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Yeah, because 300 years certainly isn't enough for a word to be recognized...?

From http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pirate :

"Meaning "one who takes another's work without permission" first recorded 1701"

Come on, the term is older than RMS!

sexism
1 : prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially : discrimination against women
2 : behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex

So while I see you mean to use defn 2, the word stems from analogy with racism, whose etymology is originally in the context of Nazi theories, so it's really crappy communication to use sexism for anything but 1, because of its negative connotations.

As to generatlization about people (or anything for that matter), yeah, it sucks, but that's how the brain evolved to work effectively in a world with a low S/N ratio.

God damn it. Say the word in your head, if you have to. Say it out loud, if you have to, but its amateur. AMATEUR!

(Its got an etymology. Just google it or look at http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=amateur &searchmode=term )

With a "z". Please get your Yiddish correct.

Bad word perhaps, but piracy has meant copyright infringement since at least 1701 (second meaning). At what point do people accept that the use and meaning of words changes from time to time?

Stupid businesses: all the had to do was find the etymology of the word "stealth" and throw it back into this seeming shyster's face:

stealth:
c.1250, "theft, action or practice of stealing," from O.E. *stæl, which is related to stelen (see steal), from P.Gmc. *stælitho (cf. O.N. stulr). Sense of "secret action" developed c.1300, but the word also retained its etymological sense into 18c. Got a boost as an adj. from stealth fighter, stealth bomber, radar-evading U.S. military aircraft, activated 1983. Stealthy is attested from 1605.

Surely the word predates any company and any claim a company could have on it. (Not even Beretta is as old as this word.)

And trademarking 800 year old words is totally moronic.

Talk about prior art. The word has existed since 1250.

> Just to be a jerk"

Indeed.

> "what "letter" do you leave out with won't?

The same as for "can't".

> wo not? wo nit?

As you asked about what letters are left out of "won't", the above offering suggests a mental defect.

> Guess for that word it's more of a 'lose a couple letters, and change a few others to something completely different'

Or not.

> (I'm too lazy to google for it).

Here y' go, you lazy jerk:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=won't

free (adj.) Look up free at Dictionary.com
O.E. freo "free, exempt from, not in bondage," also "noble, joyful," from P.Gmc. *frijaz (cf. M.H.G. vri, Ger. frei, Du. vrij, Goth. freis "free"), from PIE *prijos "dear, beloved" (cf. Skt. priyah "own, dear, beloved," priyate "loves;" O.C.S. prijati "to help," prijatelji "friend;" Welsh rhydd "free"). The adv. is from O.E. freon, freogan "to free, love." The primary sense seems to have been "beloved, friend, to love;" which in some languages (notably Gmc. and Celtic) developed also a sense of "free," perhaps from the terms "beloved" or "friend" being applied to the free members of one's clan (as opposed to slaves, cf. L. liberi, meaning both "free" and "children"). Cf. Goth. frijon "to love;" O.E. freod "affection, friendship," friga "love," friðu "peace;" O.N. friðr, Ger. Friede "peace;" O.E. freo "wife;" O.N. Frigg "wife of Odin," lit. "beloved" or "loving;" M.L.G. vrien "to take to wife, Du. vrijen, Ger. freien "to woo." Sense of "given without cost" is 1585, from notion of "free of cost." Of nations, "not subject to foreign rule or to despotism," it is recorded from 1375. Freedman "manumitted slave" first recorded 1601. Colloquial freeloader first recorded 1930s; free fall is from 1919, originally of parachutists; free-hand is from 1862; free-thinker is from 1692. Freebie dates back to 1942 as freeby, perhaps as early as 1900. Free-for-all "mass brawl" (in which anyone may participate) first recorded 1881. Freebase (n. and v.) in ref. to cocaine first recorded 1980.

free (adj.)

