Feeling Under the Weather

How did  “feeling under the weather” come to mean that someone is not feeling well.

Sailors would rest under the bow of a ship if they became seasick during a voyage. This was the best place as it would protect the sailor from bad weather. Those who were ill were described as being under the weather,

Steal Your Thunder; Specious; Limelight;

Here's an origin that sounds specious to me. By the way, specious means superficially plausible, but actually wrong.  - which itself has a specious origin in late Middle English (in the sense ‘beautiful’) from the earlier Latin specious (fair).

I found that “steal your thunder” - which today means to take the attention or limelight away from someone. By the way, the term "limelight" comes from the discovery in the 1820s that heating calcium oxide with oxygen and hydrogen produces a brilliant white light. The light was used as a theatrical spotlight and to illuminate stages. 

Back to "steal your thunder" which is said to have a quite literal origin. In the 18th-century, playwright John Dennis wanted an authentic sound of thunder for his play. He invented a thunder-making machine, but his play flopped. Later, he learned that someone had seen his machine in action and made a similar one for another play. It was pretty much the same machine but was not credited with the invention. This other person had literally stolen his thunder.

Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane photographed by Herb Greene at the Matrix club, San Francisco, in 1966. 

Top row from left: Jack Casady, Grace Slick, Marty Balin; 

bottom row from left: Jorma Kaukonen, Paul Kantner, Spencer Dryden. 

A cropped version of this photo was used for the front cover of Surrealistic Pillow.  Link

Paul Kantner put together the original Jefferson Airplane and one member he recruited was his college friend, blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Kaukonen is given credit for the band's name because he has said that, "I had this friend [Steve Talbot] in Berkeley who came up with funny names for people. His name for me was Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane [kind of a reference to blues pioneer Blind Lemon Jefferson]. When the guys were looking for band names and nobody could come up with something, I remember saying, 'You want a silly band name? I got a silly band name for you!'"

So the name has no real meaning. But it survived the reincarnation of the band as Jefferson Starship, but not the final version that was simply Starship.

Something that used the band's name as a direct reference is the practice of making a quick roach clip for a marijuana joint by splitting a matchstick into a “V” formation allowing the user to smoke the very end of a joint without burning their fingers. That makeshift clip became known (at least on the West Coast) as a Jefferson Airplane.

The group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. 

Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time"

Despite several lineup changes, the band continued and in 1989, the classic 1966–70 lineup of Jefferson Airplane reunited (with the exception of drummer Spencer Dryden) for a tour and album. The self-titled album was released by Epic to modest sales but the accompanying tour was considered a success  Jefferson Airplane is the eighth and final studio album by the band. Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady all returned for the album and supporting tour, The album and accompanying tour would mark the last time Jefferson Airplane would perform together until their 1996 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Jefferson Airplane evolved into Jefferson Starship in January 1974. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albums and had nine top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1975's Red Octopus marked the official return of Marty Balin as vocalist. The Balin-penned single "Miracles” peaked at #3 on the chart, and along with the single “Play on Love” helped to propel the album to eventual multiple-platinum status and topped the Billboard 200 chart. It might surprise fans to know that it would be the biggest-selling album of the band's career. 

Starship was initially a continuation of Jefferson Starship, but because of a different musical direction and loss of personnel, a lawsuit settlement led to a name change that required dropping the "Jefferson" in the name. Their 1985 pop album Knee Deep in the Hoopla had two number-one hits -"We Built This City" and "Sara."

MAIN ALBUMS of the Original Band Lineup

Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (1966)

Surrealistic Pillow (1967)

After Bathing at Baxter's (1967)

Crown of Creation (1968)

Volunteers (1969)

Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1969)

Skype

Microsoft announced this past week that their once-popular Skype product would be gone in early May 2025 to focus on its its flagship Teams service. Skype was considered a pioneer in how people communicated online across borders before competition exploded from platforms like FaceTime, WhatsApp, Slack, and Zoom. 

But why was it called Skype?

The name "Skype" originates from "Sky peer-to-peer," which was shortened to "Skyper" and then further shortened to "Skype" because the domain name "Skyper.com" had already been taken.

Uriah Heep

Uriah Heep is an English rock band formed in London in 1969 that became one of the seminal hard rock acts of the early 1970s. 

Their progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion featured a lot of keyboards and strong vocal harmonies including in the early years' the vocals of David Byron. 

Of their fifteen albums, it was Demons & Wizards that was the most successful. 

