Ever Wonder...

[DoubleStar3]

Why things are named what they are... who named them.. and how'd they come up with the name? I tend to spend my time thinking of such things (among other oddities), and decided to make this thread to see if you've ever thought about it, and what it might be. This can also be a 'I like to think about this in my spare time' thread as long as it's nothing like the usual (guys/girls, love ect...)

I like to think about minly how people thought up names of things like a bottle, or film, even grass. I know it's kinda mindless. But I think it's interesting on how people come up with stuff, and then name it such.

(This thread ame up after a special on tv about Kodak. The guy (Mr. Eastman) Wanted to name it something easy to pronounce, and something easily translated in all languages. So he made up the word Kodak.)

[Edwardo_son_of_haqim]

I often think about the word "much". Think about it, say it a dozen or so times, "much" it's an awful weird word. :D

[perpetual sorrow]

Well sometimes I start to wonder about the word "comma",I don't know why but I find it very unusual. Sometimes when you say a single word several times,you start to wonder about the and the pronunciation of the name itself. (Or maybe I'm just weird :P)

[DoubleStar3]

That goes along with tomato. They can be pronounced toe-mate-toe, or toe-mat-o. You can do the same with the word potatoe. I wonder who came up with those names as well.

Then you also have the soda versus pop deal. It's all the same. It's a carbonated drink. So why must you have two words for the same thing?

[LV426]

OK

No one knows where the word OK or Okay came from, it's just there.

[WhiteCrowUK]

OK

No one knows where the word OK or Okay came from, it's just there.

"Okay" was obviously derrived from some guy who fancied a girl named Kay. When they finally got it on it was "Oh Kay" - meaning "Yes, I'm gonna get some"!

[Amethyst]

OK

No one knows where the word OK or Okay came from, it's just there.
The Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_250.html) begs to differ.

[Binkx]

I've always wondered who named a chair "chair" and why? Was there some country that called sitting "chair" or something whos language is long sense dead? Or was the man who first made the Chair named chair or if it was just another ingeniused word that Shakespear spewed from his head?

[Amethyst]

From Dictionary.com:

Chair: Middle English chaiere, from Old French, from Latin cathedra.

Cathedra: Middle English, from Greek kathedra : kat-, kata-, cata- + hedr, seat; see sed- in Indo-European Roots.

Now you know.

[Sins&Needles]

OK

No one knows where the word OK or Okay came from, it's just there.

What came first, the word or the universal 'OK' gesture? It kinda looks like an 'o' and a 'k' together, so was it made to repesent the word, or is the word derived from the gesture? Hmmm....

[Binkx]

I wanna just go back to when language was a bunch of grunts that were apparently incoherent. But then again...I don't want to be banged on the head and claimed as property. *rubs head uncertainly*

[DarkWolf]

What came first, the word or the universal 'OK' gesture? It kinda looks like an 'o' and a 'k' together, so was it made to repesent the word, or is the word derived from the gesture? Hmmm....
The OK gesture isn't universal. In some places it doesn't mean OK at all as in just as rude as the middle-finger gesture.

[DoubleStar3]

That's interesting DW. I always thought that that would be the one thing universal. Guess you do learn something different every day.

[FMtRIS]

A group of jellyfish is called a "smuck" so does it strike you as odd or maybe relevent as to why they named "Smuckers" jelly with that particular name?

[Sins&Needles]

The OK gesture isn't universal. In some places it doesn't mean OK at all as in just as rude as the middle-finger gesture.


Hmmm...didn't know that! Cool!

Is 'Thumbs-up' universal? Or has Ebert been flippin' off half the world all these years?

[DoubleStar3]

That would be cool if he was. I don't like that guy.

[Rainstorm]

I ALWAYS wonder how things get their names....whether or not that particular item made a noise, or someone who saw it for the first time made a noise, or what. When I was very young, I had this image in my head of figureheads like Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, all sitting in a room saying things like "Well, how about pen? That sounds like a good name. It certainly looks like a 'pen.'" It's still fun to think of things that way. :)

[Sins&Needles]

If onomatopoeia was used for the creation of words, why aren't words created this way simmilar sounding across cultures? eg sizzle, crackle, buzz, chirp, drip

[DoubleStar3]

How about those big long words that are just the same as small words. What? Was the easy version not good enough? Or those words that now have a double meaning... like gay. Gay means happy. So why is it now that the word gay means Homosexual?

