with a little ditty: "The French they are a funny race, The fight with their feet, and fxxx with their face." Much later many Americans adopted view "40 Million Frenchmen can't be wrong." Top Previous Topic Index Next Topic Preview Hop to: General Topics ------   Information and announcements   Q&A about words   Wordplay and fun   Words and languages in schools   Miscellany   Weekly Themes   Looking for (writers, speakers, ...) (Old) Weekly themes. 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