One of their radio hits was "Easy Livin'." They were often grouped with Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin as "The Big 4" of hard rock, and although they became more of a 1980s cult band in the United Kingdom and the United States, they still have a significant following and perform at arena-sized venues in the Balkans, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia and Scandinavia.

They have sold over 30 million albums worldwide with over 4 million sales in the U.S.A.

an illustration of Dickens' Uriah Heep

As a four-piece band, they went into the Lansdowne Studios in London under the name "Spice." They changed the name to Uriah Heep, a character from Charles Dickens' classic novel David Copperfield and the change occurred along with the new keyboard-based larger sound. According to biographer Kirk Blows, Dickens was in the news then (December 1969) due to it being the hundredth anniversary of his death.

The character of Uriah Heep is not a pleasant one being the antagonist for the second half of the novel and notable for his "cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own 'humbleness" and his name has become synonymous with being a "yes man."

Perhaps not the best image for a hard rock band, but nevertheless...  

20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best of Uriah Heep

Band site: http://www.uriah-heep.com

Dressed to the Nines

If someone is described as being “dressed to the nines,” as being very well dressed and wearing your best clothes. But why "the nines?"

The idiom goes back to the 18th century when there were no off-the-shelf suits available. If you wanted a suit, you had it custom-made, especially for you. In those days, a suit included the waistcoat so it took nine yards of fabric to complete. back then being dressed to the nines basically meant you were wearing a suit.

Court suit and sword worn by Charles Dickens in 1870.
The design was strictly specified and the suit was made by Charles Smith and Sons.
This is the only known suit worn by Dickens to have survived. 

Spinal Tap

(L-R) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean
in 1984's film This Is Spinal Tap

The band Spinal Tap was created by American comedians and musicians Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer for the 1979 sketch comedy pilot "The T.V. Show". 

The name "Spinal Tap" was chosen as part of the band's fictional backstory, which was later expanded in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap.

In the film, the band members humorously explain that they went through several name changes before settling on Spinal Tap, including "The Originals" and "The New Originals," before becoming the Thamesmen and finally Spinal Tap. 

But how does "Spinal Tap" reflect their new heavy metal musical direction? 

A lumbar puncture is commonly known as a spinal tap. This medical procedure requires a needle to be inserted into the spinal canal, most commonly to collect cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for diagnostic testing. The main reason for a lumbar puncture is to help diagnose diseases of the central nervous system, including the brain and spine.

Spinal Tap (stylized as Spın̈al Tap, with a dotless letter i and a metal umlaut over the n) could be described as a fictional English heavy metal band, but they are actually a band and have recorded albums and done concerts, so are they still fictional? 

The three comedians are also musicians and wrote and performed original songs as the band: Michael McKean, as the lead singer and guitarist David St. Hubbins; Christopher Guest, as the guitarist Nigel Tufnel; and Harry Shearer, as the bassist Derek Smalls. 

They are characterized as "one of England's loudest bands"

The three added to the group David Kaff (as keyboard player "Viv Savage") and R.J. Parnell (as drummer "Mick Shrimpton"). Parnell had previously been in the band Atomic Rooster, while Kaff had been a member of Rare Bird. The quintet played their own instruments throughout the film.

In 1984, they did an episode of Saturday Night Live to promote their film. The character of Mick Shrimpton having died in the film, Parnell played his "twin brother" drummer Ric Shrimpton for these and later appearances. Kaff dropped out shortly after the SNL appearance.

Their new movie, This Is Spinal Tap 2, is a too-long-awaited sequel to the 1984 mockumentary classic. Directed by Rob Reiner, it brings back the original cast members. The story follows the band as they reunite for a final concert to honor their late manager, with cameos from famous musicians like Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Garth Brooks. What havethe band members have been up to over the past four decades?

starting off on the right foot

A friend posted on this new Year's Eve: "Just before midnight, lift your left foot off the ground so that your start the new year on the right foot." Mildly humorous, but it got me thinking about why we would even say such an idiom. 

The origin is uncertain. I found two possibilities.  One is simply that starting a journey correctly is important. Many cultures consider the right foot and right hand as more auspicious than the left. The opposite idion is "get off on the wrong foot." 

Goofy with his right foot forward

In my youthful surfing days, I was a "Goofy foot surfer" because I would place my right foot forward on the surfboard, with the left foot at the back: This stance is the opposite of regular foot surfing, where the surfer places their left foot forward. Being right'handed and right-foot dominant (as when I kick) when I ran sprints, I would put my stronger right leg in back to push off the starting blocks.

Another origin for the idiom is from dance. Starting a dance routine on the right foot is crucial to a smooth performance. Of course, in that usage "right" could also mean "correct."

