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?
August 06, 2007, 23:46
Richard English
quote:
What other words do you want back?
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
August 07, 2007, 03:26
BobHale
quote:
Originally posted by Richard English:
quote:
What other words do you want back?
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!
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.
August 07, 2007, 06:40
arnie
quote:
Gaia walking shoes in 2 colors: anthracite and red
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.
August 07, 2007, 08:29
zmježd
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.
August 07, 2007, 14:34
Richard English
quote:
Did I interpret that correctly?
Not exactly...
Richard English
August 07, 2007, 20:59
Kalleh
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,
August 07, 2007, 22:26
zmježd
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.
August 08, 2007, 03:42
arnie
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.
August 08, 2007, 06:45
zmježd
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.
August 08, 2007, 07:18
goofy
quote:
Originally posted by zmježd: Anthracite has an interesting history: Greek anthrakitis 'a kind of coal', probably from anthraks 'charcoal, carbuncle'.
It's related to anthrax - a carbuncle can also refer to a malignant growth.
quote:
Originally posted by zmježd: Carbuncle < Latin carbo, carbonis, 'ember; carbuncle' is a double diminutive of carbo, carbonis, 'coal'; it is related to ceramic and hearth.
And Krishna!
August 09, 2007, 20:18
Kalleh
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.
August 09, 2007, 20:43
goofy
No, you're right; I'm wrong.
August 09, 2007, 20:44
<Asa Lovejoy>
Gosh, I thought a carbuncle was the old jalopy I drove in college.
