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The owner of the new bakery in town, who has become a friend of mine, gave me a sample of marionberry pie the other day. I said it didn't seem to be sweetened with cocaine, and she didn't get the joke. I had to explain that Marion Berry was the mayor of Washington, DC, when he was arrested and convicted in a drug sting some years ago.
Whence marionberry? I went to onelook and there were no definitions, though a reference to another politico named Marion Berry turned up from Wikipedia.
Then I googled it: 27,300 googlits.
Two questions: For whom is marionberry named?
And, more interestingly, are there other words like this, with no onelook hits yet tens of thousands of googlits?
Made up words, nonce words, things like that aside, I don't think there can be that many words that are used fairly frequently in the world but don't show up in a huge compendium of dictionaries.
EDIT:
Dr. Bill pointed out to me that the mayor of DC was Marion Barry, not Marion Berry. That's what being away for a quarter of a century will do to you. He asked if it was another one of my puns. Well, sorta.
TEd (edited Augst 7 at 9:15 PM EDT)
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For whom is marionberry named?Marionberry:? This hybrid berry -- a cross between a blackberry, raspberry, olallieberry and chehalem -- was named for its county of origin, Marion County, Oregon. The syrup captures the essence of the marionberry, with just the right combination of sweet and pungent flavors.http://snipurl.com/grydSo it would seem that "marionberry" was not named after a person, unless the County of Marion was named after a person. And perhaps it was. * But then the association would be indirect and unintended. In this case, "marion" simply identifies the source of the hybrid geographically. * Marion County HistoryChampoeg District was redesignated a county in 1845 and renamed Marion County in 1849 after General Francis Marion, a Revolutionary War hero.http://snipurl.com/gryg
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The Marionberry is the most widely planted blackberry variety in the world and is grown exclusively in Oregon. Here, the spring rains and sandy soils of the lush Willamette Valley have increased production to 26 million pounds since 1956 when the Marionberry was first introduced to the American consumer. In fact, the Marionberry was developed here among the fields of Marion County and from this birthplace the Marionberry hails its name. Marion County itself is named in honor of the daring “Swamp Fox” hero of the American Revolution, General Francis Marion. http://commhum.mccneb.edu/fstdatabase/HTM_files/Fruit/marionberry.htmIn 1959 and '60, Disney produced an historical television series based on the career of General Marion in which the Swamp Fox was played by Leslie Nielsen! "Swamp Fox! Swamp Fox! Tail on his hat, Nobody knows where The Swamp Fox's at. Swamp Fox! Swamp Fox! Hiding in the glen, Nobody knows when he'll fight again."
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In reply to:
And, more interestingly, are there other words like this, with no onelook hits yet tens of thousands of googlits?
Made up words, nonce words, things like that aside, I don't think there can be that many words that are used fairly frequently in the world but don't show up in a huge compendium of dictionaries.
nonce-words are becoming an endangered spicies, due to technology. you can take many a nonce-wd, as identified by the OED, and find it plastered all over the internet in all kinds of non-intended contexts. after all, the nonce-word, by definition, originally had a very limited sense and intended usage.
as an example of this process in action, take the word floricide, used by one Horace Smith in 1841 to mean 'one who destroys flowers'. or take the word frictionary, used by Lady Lytton (yes, that Lord Lytton) in 1839 to mean 'related to friction' -- this one is being quite thoroughly corrupted.
not that this is necessarily a bad thing; we all have been chastened, and instructed, by Humpty Dumpty.
and no one really cared about the snail darter either. : ]
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frictionary, noun. A book or database in which one looks up words that rub one the wrong way.
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one day soon, frictionary and.. oh, say.. floricide (or googlewhack) will show up as a googlewhack, linking to this very thread, and your fame and fortuity will be made, FS.
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so, nary.
nary.
dictionary.
stationary.
how's that work?
formerly known as etaoin...
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1-ary noun suffix [ME -arie, fr. OF & L; OF -aire, -arie, fr. L -arius, -aria, -arium, fr. -arius, adj. suffix]
1 : thing belonging to or connected with; esp : place of <ovary>
2 : person belonging to, connected with, or engaged in <functionary>
(C) 1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
so, dictionary <> a thing connected with words
stationary <> fixed (connected) in place
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thanks, t.
and nary? things belonging to No?
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