O.E. freo "free, exempt from, not in bondage," also "noble, joyful," from P.Gmc. *frijaz (cf. M.H.G. vri, Ger. frei, Du. vrij, Goth. freis "free"), from PIE *prijos "dear, beloved" (cf. Skt. priyah "own, dear, beloved," priyate "loves;" O.C.S. prijati "to help," prijatelji "friend;" Welsh rhydd "free"). The adv. is from O.E. freon, freogan "to free, love." The primary sense seems to have been "beloved, friend, to love;" which in some languages (notably Gmc. and Celtic) developed also a sense of "free," perhaps from the terms "beloved" or "friend" being applied to the free members of one's clan (as opposed to slaves, cf. L. liberi, meaning both "free" and "children"). Cf. Goth. frijon "to love;" O.E. freod "affection, friendship," friga "love," friðu "peace;" O.N. friðr, Ger. Friede "peace;" O.E. freo "wife;" O.N. Frigg "wife of Odin," lit. "beloved" or "loving;" M.L.G. vrien "to take to wife, Du. vrijen, Ger. freien "to woo." Sense of "given without cost" is 1585, from notion of "free of cost." Of nations, "not subject to foreign rule or to despotism," it is recorded from 1375. Freedman "manumitted slave" first recorded 1601. Colloquial freeloader first recorded 1930s; free fall is from 1919, originally of parachutists; free-hand is from 1862; free-thinker is from 1692. Freebie dates back to 1942 as freeby, perhaps as early as 1900. Free-for-all "mass brawl" (in which anyone may participate) first recorded 1881. Freebase (n. and v.) in ref. to cocaine first recorded 1980.

:). Time to modify my general rule. "Don't" is pretty obvious. "Can't" can presumably be allowed for under one "n" absorbing another (these things happen :) ). In this case, it appears to be a contraction of a contraction; presumably the first contraction was pre-apostrophe. See:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=won't&s earchmode=none

(Google is my friend :) )

How do you know those who post in English are native English speakers?

I'm not a English native speaker and I still correct my American friends' spelling. The problem with the English language, as it has been pointed out, is that you have to learn both oral English and written English separately.

An reform of the English spelling would solve this problem. It has been proposed many times before, but without any real success. However, it would add the problem of backward compatibility as well as losing the etymology of the words.

From my point of view, knowing the etymology of a word is very important, but sometimes I think that English could use some reforms. Its oral form has evolved way too far from the written form. Somewhere I read that it's considered to be the language with hardest spelling, after Irish Gaelic.

The thing that separates a language like latin from "living" languages is that people use them. Visit http://www.etymonline.com/ or grab a book in middle english. Compared to those earlier english authors, none of us can spell at all. According to "us" of course, we know the correct way to do things.

I used to be super nit-picky about grammar and spelling but one day I hit upon a novel idea, one even mentioned by the original thread: language is used for communication. What does it matter if americans spell light "lite" and right "rite" and pronounce lieutenant as though some one was renting a septic tank. If the people on the receiving end of the communication can understand it, well... the word works fine.

For example, who am I to tell africans living in north america who speak their own dialect of english (eubonics for lack of a better term) that they can't speak properly? That "dawg" isn't a word? It is a word, and it has meaning and context for millions of people. Merriam-Webster isn't the edjudicator for an language, the people who use that language are.

We live in a world where social, political, and technological changes are happening at a rate that is mind-numbing compared to much of history, is it surprising that our language is changing quickly too? I think at some point one has to accept that change or else either speak only latin... or maybe run and fetch the "nifey" and end it all.

I do think formal writing is important for presenting a certain image sometimes but it's not worth the stress to get upset everytime someone doesn't spell something rite (-intentional).

ps. I'm not spell checking this, just for the fun of it!

This suggests first usage in that way in 1701.

Most dictionary definitions reflect common usage, this particular common usage is brought on by a compound of both propaganda (by the producers attempting to add emotional spin to an otherwise borring sounding crime) and the adoption early on by some groups of 'pirate' to inflate thier self image.

Stolen from another post in this article:

Pass this law: and that feeling is at an end. Men very different from the present race of piratical booksellers will soon infringe this intolerable monopoly.

According to the poster this is from an 1841 speech on copyright extension.

And the Online Etymology Dictionary shows the first use of pirate with that meaning was 1701. I think 304 years is enough time for it to cement the meaning.

IIRC it's derived from 'privateer' which meant essentially a private ship with one countries official permission to attack the vessels of another country they were at war with. A pirate was simply a privateer without such a letter, and perhaps no particular care as to the targets nationality.

You have it backwards; a privateer (sometimes called a corsair) was a type of pirate, not the other way around. Privateer was probably a combination of private and buccaneer and originally was private man of war

Most dictionary definitions reflect common usage, this particular common usage is brought on by a compound of both propaganda (by the producers attempting to add emotional spin to an otherwise borring sounding crime) and the adoption early on by some groups of 'pirate' to inflate thier self image.

