September 15, 2004

Online Etymological Dictionary. "It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature."

In which we naturally look up the dirty words first and learn that: we've been saying kiss my ass for 300 years; those wacky Victorians coined flying fuck as slang for having sex on horseback; irritating little shits have long walked among us; but the assholes and jerks don't show up until right after Prohibition is lifted, coincidentally -- or not? Enjoy, monkeys.

posted by spackle 20 years ago
  • Wow, the site's been around a while but they've revamped it very nicely -- you can now go straight to individual words, just like a real dictionary. Thanks for posting this! S.v. "fuck":
    "It became so common that an effective way for the soldier to express this emotion was to omit this word. Thus if a sergeant said, 'Get your ----ing rifles!' it was understood as a matter of routine. But if he said 'Get your rifles!' there was an immediate implication of urgency and danger."
    Heh.
  • ..irrational and of a magical nature... *deja vu* /D Magical Wacky Flex
  • Excuse me miss, I speak jive.