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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread etymologist #117643 12/13/2003 9:59 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 "May Martha's father was a man hidden behind whiskers and spectacles. He lived for bugs and butterflies and all insects that fly or crawl or buzz or get down your back or in the butter. He was an etymologist, or words to that effect. He spent his life seining the air for flying fish of the June-bug order, and then sticking pins through 'em and calling 'em names." Probably intended as a joke. I wonder how many of his readers noticed it. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: etymologist #117644 12/25/2003 3:53 PM Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 6,296 Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 6,296 Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... Who is telling this story? And why would this person purposefully confuse entomology and etymology? Or is this person, as created by the author, uneducated? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: etymologist #117645 12/25/2003 4:11 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 Dear WW: I mention with the first one of this group that I was reading consecutively sixty O.Henry stories. It seemed potentially annoying to keep repeating that statement. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: etymologist #117646 12/25/2003 4:13 PM Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 6,296 Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 6,296 Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... Oh, I didn't so much mean the author as making the error but the narrator of the story. It is such a blatant error--and not particularly humrous--that I must take it to mean, since O. Henry was the author, that the narrator was somehow portrayed as being ignorant. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  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. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

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