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old hand
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The Merriam brothers just aren't resourceful enough to find out the rest of the story. I have connections. Hammurabi, Ramses II, Socrates, Pompey, Hadrian, Chaucer, King James, Ben Franklin, Brahms and Churchill were all good friends of mine.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The Merriam brothers just aren't resourceful enough to find out the rest of the story. I have connections. Jazz, as a favour to Geoff, would you mind posting the etymythology behind my surname? I'm sure your connexions will be happy to help. 
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Nowadays, how many of us actually relate our names to a character trait, a place, etc?
Since I deem myself the resident Indo-anglophone, let me once again pull out the ol' Indian examples.
Virtually all Indian names have meanings - either related directly to a deity, or to some attribute. As I told Fisk (in an aside) "Shona" would mean 'golden'.
My own name translates as the Sun (the deity of, also often called Surya), and my surname is a signifier of the baronial caste (the traditional kshatriya or 'warrior' caste), hence my nom de plume.
As you rightly point out, even in English, most first names have some sort of significance. That's why I find Wendy and Lorna fascinating - they literally have no meaning.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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stranger
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stranger
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I seem to recall, much of Mr. Bell's research started with a means to communicate with the hard of hearing.
I may be getting my historical figures maligned but I seem to remember that his mother was deaf or had hearing loss and amongst his other accomplishments was the development of a type of sign language that used gestures to simulate phonetic pronunciations.
This may account for his changing Hollo or Ahoy to Hello. Somewhat more distinctive.
perhaps
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Jazz, as a favour to Geoff, would you mind posting the etymythology behind my surname? I'm sure your connexions will be happy to help.
Certainly.
Perhaps they were ambitious; perhaps they were just exceedingly curious, but it is undeniable that they were ahead of their time. One wouldn't expect the 5th century shores of northern Sweden to be the site of an attempt at utopia, but it was indeed. A team of precocious inventors from Scotland made an exodus to Scandinavia in order to escape persecution for advancing science. The men, four of them, all suffered from acute manic depression and were detirminded to rid themselves of their affliction. They sought refuge in a small cave on the lee side of a fjord and began their work. They intended to create the perfect environment to escape their ailments.
After much debate as to how to go about their task, they began constructing a large, oblong, hollow sphere. It was carved out of rock and thoroughly covered with mud and moss. The end product, resembling something of a pumpkin or squash, was then lowered to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. Apparati were made for the passage of air and other necessities to the sphere and the four made the submerged compartment their experimental home. In this state they claimed to be cured of their emotional distresses and thus named their spherical sanitorium "Gourd de la Spleen".
After a few years, the place became dilapidated and smelly. The inventors moved out and abandoned their work, but the memory of their grand, quixotic experiment will always live on because of a pact the four made to use the experiment's name as theirs.
Historical records show that in the late 1700s a family by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Quordlepleen set off from Southampton on a voyage to Captain Cook's glorious new land.
Capricious Piffle was brought to you today by strawberry cream cheese and smoked cod.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Gourd de la Spleen".Magnifique! In the words of the Bond theme song - Nobody does it better! Muito obrigado.
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Magnifique! In the words of the Bond theme song - Nobody does it better! Muito obrigado.
I'm pleased that you approve. But now everyone's going to want one.
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veteran
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OP
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
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>Magnifique!
But now everyone's going to want one
Ah yes, truly the Prince of Etymythology!
Nah, JazzO, not everybody could have one, because in at least some cases (mine for instance) there would be no challenge.
Thinks: was that a subconscious 'bet you can't do me!' ??
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>The inventors moved out and abandoned their work,
But even fewer people know what happened to the structure. Torn apart, its pieces drifted around. One of them ended up in the Thames estuary, where a near-sighted otter thought it was a potential mate. The otter followed it out to sea and was run down by a hovercraft. The conclusion? One gourd, torn, deceives an otter.
But Jazz, your history of Quordlepleen deserves a kudos. Magnificent!!!!
TEd
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May I assume that once your relatives vacated their submarine structure, they coined the term, "out of your gourd?"
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