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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
today, the wwftd master wrote:
the worthless word for the day is: jakes
[origin uncertain, perhaps from F. Jacques]
chiefly British : a privy
"He kicked open the crazy door of the jakes."
- James Joyce, Ulysses (1922)
"In particular he feared dying in some undignified
way, on the jakes or with his face in the porridge."
- Michael Chabon, The Final Solution (2004)
-tsuwm
to which a faithful reader replied:
Hi - about a half century ago I had a classical lit professor who attributed the term Jakes to stories about Ajax in the Iliad or in one of Shakespeare's plays (Troilus and Cressida?). Ajax was portrayed as real dirtbag and his name became identified with toilets - hence Ajax cleanser and the Brit term Jakes. I have no proof and am passing this along only because I also have no life :-)
Gabe.
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
I always assumed it was from the French given name Jacques; cf. calling a toilet the john. What is the proof that Ajax was a real 'dirtbag'? (OTOH, I have a book by Sir John Harington called A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax; it was originally published in the 16th century.)
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
It seems that Language Log also made the connection? link
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
It seems that Language Log also made the connection?
But, a pun is not the same thing as an etymology.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Our long time leading Premier League soccer/football club is called Ajax. Yet they play no dirtier than any other. For the sake of language I must add that we have the interjection of aversion: "jakkes" . Could not trace its origin.
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