Toponyms and a Condom

Earlier I mentioned some offensive place names (almost always unintentional). Less vulgar but still not great for a place's public image is something like the French town of Condom. No matter what the origin of the name might be, English speakers will associate it with those birth control items.

Condom is an example of a toponym. Condom comes from the Gaulish words condate and magos combined into Condatomagos, which means "market or field, of the confluence".Condatómagos evolved into Condatóm and then into Conddóm. Condom was first recorded in Latin in the 10th century as Condomus or Condomium. It is where the river Gèle flows into the river Baïse.[

Although the French word for the contraceptive condom is préservatif, in 1995 the town's mayor, taking advantage of the incidental relationship between the town's name and the English word, opened a museum of contraceptives that operated until 2005.

Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of toponyms which are proper names of places,  including their origins, meanings, usage, and types.

Part 2 of this vocabulary lesson is to say that toponymy is a branch of onomastics, the study of proper names of all kinds.

The term toponymy comes from Ancient Greek tópos, 'place', and onoma, 'name'. The Oxford English Dictionary records toponymy (meaning "place name") first appearing in English in 1876. Since then, toponym has come to replace the term place-name in professional discourse among geographers.

Places With Offensive Names

Some places have names that are offensive or humorous in other languages.

A few examples are Rottenegg or Fucking (renamed to Fugging in 2021) in Austria, or Fjuckby in Sweden, since those names are easily associated with the expletive "fuck."

The town of Fucking is benign in German, but in English it's vulgar. Its earliest recorded use in England is within the 14th-century Bristol field name, Fucking Grove, although it is unclear whether the word was considered obscene at that time. 

December in Japan

 

Like many countries, Japan uses a 12-month calendar. The names used are very simple. January is literally "Month one" 一月, February is "Month two" 二月, and so on. However, before the Meiji Restoration (mid-1800s), an older 12-month system was common. These months’ names referenced the weather and the seasons, similar to how we name the Full Moons.

December is 師走. The kanji (I think that is the correct term for an ideogram) 師 can refer to a teacher, or a mentor, often in a religious sense. In this context, it means a monk. The second ideogram is 走 which means "running." So, this December literally means "monks running."   

But why? 

In December, monks are very busy preparing for the New Year's festival, so this last month of the year is "the month of running monks."

Chrismukkah

By Jonah Green - Flickr: Hanukkah bush, CC BY 2.0, Link

Chrismukkah is a pop-culture portmanteau neologism referring to the merging of the holidays of Christianity's Christmas and Judaism's Hanukkah. 

The term was popularized beginning in December 2003 by the TV drama The O.C., in which the character Seth Cohen creates the holiday to signify his upbringing in an interfaith household with a Jewish father and Protestant mother. 

The holiday can also be adopted by all-Jewish households that celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday.

The term first arose in the German-speaking countries among middle-class Jews in the 19th century. 

After World War II, Chrismukkah became particularly popular in the United States but is also celebrated in other countries.

For a deeper and more personal take on this, see my post today on Weekends in Paradelle. 

tempest in a teapot and variations

 

German artist Carl Guttenberg's 1778 engraving of an exploding teapot to represent the American Revolution. Father Time, on the right, flashes a magic lantern picture of an exploding teapot to America on the left and Britannia on the right, with British and American forces advancing towards each other.

Tempest in a teapot (American English), or storm in a teacup (British English), or tempest in a teacup, are all idioms meaning a small event that has been exaggerated out of proportion. There are also lesser-known or earlier variants, such as storm in a cream bowl, tempest in a glass of water, storm in a wash-hand basin, and storm in a glass of water. We find the French une tempête dans un verre d'eau (a storm in a glass of water) and Chinese: 茶杯裡的風波、;  茶壺裡的風暴 (winds and waves in a teacup; storm in a teapot)

The etymology appears to go way back to Cicero in the first century BC. In his De Legibus, he used a similar phrase in Latin, possibly the precursor to the modern expressions, Excitabat enim fluctus in simpulo ut dicitur Gratidius, which is translated as "For Gratidius raised a tempest in a ladle, as the saying is."

One of the earliest occurrences in print of the modern version is in 1815, where Britain's Lord Chancellor Thurlow, sometime during his tenure of 1783–1792, is quoted as referring to a popular uprising on the Isle of Man as a "tempest in a teapot."

Lord North, Prime Minister of Great Britain, is credited for popularizing this phrase as characterizing the outbreak of American colonists against the tax on tea. This was satirized in Carl Guttenberg's 1778 engraving of the Tea-Tax Tempest (shown above).