Kalleh notes elsewhere that "women are much more worried about passing flatus than men are."

flatus: gas in or from the stomach or intestines
afflatus: a strong creative impulse, especially as a result of divine inspiration

Coincidence? I think not!!

"Inspiration" means "breathing in". The ancients believed ideas came from the gods breathing into a person's lungs. Perhaps the breath didn't come from the god's lungs?

Although flatus had a secondary meaning of farting, its primary meaning was blowing, breathing, snorting. Afflatus comes from the verb afflo 'to breathe on, blow on; be favorable to'. Latin flo is cogante with English blow. Proto-Indo-European had two related roots for the verb fart: one for the silent kind, the other for the noisy.

quote:

Proto-Indo-European had two related roots for the verb fart: one for the silent kind, the other for the noisy.

I wonder how one could know this?

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Originally posted by shufitz:

quote:

Proto-Indo-European had two related roots for the verb fart: one for the silent kind, the other for the noisy.

I wonder how one could know this?

That's the magic of etymology.

OK, let me get this straight: while we women (wimmyn) have been hard at work at our jobs all day, you men have been sitting around the campfire discussing your own particular brand of hot air?

Yeah, I guess that's about right--only I thought we were so much higher class here on the Wordcraft forum!

Sigh!

Wordmatic

P.S. Did proto-Indo-Europeans eat everything raw?

And then there is the word bloviate, meaning to speak pompously. I looked it up recently but can't find the reference.

WM, I didn't really suggest anything based on gender. I just provided the base meanings in Latin. I thought the PIE stuff was just extra linguistic fun.

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Originally posted by arnie:
"Inspiration" means "breathing in". The ancients believed ideas came from the gods breathing into a person's lungs. Perhaps the breath didn't come from the god's lungs?

This is almost verbatim how it's put in Genesis 2:7! It's a good argument against the notion that a blastocyst has "soul" if their god breathed into Adam's lungs the breath of life, and THEN he became a living soul.

quote:

Originally posted by zmjezhd:
WM, I didn't really suggest anything based on gender. I just provided the base meanings in Latin. I thought the PIE stuff was just extra linguistic fun.

But you knew I was just pulling your chain, right?
:-)

I was just pulling your chain

I guess I'm kind of humor impaired.

'sall right. I just scanned the discussion and saw that--surprise!--only men, up to that point, were discussing flatus, and just couldn't resist. I apologize for my insufferable sexism, heh heh heh.

Of which humor are you impaired? I have an excess of black bile I'll share if you like. It causes flatulence, you know.

Of which humor are you impaired?

Yes, just another word that has been smeared. Went all the way from fluid to wit. But, to answer your question, the jocular kind, Asa.

Then you'll need a blood transfusion, zmj, since it's the sanguine humor you seem bereft of right now. I probably can't help, since my blood type is only common among grumpy residents of Formosa: Taipei negavive.