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June 23, 2007, 09:18
<Asa Lovejoy>
Zimmer
I heard a 79-year-old Englishman interviewed on NPR today who said he was a member of a band called "The Zimmers." The interviewer asked if the name wasn't slang for something, but I missed what what was said. Other than being a pretty common German family name, what's a zimmer to you Brits?
June 23, 2007, 09:30
BobHale
quote:
Reply

Ah, this will be the bunch of 70-,80- and 90- year olds who have just recorded a cover version of the Who classic "My Generation".

A zimmer is a zimmer frame, a kind of for legged walking stick that gives the infirm some mobility.


"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
June 23, 2007, 13:55
bethree5
I was surprised to find that Wikipedia already has the latest poop on this. Tell the truth, did one of you guys contribute that last para?
June 23, 2007, 17:45
Kalleh
Must have been Bob. Wink

Word has it that my mother's aunt used to say, "Zimmer, zimmer, zimmer" as an exclamation, to mean something like, "Oh dear" or "What are you going to do?" I imagine it was just something she made up, though. I haven't thought about that in a a long time.
June 24, 2007, 15:18
wordmatic
It's German for "room," isn't it?
June 24, 2007, 17:06
<Asa Lovejoy>
"Room?" Oh, thank goodness - I was afraid it had something to do with Slick Willy and Monica Lewinski! Eek
June 24, 2007, 19:32
zmježd
It's German for "room," isn't it?

Yes, it's cognate with English timber. There's also kammer '(small) room' which is a borrowing from Latin camera 'room', which also yields English chamber via French.


—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
June 24, 2007, 19:46
<Asa Lovejoy>
In Italian, "camera d'aria" means "inner tube." Then we think of a camera as a photographic device. It IS a little room, I suppose.
June 24, 2007, 20:32
zmježd
The photographic device developed from the camera obscura 'dark room'.


—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
June 27, 2007, 16:38
goofy
quote:
Originally posted by zmježd:
It's German for "room," isn't it?

Yes, it's cognate with English timber.


It's also cognate with "dome", "madame", and "danger". Wacky!
June 27, 2007, 23:06
Richard English
quote:
The photographic device developed from the camera obscura 'dark room'.

The word is used in its original sense in the legal profession. When a judge tries a session "in camera" it is when the session is held in private (in a room that is closed to all but the judge, the accused and any necessary officials, in other words).


Richard English
June 28, 2007, 06:35
<Asa Lovejoy>
It's used similarly in describing the two divisions of the legislature, "bi-cameral."
June 29, 2007, 08:08
missann
quote:
When a judge tries a session "in camera"

I don't know much legal jargon but I think here the judge would meet in similar circumstances "in his chambers" or "in chambers."