Stolen from another post in this article:

Pass this law: and that feeling is at an end. Men very different from the present race of piratical booksellers will soon infringe this intolerable monopoly.

According to the poster this is from an 1841 speech on copyright extension.

And the Online Etymology Dictionary shows the first use of pirate with that meaning was 1701. I think 304 years is enough time for it to cement the meaning.

IIRC it's derived from 'privateer' which meant essentially a private ship with one countries official permission to attack the vessels of another country they were at war with. A pirate was simply a privateer without such a letter, and perhaps no particular care as to the targets nationality.

You have it backwards; a privateer (sometimes called a corsair) was a type of pirate, not the other way around. Privateer was probably a combination of private and buccaneer and originally was private man of war

as Hitler was a Socialist. His party was called the National Socialist Party and that was abreaviated to Nazi.

NSDAP was just a name. The party may have started out with Socialism or the concerns of workers in mind, but over the years that went by the wayside. Hitler's government was Totalitarian, not Socialist. And the term "Nazi" was derogatory and not favored by the party.

Meaning "one who takes another's work without permission" first recorded 1701

What's with this using "gay" as a synonym for "bad" or "stupid"?

Rather than pedantically pointing out that it's hardly new, I decided to look it up. Slow day. It would appear the meaning you prefer is actually the bastardisation by about 231 years.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gay

Two excerpts from the entry linked above:

"Ayto ['20th Century Words'] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song 'The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store,' by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays."

"The suggestion of immorality in the word can be traced back to 1637."

I thought pirates existed well before electricity and generally used cannons, muskets and sabres.

If I ever got sued for "piracy" and "stealing IP", I would probably base part of my defense on fighting the language abuse that blows everything out of proportions and presumes factual things that are fundamentally hypothetical.

You're right that copyright infringement isn't stealing and calling it that only yields confusion.

But, calling infringement a form of piracy is not a misuse of language. At least, it is not a recent misuse. I understand that the relevant meaning of pirate ("one who takes another's work without permission") dates back to 1701. See this site.

I only mention this because I was fairly shocked when I learned that this usage of piracy had such a long pedigree. So, I still complain when folks call infringement "stealing", but apparently it is correct to call it "piracy" and has been correct for a long damn time.

(Of course, no one is sued for "piracy" or "stealing IP", so your hypothetical legal defense was a long shot. Lawyers use the correct words when filing suits.)

Well, wonder no more!

Meaning *none* beyond the name.

Are you sure?

(Of course, I agree with the comment as regards the crappy languages by the same name.)

The terms hack and hacker applied to activitied before computers existed. The usuage more closely matches a coder than a criminal (except prostitute)

see: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hacker& searchmode=none/

---

Utopia comes from from greek "ou" = not and "topos" which means place (etymology). So it basically means "no place". In case of all europeans disappearing the place will still be there - so it's more like the opposite of utopia whatever that may be...

The term "piracy" has been used to refer to this sort of activity since well before the **AA existed. This meaning is listed in every dictionary I own, and has been for years. In fact, from the Online Etymology Dictionary entry for "pirate":

Meaning "one who takes another's work without permission" first recorded 1701; sense of "unlicensed radio broadcaster" is from 1913.

It's sad how many people on Slashdot seem to accept compaints about using "piracy" or "theft" for copyright infringement as a substitute for informed, logical argument. Ironically, perhaps the biggest offender in the "not quite what the word really means" stakes is the FSF's use of "free", but few people ever object to that.

The only acceptable plural of octopus is therefore octouses.

Linky

Pirate
"one who takes another's work without permission"
OMG THATS NOT WHAT COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS! WTF!

Pirate
You're just sounding like you're a pirate yourself and the word is too "harmful" to you, so you try to get people to think nicer of you when you commit crimes. Sorry, not likely.

Lots of words have multiple meanings. Just deal with it.

It sounds impressive, but how usefull is doing something a machine can already do more quickly and efficiently?

Like say, woodworking? (Or spelling, in your case.) Fact is people just enjoy doing things. Lots and lots of things. Life is vastly more complex than basic food & shelter & fucking.

Incidently,

genius
1390, from L. genius "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth; spirit, incarnation, wit, talent," from root of gignere "beget, produce" (see kin), from PIE base *gen- "produce." Meaning "person of natural intelligence or talent" first recorded 1649.

genius
Inflected Form(s): plural geniuses or genii /-nE-"I/
Etymology: Latin, tutelary spirit, natural inclinations, from gignere to beget
1 a plural genii : an attendant spirit of a person or place b plural usually genii : a person who influences another for good or bad
2 : a strong leaning or inclination : PENCHANT
3 a : a peculiar, distinctive, or identifying character or spirit b : the associations and traditions of a place c : a personification or embodiment especially of a quality or condition
4 plural usually genii : SPIRIT, JINNI
5 plural usually geniuses a : a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude b : extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity c : a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially : a person with a very high intelligence quotient
synonym see GIFT

I don't think you've thought very much about "useful" or "genius".

From http://www.etymonline.com/:

second (n.)
"one-sixtieth of a minute," 1391, from O.Fr. seconde, from M.L. secunda, short for secunda pars minuta "second diminished part," the result of the second division of the hour by sixty (the first being the "prime minute," now called the minute), from L. secunda, fem. of secundus (see second (adj.)). Shortened form sec first recorded 1860.

So sort of true, but of course the use of second and minute as time units originates in Latin.

I would say everything changed with the technology push surrounding WWII...after that, we became advanced to the point where we simply needed more time to learn everything that's necessary to make one's way in the modern world.

The US is the cultural leader for the concept of mass consumption to sustain an economy, right or wrong.

My opinion is that "college education" has become de rigeur for most higher-paying jobs. Unfortunately, this attitude seems to create an elite group who are only really interested in their own financial success and some variation of "inclusionism" that poisons society on the whole.

Also, IMO, the widespread use of computers has isolated and eliminated the "old guard".

The English language.

What is the etimology of "gry"?

...so stydy of the past helps us to understand what's going on right now.

A common misconception. Of all the reasons for studying history, illuminating the present is probably the most tenuous.

For the past to be useful for undertstanding anything you first have be sure of what actually happened in the past. History is reconstructed from documents, memories, and artifacts that survive by chance and by the desire of history's winners to preserve their side of the story and obscure the side of history's losers. As a result, the historical record is incomplete and deliberately distorted.

In addition, chance plays a role in history but no one agrees on how much.

In so far as we can have any idea what happened in the past, one could argue that it is the present that illuminates the past. We get to see with some degree of certainty the outcome of all those projects, initiatives and schemes to gain national advantage and improve mankind.

The phrase sic transit gloria mundi neatly sums up most of what you can learn from the past.

...it seems that the word dates back to at least 1951, with its application to porn not coming until the 1970's. The pornography use definitely predates references to hardcore music, though.

No, actualy the root word of news is new, what you have my friend is a folk entymology. From the first link:

news - 1382, plural of new (n.) "new thing," from new (adj.), q.v.; after Fr. nouvelles, used in Bible translations to render M.L. nova (neut. pl.) "news," lit. "new things." Sometimes still regarded as plural, 17c.-19c. Meaning "tidings" is 1423; newspaper is first attested 1670, though the thing itself is much older. Newsreel was first recorded 1916; newscast is from 1930. Newsletter is attested from 1674, but fell from use until it was revived 20c. Newsworthy first attested 1932.

Check the etymology. Niggard and Niggle have nothing to do with Nigger. By your argument, we can't use Niggle either, because it might "sound" like a racist epithet? I also find it funny that someone (you) who has a problem with the way others use language, use it so badly. Are capitals difficult? Do you know how to use it's/its?

You also have a problem with logic. You say the thought of its racial sound didn't cross your mind, yet that's what concerns you: are you assuming that all "average" black people don't know the difference between Nigger and Niggardly? Who's the racist here?

From an etymological dictionary:

niggard - 1366, nygard, the suffix suggests Fr. origin (cf. dastard), but the root word is probably related to O.N. hnoggr "stingy," from P.Gmc. *khnauwjaz; related to O.E. hneaw "stingy, niggardly," which did not survive in M.E.

