What ever happened to the term "brassiere"? This was the only term used to describe this particular garment in my youth but seems to have been replaced (entirely?) by the shortened form "bra." How did that happen? And were we looking at the time?
"Bra" seems to have enlarged in its meaning, at the same time. The rock-protection cover placed on the front ends of some sports cars is called a bra, I think.
>>>"Bra" seems to have enlarged in its meaning, at the same time. The rock-protection cover placed on the front ends of some sports cars is called a bra, I think. Ya, I think it's because the guys driving these cars are usually boobs.
My spouse has one that's dark gray in color, and, while doing the laundry recently, I got in trouble by asking her if she wanted me to wash her charcoal brassiere.
Tarpalins have gone away too, now its tarps.
Auto's (rare) but more common than automobiles.
Bicylces have given way to bikes.
In a snap, Photographs became photo's (mostly digital images now, but still called photo's.
Long, long ago, there were preamblulators. (a vehicle for babies when there were still pre-ambulatory) they became prams...
(but strollers, still exist i thing nowdays more often known by brand names!)
charcoal brassiere
That one was pretty funny.
her charcoal brassiere.
I will pray for your (long-suffering) spouse.
Tarps, autos, bikes, photos, prams...
Helen is quite right to connect these shortened forms with the reduction of brassiere to bra. There is a linguistic term for this, which I cannot recall.
Part of what is not cool about these reductions is that "auto" just means "self" and "photo" just means "light" thus they cause confusion to a person trying to figure out what an automaton is (has nothing to do with cars) or what photosensitivity is (has nothing to do with pictures).
>>thus they cause confusion to a person trying to figure out what an automaton is (has nothing to do with cars) or what photosensitivity is (has nothing to do with pictures).
Ya think?
worse yet, is photophobia
she says, as she crawls back to her hiding place under the rock, knowning she has once again eluded the securty camera
Ya think?
It was a LWAG*
Father Steve
-----
*Lexicological Wild Ass Guess
There is a linguistic term for this, which I cannot recall.
I think it's called "shortening."
There is a linguistic term for this, which I cannot recall.
I think it's called "shortening."
You mean that stuff you use to make pie into pi?
here's another, Quack, (as in a doctor, who's qualifications are not quite up to snuff) is a shortened form of Quacksalver.
(a quacksalver used to be a person who boasted or "quacked" about his salves and healing compounds.)
I think it's called "shortening."
Nah. Shortening is that white greasy substance which is an adequate substitute for neither lard nor butter.
There is a linguistic term for this, which I cannot recall.Apocope:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-apo1.htm
Apocope!
zmjezhd and Michael Quinion to the rescue!
Hence, the familiar song:
Apocope
And get your hat.
Leave your worries on the doorstep
And direct your feet
To the shorter side of the street.
Oh, an i was thinking of
Shortnin', shortnin',
mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread!
Dear Helen ~
Be careful. This is getting perilously close to a food thread and you know that there are those who get grumpy when we slip like that.
Chef Steve
Oh, Father Steve, i am getting perilously close to being cited by the gutter police.. if you think shortin' bread is about food, you live a sheltered life!
(i chose blue textnot unintentionally!)
children's songs, (until Disney and PBS took over) where often about grown up subjects.
if you think shortin' bread is about food, you live a sheltered life!
I must. With all of those references to the baby being hungry and getting out the skillet, how easy it was for me to think that this was a food song. If the real, hidden, secret meaning is just too adult for this board, do please send it to me by PM.
"Shortnin bread" must be like all those old English drinking songs ... apparently innocuous subjects which are purportedly ribald and sung to the accompaniment of uproarious laughter.
As near as I can tell, you may use any noun and any verb, and as long as you sing them whilst wiggling your eyebrows up and down, you have indeed hit the mark.
shortnin bread is dessert just as "Jelly roll" is.. a treat for some, but not perhaps what children think..
In reply to:
shortnin bread is dessert just as "Jelly roll" is.. a treat for some, but not perhaps what children think..
HONI SOIT! As wofa's link shows, the word in question has several meanings. One choses them according to one's own inclinations. If I want shortning bread to mean nothing more than food, then that's what it means to me. The esteemed minister made a good point about the ease with any term can be made into a euphemism, for want of a better description.
well we spend a lot of time learning cockney rhyming slang.. American english, like english english, has several varients. and knowing a few words in a specific dialect can help you understand a good deal.
a good deal of black slang, (a slang as detailed and interesting as cockney)is used in the blues--especially old blues. if you like the blues, you hear it, and if you are interested in language, you end up learning it.
Yes, the song can be seen as innocent,(Mama little baby's like shortnin, shortnin, mama's little baby likes shortnin bread) or it can be seen in a different light.
(all of which is very appropriate for a word board!)
and besides, i realized after i posted, the topic is still about things getting lifed up.. sort of!
(running and ducking for cover icon --jackie is gonna whup my hide!)
whup my hide Not if that term has any secret sexual meaning, I'm not!
In a different direction, you have Chef (Isaac Hayes) of
South Park singing about his Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You). In this case what he's singing about
is a food item which is homonymous with a body part rather than a euphemism.
http://tinyurl.com/cv8pe
homonymous
How is this pronounced, please? I can think of two ways, and they both sound weird.
In medicine that's hoe-MON-i-muss (the last u is more properly a schwa). It's used to describe a defect in the field of vision that is on the same side in both eyes, as in "right homonymous hemi-anopsia," meaning anything to the right of the midline (that is, the right half of the visual field) will not be perceived, by either eye. It might have been the central/nasal halves, or maybe the outside/lateral halves, instead. Such differences help locate pathology in the brain, i.e. tumors or localized strokes.