[Binkx]

Lately I've been wondering why we humans want to know everything and go beyond our own planet. I never really understood the point of actually spending great sums of money to go to other planets when we have enviormental problems here. It just always boggled my mind.

[Louve]

A group of jellyfish is called a "smuck" so does it strike you as odd or maybe relevent as to why they named "Smuckers" jelly with that particular name?
Yech! That's the last of of that for me! LOL :D

[Lycan_bites]

I don't wonder about any words in particular, I wonder about most of them. I rememeber (for some strange reason) when I was about 9, wondering where the hell the word elephant came from. I know about the word kangaroo though, or at least I think I do.

[Lore]

Lately I've been wondering why we humans want to know everything and go beyond our own planet. I never really understood the point of actually spending great sums of money to go to other planets when we have enviormental problems here. It just always boggled my mind.

Because we are a very curious race and have a disire for knowledge. we have dicovered mostly everthing we can on this planet so why not try a different planet or a entirely new solar system

[weird_al_werewolf]

I think the weirdest word is Wednesday but we prounounce it wensday but I can see where it came from... People probably first pronounced it how its looks. Then people who didn't speak clearly or properly dropped the D, leaving you with Wenesday. Now say that out load, doesn't it sound a lot like how we pronounce it. Then overtime people dropped the E and thats how we got how we pronounce it today! Same with bologna... (I think thats spelled right...) anyway just a theory

[Cuttail]

Don't you ever wonder why we ever stoped grunting in the first place?

[Tiamot]

I always wondered why some people pronunce antiacid like antacid. But it's a variant I suppose.

[DoubleStar3]

Shh Tia. I pronounce it as antacid. So don't the people living in the TV. Hence why we all copy from it. (Personally I hate TV, but like movies. Least movies usually have a moral. and being laid up as I am, I needed something to do. [Yes. I'm just going to keep believing that.])

[Hellcat]

Sorry to come back to an old subject, but just for peoples interest, the word OK probably is the abbrieviation "Oll Korrect" which was first used in the USA in 1839 as a humerous spelling of "All correct" .

[DoubleStar3]

Nice to know Hellcat. I think that version of it has almost been lost to the new age. It's always good to see something old bea foundation of today.

My thoughts last night were on the word 'Politician.' How was that derived from anything? It's like a cross between pollution, police, and nation. Either way when I think of the word it just sounds very evil to me. I'm not a big political fan, and don't pretend to be. But then again, I've heard so much more this year regarding politics, that I'm sick to death of it. Every time you turn on the tv there's another political ad. One of these nights I'm going to do a shot for every one that comes up. Bet I get drunk real fast. But really. Where the hell do you come up with the word Political? or Politics? or even Politician? (I know those are all derived from the same word. It's the basic word I'm looking for.)

[DarkWolf]

Politics and all of its variations come from the original word "Politic" which can mean: crafty or cunning. The word is derived from many variations of different languages stemming from Greek mostly (although there are variations in latin, old french and middle english) and derived from the greek word "polis" which means City (which fits seeing how politicians are those who run the towns and cities and countries, etc)

[Darth Cluich]

Actually, it does originally come from "polis," meaning "city," from which the Greek word "polites," or "citizen," is derived, which, in turn, gave us the Greek word "politikos," meaning "politics."

[Louve]

The word morbid comes from the Latin "Morbus" which means disease. Now we know why morbidity makes certain people queasy...LOL

[FocusedWolf]

Lately I've been wondering why we humans want to know everything and go beyond our own planet. I never really understood the point of actually spending great sums of money to go to other planets when we have enviormental problems here. It just always boggled my mind.

Arg didn't you see the Matrix? Humanity is a virus...or rather life is a virus...it spreads...just for its own survival or for the sake of spreading.

[DL Lycan]

If you say certain words over and over slowly they lose all meaning just any word will do really, or is this just me?

[Darth Cluich]

Arg didn't you see the Matrix? Humanity is a virus...or rather life is a virus...it spreads...just for its own survival or for the sake of spreading.

Yes, and the Matrix is real. In fact, everything we see in movies is real. :rolleyes: