BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

BACKRONYM

“an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose 
initial letters spell out a particular word or words, 
either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful 
explanation of a word's origin.
   "Biodiversity Serving Our Nation, or BISON (a               backronym if ever there was one)"

Oxford Languages

“Many United States Congress bills have backronyms 
as their names; examples include the American CARES 
Act of 2020, which stands for the Coronavirus Aid, 
Relief, and Economic Security Act, the Uniting 
and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate 
Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism 
(USA PATRIOT) Act ...”

Internet: “What are examples of backronyms”

**

STEPHEN KING’S ZESTFUL CRITICISM OF A STORY
BY MURRAY LEINSTER

When he was in 8th grade, Stephen King read
a story by Murray Leinster which King realized
was badly written, “a story populated  by paper-
thin characters and driven by outlandish plot
developments.  Worst of all (or so it seemed to
me at the time), Leinster had fallen in love with
the word zestful.  Characters watched the approach of
ore-bearing asteroids with zestful smiles. Characters
sat down to supper aboard their mining ship with
zestful anticipation. Near the end of the book, the
hero swept the large-breasted, blonde heroine into
a zestful embrace.  For me, it was the literary
equivalent of a smallpox vaccination. I have never,
so far as I know, used the word zestful in a novel
or story. God willing, I never will.”

Stephen King. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
(New York: Pocket Books, 2000)

**

 CHARLES de GAULLE’S BATH

“He would suddenly lean forward and tap the
shoulder of his driver, and order him to stop.
Then he would climb out and walk straight into
the crowd, shaking hands and playing the friend
of the common people. Today it is called “pressing
the flesh,” he called it the bain de foule, the bath
in the crowd.

Frederick Forsyth. The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue.
(New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015)

**


FRANK KERMODE ON THE MANX EXPRESSION 
“ALWAYS AT THE HEEL OF THE HUNT”

“My mother was quick to notice this trait. “Traa dy
iioaur,” she would say, time enough is your motto.
Always at the heel of the hunt. The Manx expression,
Though variously spelt, is understandable,, for she
had been a farm girl and some Manx still lingered in
the countryside at the beginning of the century; as 
late as when I was around you might be given a good-day 
in Manx  on country roads and were expected to answer accordingly. But I’ve never heard “the heel of the hunt” anywhere else, and wonder where she can have picked it 
up; there are no foxes om the isle of Man, and no word
 for fox in Manx, which puzzled the Bible translators 
when they came to the little foxes of the Song of
Songs and several others as well.  Samson alone needed 
three hundred of them…”

Frank Kermode. Not Entitled. (New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux , 1995.
**

ON THE WORD  GIBBERISH

“The opinion has been advanced that this word is
derived from Geber, the name of an Arabian 
alchemist of the eleventh century, because of the
mystical jargon in which he wrote in order to
avoid the penalty – most probably death – which 
he would have incurred from the ecclesiastics of
the day had he written openly. It is more likely,
however, the word has been  from the verb ‘to
gibber,’  a variant of ‘jabber,’ which is a 
weakened 
form of ‘gabber,’ ‘gabble.’ Derived 
from the old
 word ‘gab..’

Basil Hargrave. Origins and Meanings of Popular 
Phrases & Names (London: T. Werner Laurie Ltd.,
MCMXXV

**


ON VIRTUE & SPIRITS IN LIQUOR

“Old English gave a special meaning to the word
‘virtue’ which does admirably. It meant inherent
strength or active quality, and was used, for example,
for the undiminished potency of well-preserved 
medicines and liquors. Virtue as spirit once had 
interchangeable meanings—and not only in the 
virtue that endowed liquid spirits.”

Erik H. Erikson. Insight and Responsibility: Lectures on
The Ethical Implications of Psychoanalytic Insight 
(New York: W. W. Norton & Co. 1964) 


**
ON JURISTIC PERSONS

“Those entitled to stage an appearance in the public
realm, the actors as opposed to the chorus are
juristic persons. A slave, the Roman jurists say, has
no persona; the Greek jurists say he is without a face.”

Norman O. Brown. Love’s Body (New York: Random
House,1966)

**
FROM IVAN JOHNSON (ON ITALIAN FOR AGAIN)

“Italians say "Bis"  (beeess).  Which to my ears 
always sounded like "Booo".   When I shared that 
perception with my Italian friends, they had no 
idea what I was talking about. Sounded like Beeeess 
to them.  Bis is also used on addresses, like 
Via Nizza 12bis; usually a side door or annex.

They have the word ancora (an-CO-ra) but don't use 
it for those occasions.   We were treated to a hilarious 
use of ancora during an overnight ferryboat ride from 
Rome to Sardegna.  Some sailors had picked up some 
sweet young things.   In the middle of the night 
we heard one pair through the walls -- a female voice 
moaned "Ancora. Ancora."    bedsprings squeaking......
..  A couple hours later:  "Ancora, ancora." We saw 
a number of sleepy-eyed sailors n girls disembarking
 later that morning.   Couldn't tell which ones were our neighbors. 

They also have the word ancora (ANK-ora) which means anchor.”

**

CARNIVAL SLANG

“Carny folk would identify themselves to one 
another by
 announcing, “Wee-a-zith”; that is 
“With it.”

David Mamet, writing about Ricky Jay
**


THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME FOR THE PRISON SING SING


“I discovered that Sing Sing was no lullaby, that its
 name was derived from the Indian words ‘Sint Sinks,’
a local tribe, a variation of an older term “Ossine Ossine’
meaning stone upon stone.”

Lewis E. Lawes. Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing
(1932)


**

About Curtail
This word comes from the obsolete “curtal,” meaning “horse with a docked tail.” This stems from the French “courtault” by way of “court” meaning “short,” and from the Latin “curtus.” The change in the ending was due to association with “tail” and perhaps also with the French “tailler,” meaning “to cut.”

Word Genius site  February 12,  2022
**