Sparteye sez As near as I can tell, you may use any noun and any verb, and as long as you sing them whilst wiggling your eyebrows up and down, you have indeed hit the mark.
In the early 1930's there was a popular song called "Nagasaki" and it included the following lyrics:
Aw, man, how they entertain,
I mean, they hurry a hurricane.
Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobaccky
And the women wicky-wacky-woo!
There is, of course, no dictionary definition of wicky-wacky-woo but, if you wiggle your eyebrows up and down when you sing it, everybody gets the ribald point.
>everybody gets the ribald point.
nudge, nudge.. wink, wink.. say no more.
>> wicky-wacky-woo
According to another song, it's always wicky-wacky-woo in Honolulu, too.
In reply to:
The rock-protection cover placed on the front ends of some sports cars is called a bra, I think.
Never having been to the United States and being a non-motorist, I am of course completely unfamiliar with driving conditions there, but are the roads in such bad repair and so bestrewn with rocks that such a device is necessary?
Bingley
>so bestrewn with rocks that such a device is necessary?
the people who invest in such a thing are more concerned with the tiniest pebbles -- even sand or dirt -- thrown up at high rates of speed to deface their precious (read high-buck) automobile.
The references to jelly rolls would seem to imply a slang term for the male member rather than its counterpart. As far as ribald suggestions, shortenin' bread doesn't seem very impressive. References to self-rising flour would perhaps be appropriate?
shortnin bread is made quickly, in a hot oven and its good (well, when done right--some make better biscuits than other!)
is can be a reference to fast, hot sex. (not to any specific bit of anatomy)
i have no idea if a 'bun in the oven' as a euphemism for being pregnant is related.--but that expression has wider coin.
And remember, with self-rising flour you don't have to worry about yeast infections.
See
http://www.bartleby.com/61/86/H0258600.html.
BTW, related to brassiere, etymologically, is the Spanish term for jelly-roll
brazo de gitano 'gypsy arm (i.e., puffy sleeves)'.
(the last u is more properly a schwa)Is there a first u?
Is there a first u?
They should make a movie about you, Nancy: "The Copy Editor Rules." [notworthy]
Is there a first u?
Yes, there is. It is also more properly a schwa.
U're right too!
(plagiarized-punchline-e)
Tarps, autos, bikes, photos, prams...
Could the term you're looking for be "abbreviation?" ;)
Here in the homeland of Harley-Davidson, the only term above that would need clarification in conversation is "bike", since it is an obvious abbreviation of motorcycle. In this case, the intended meaning can usually be figured out contextually, by looking for the nearly-ubiquitous Harley logo somewhere on the speaker's body. Leather and bandana headgear are also clues. The consequences of mistaking a Harley for a Schwinn are enormous.
P.S. I just ran the above post through the site's Spell Check: it suggested that for Harley-Davidson, I may have meant "harlot."
I may have meant "harlot"
If one buys a car on a carlot, does it not logically follow that one buys a Harley-Davidson motorcycle on a harlot?
of course, harley and davidson started out with bicycles and being guys, they "pimped the ride" and added small motors.. (and so harley davidson moter cylces (motorized bicycles!) was born.
Its rare that bike is confused with a H-D. --but it happens. my bandan'd son, (with tatoo's) is biker. (he pedles his bicycle to and from work!)
Good to see you again, Bushy!
(If you recall, I'm not much of a drinker, so if that was a dastardly insult to the beverage, it was done in ignorance.)
Here in the homeland of Harley-Davidson You're in Daytona, then?
If one buys a car on a carlot . . .
Not necessarily. What would I find for sale on a shallot?
>for sale..
or on a marplot??
... or in Camelot?
We're Knights of the Round Table.
We dance whene'er we're able.
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot.
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.
We're Knights of the Round Table.
Our shows are formidable,
But many times we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable.
We're opera mad in Camelot.
We sing from the diaphragm a lot.
In war we're tough and able,
Quite indefatigable.
Between our quests we sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable.
It's a busy life in Camelot.
I have to push the pram a lot.
~Monty Python and the Holy Grail
... or in Camelot?
Master stroke, Fr. Steve. We could expect to find milk products at a dromedary, right?
milk products at a dromedary
Where's TEd? Where's TEd when we need him?
> Where's TEd?
don't worry, he'll be back tryin' again in no time...
You're in Daytona, then?
Harleys were born and bred right here in Milwaukee. I'm near there in Oconomowoc (oh-KON-oh-mo-walk).
And Bushmills has survived lots worse than "Bushy" ssince its founding in the 17th century. Although it seems a bit like greeting the Pope with "Hi, Pops!"
There's no need to be apologetic about not being a drinker.
We're a very tolerant group and not all misbehave and shirk our responsibilities. For 24 years my wife never knew I drank until I came home sober one night. :)
it seems a bit like greeting the Pope with "Hi, Pops!"
Or like the one indecorous wag on this board who occasionally refers to me as Daddyo?
How about the indecorous wag who occasionally refers to you as Father Fallopian?
"moss" is a sock puppet (pseudonym) for an individual who has been banned by management from this site. Apparently, he has taken the trouble to find another computer from which to post. He uses other pseudonyms as well, including "plutarch" "carpathian" and several more. Apparently, he has seen fit to find another computer from which to post. It is generally believed that it is his intention to destroy this board.
sock puppet
Yesterday, upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
Oh how I wish he'd go away.