I'll say this for Paul West: he knows what kind of malarkey gets stuff published in New York city. I admire Mr. West's scholarship in digging up the roots of word origins, but his hacking away at irrelevant branches via classist, provincial and sexist editorializing indicates he's either got too much time on his hands or he's not sure if he wants to research words as opposed to write New York city provincial "humor." And TEN WHOLE WORDS. Wow!
Mind, I really like the idea of Nerve.com; but why not get out of town and see what's going on elsewhere? The inter-net makes such an endeavor easy. I'm a New York city native who left town years ago. Sex does thrive abroad in the land! My own observations indicate big-city media-center blinders eventually stifle, rather than expand, talent and wisdom. Work from intra-national contributors would be most welcome from Nerve.com at this home, provided it wasn't turned into more status quo ante clueless "humor" by well-meaning editors in New York city.
--JAH
05/04 |
Hallo,
"Schwanz" is the German equvalent to "cock". I think all the different writings are of German origin and reflect different dialects. Schwanz = tail: I feel like a crocodile: most power in my tail.
--HJH
05/01 |
Mr. West forgets the Latin cunnus, -i m., "cunt" in his etymology of the same. I will concede that a direct derivation from "cuneus" is a bit dicey, but one can hardly ignore the influence of "cunnus" on the modern copia verborum obscenorum.
--JB
04/15 |
As a Classicist-in-training, I find it interesting that Mr. West neglected to mention the Latin word "cunnus" when giving his etymology for cunt. "Cunnus" does in fact mean 'the female pudenda' (cf. Lewis & Short, _Elementary Latin Dictionary_), although, ironically, it's a masculine noun. Go figure.
--AK
04/13 |
Thought this might be of interest to a word smith.
--dt
04/11 |
Jesus Christ! This guy uses too many words! I've never before, seen an entire book written to define one word. Good God man! Lighten up!
--J.L.
02/06 |
Then why do outfielders 'Shag flies' an hour before the baseball game starts ? Moral...Never bring an Englishwoman to Yankee Stadium until just before everyone stands up and sings "...and the bombs bursting in air..." unless you are ready to put up with the giggling on every ball hit in the air to the outfield.
--ww
09/06 |
The author and/or copy editor should look up the word "fulsome."
--eg
09/01 |
You're missing the obvious connection, so to speak, to the German word, "Schwanz," which means both tail and, in the vernacular, prick (look it up in the dictionary).
--P.H.
08/29 |
Dear Ed.: This short bit of pedantry was truly enlightening, and intersting. Never mind Mr. Webster, Mr. Saffire would probably not cover such ground either. For those of us interested in etymology, however, it is always intersting to see the roots of words, and to see how they are utilized today. While sure that you realized this, you did not comment on it when speaking of wanking. To "be spunky" or to have "a lot of spunk" -- utilized to denote chutzpah etc. -- derives from a fairly earthy place it would seem. Perhaps this observation is too recherche to bare mention in your glossary, but I feel the need to respond to its presence nonetheless since this word has always slightly troubled on a very basic level despite its wholesome understanding and use.
--tv
08/27 |
Great project you have going, Mr. West, and I hope to get your book when it comes out. Stephen Bouvet, Editor, SmartRead
--SJB
08/24 |
As a Scot, I should be qualified enough to tell you that 'shag off' is probably incorrect usage - it's not exactly a synonym for fuck.
--CJH
08/21 |
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