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QT tells about a catalog that offers Gaia walking shoes in 2 colors: anthracite and red. He asks if we can have the word "black" back. I haven't seen this color used, have you? Other words he wants back are "landscapers" instead of "landscape architects" and "hunger" for "food insecurity." What other words do you want back? | ||
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Don't get me started! I surely agree with black. I also want to be able to use "gay" - as in "A bachelor gay am I" without my words being interpreted as meaning homosexuality. Oh, and I'd like homosexual back as well! Richard English | |||
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Now then let's see. That's "back" as a noun meaning "rear" and "homosexual" as an adjective, I think. Did I interpret that correctly? "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson. | |||
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Member |
They appear to have missed a trick. Why haven't they used another term for "red"? Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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Anthracite has an interesting history: Greek anthrakitis 'a kind of coal', probably from anthraks 'charcoal, carbuncle'. Carbuncle < Latin carbo, carbonis, 'ember; carbuncle' is a double diminutive of carbo, carbonis, 'coal'; it is related to ceramic and hearth. —Ceci n'est pas un seing. | |||
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Not exactly... Richard English | |||
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That's interesting, Zmj, because a "carbuncle" isn't necessarily "black." I guess the inflammation could make it reddish, though, and a carbuncle is also a deep-red garnet or a red precious stone (obsolete). Funny...because if "carbuncle" indirectly is derived from "anthracite," the black or red shoes could be described as "anthracite" in color. [Edited typo.]This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh, | |||
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if "carbuncle" indirectly is derived from "anthracite," No, anthrakitis is just Greek for carbuncle. The two words are not related to one another. —Ceci n'est pas un seing. | |||
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Hmm... I doubt that the advertising types won't start using "carbuncle" as a synonym for "red" quite yet, then. Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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Probably not, arnie. I looked into the history of anthrax because I think of it as a white powder and not black lump of coal. —Ceci n'est pas un seing. | |||
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It's related to anthrax - a carbuncle can also refer to a malignant growth.
And Krishna! | |||
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goofy, I've never heard of a carbuncle as referring to a malignant growth, and I used to research cancer and teach oncology to undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Can you tell me more about that? It has always been an infection of the subcutaneous tissue, to me. | |||
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No, you're right; I'm wrong. | |||
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| <Asa Lovejoy> |
Gosh, I thought a carbuncle was the old jalopy I drove in college.  Sometimes gay Asa - and sometimes not | ||
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