nigger - 1786, earlier neger (1568, Scot. and northern England dialect), from Fr. negre, from Sp. negro (see Negro). From the earliest usage it was "the term that carries with it all the obloquy and contempt and rejection which whites have inflicted on blacks." But as black inferiority was at one time a near universal assumption in Eng.-speaking lands, the word in some cases could be used without insult. More sympathetic writers late 18c. and early 19c. seem to have used black (n.) and, after the American Civil War, colored person. Also applied by Eng. settlers to dark-skinned native peoples in India, Australia, Polynesia. The reclamation of the word as a neutral or positive term in black culture, often with a suggestion of "soul" or "style," is attested first in the Amer. South, later (1968) in the Northern, urban-based Black Power movement. Variant niggah attested from 1925, usually in situations where blacks use the word; without the -h it is attested from 1969. Slang phrase nigger in the woodpile attested by 1800; "A mode of accounting for the disappearance of fuel; an unsolved mystery" [R.H. Thornton, "American Glossary," 1912]. Nigger heaven, "the top gallery in a (segregated) theater" first attested 1878 in ref. to Troy, N.Y. " 'You're a fool nigger, and the worst day's work Pa ever did was to buy you,' said Scarlett slowly. ... There, she thought, I've said 'nigger' and Mother wouldn't like that at all." [Margaret Mitchell, "Gone With the Wind," 1936]

niggle - 1599, possibly from a Scand. source (cf. Norw. dial. nigla "be busy with trifles"), perhaps related to source of niggard.

Should we also tell anyone with the name Nygard that they need to change it, or at least shouldn't utter it?

Next time you're wrong, just admit it, or shut up.

Negative.

A cuckoo is a small bird that makes a distinct, repetitive call that sounds like its name. When used to refer to a person or idea, it means that the target is insane. The tie between calling something/someone insane "cuckoo" goes back for centuries, and the reason for the slang is lost to time.

The word "limb" in this sense comes from latin limbus, "border." Its meanings in English all have to do with the edge of a round object.

Oddly enough, the more common meaning of limb is actually a different word, spelled "lim" in Old English. This etymology page says that the "b" appeared in the 16th century for no apparent reason, though American Heritage says that it was probably picked up from the other "limb."

So unlike other separate words pronounced alike, such as everyone's favorite their/there pair, limb and lim wound up being spelled the same by someone's mistake.

It's wierd that people so vehemently defend correct spellings, given that so many of them originated as mistakes some time in the past.

- Peter

The Second Coming

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Like HAM radio, it is basically just a bunch of people talking to each other about a whole variety of things. It isn't used for any critical government work, or as a commercial broadcast. However, if you want to play, you have to get a HAM operators liscence. It's not difficult or expensive to get, but you need to have it and have your callsign if you want to legally use the HAM bands.

Dude, ham as in ham radio is NOT an acronym.

I'm not trying to be an asshole, really. But it's jarring to see it written HAM.

Sincerely,

Anonymous Nitpicker (licensed ham for 27 years, since I was 11)

No, the first June was in 1110.

OK, but as others have pointed out, the essay that the author was complaining about describes a concept that's no different than what the author was describing. The only thing you miss with this "google bombing", as others have called it, is the provenance of the symbol "second superpower". So what? When expressions become popular, they tend to find uses outside their original context, and Google is not geared towards etymology. It has a crude time interface consisting of "updated within the past year, 6 months, 3 months or anytime". Hence the usefulness of etymological documents such as the Hacker's Jargon File.

You might say that a phrase destined for popularity passes through 3 distinct phases. First, it's early use, in which a Google search will quickly reveal it within its original context, and only within that context. Second, the phrase expands in popularity, clouding out the original context. Third and final stage, the phrase becomes so popular that people wonder about its origin, so somebody feels compelled to publish an etymology--which Google can find.

The article laments that "second superpower" is in the second stage, and rather ironicly begins to place it in the third stage without realizing what it's doing.

For example, when I search for:

"collateral damage" coined

I get a lot of links that lead me to believe this phrase came out of the 1991 Gulf war. I have to add the keyword "origin" to obtain this link which says the phrase became mil-speak circa 1975.

That's not much of an etymology, but it's better than nothing.

The bottom line? If you let your world be shaped only by Google, you deserve the world you get. Remember--you saw this on the internet. It must be true. Now... who said that first?

And some of those constructs are pretty weak -- "everyone's woman" for prostitute.

Is Latin any better?

prostitute - 1530, from L. prostituere "to expose to prostitution, expose publicly" from pro- "before" + statuere "cause to stand, establish."

First, you need a basic grabbag of short expletives that are easily shot off in the heat of passion.

Eventually, semantic change will derive the shorter Esperanto words for private parts into such a function, just as it drove "cunt" from a semi-polite word for vagina to the most offensive word in English.