Comments on: Girls Can’t Resist this KISS ME NECKTIE as it GLOWS in the DARK! (Mar, 1945)

By: qyooqy

qyooqy — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:44:31 +0000

Thanks for the AUE link! You’re the bee’s knees. http://download.lardlad.com/so.....rror12.mp3

By: John

John — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:35:54 +0000

qyooqy » “…but he that hateth reproof, is foolish.” Hey, it works!
” How exactly does that show that the English did not get the ‘dash’ from hearing a French word?”
Gee, I dunno maybe because the word in question was “hapertas”?

Just because two words are alike doesn’t mean that they have the same etymology. For example, the reason that flammable and inflammable both mean the same thing is that they came from two different Latin words.

And urban legends suck by the way.

By: qyooqy

qyooqy — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 03:40:42 +0000

Stopped this one at the source? Urban legends take on a life of their own once they are birthed. I will absolutely ask where the haberdashery department is! People need to know fun words! I checked those links: 1801, “given to cutting a dash” (1786), which was a colloquial expression for “acting brilliantly,” from dash in the sense of “showy appearance,” which is attested from 1715. early 14c., “seller of various small articles of trade” (late 13c. as a surname), agent noun from Anglo-Fr. hapertas “small wares,” also a kind of fabric, of unknown origin. Sense of “dealer in men’s wares” is 1887 in Amer.Eng., via intermediate sense of “seller of caps.” How exactly does that show that the English did not get the ‘dash’ from hearing a French word? Also, I prefer to be corrected because I want to know what happened or is happening. We should trademark/copyright/claim some spelling of the word ‘haberdashery’ because the damned Kardashians may need it for a men’s clothing store some day. This site has fun things to learn.

By: John

John — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:53:17 +0000

Kenneth Wright » You had a good English teacher there. I love that quote from Proverbs 12:1 “He that loveth correction, loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof, is foolish.”
Indeed, this ramble has been a real pleasure for me.

By: Kenneth Wright

Kenneth Wright — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:35:25 +0000

Port Out Starboard Home – ah, the minefields of folk etymology! My English teacher used to tell us that “He that loveth learning, loveth correction”, and as a sub-editor I used to say the same cheerful thing to journalists who would raise a stink when their pet errors had been corrected. Oddly enough, I never did learn to appreciate the other sub-editors who would later do the same service for me … but thanks for joining me in that little off-topic ramble, just the same.

By: John

John — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:59:11 +0000

Kenneth Wright » It would have been unfair not to correct his mistake. That's where urban legends like "posh" and "tip" come from. I just stopped this one at the source.

By: Kenneth Wright

Kenneth Wright — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:53:49 +0000

John, to be fair to qyooqy, “haberdashery” is both an arch and an archaic usage in British English nowadays, let alone modern US English. But that’s just the kind of word that Perelman loved, hence my choice of it as a nod to his style. I’m pleased to find he hasn’t been forgotten in his native land. Qyooqy, I’m glad you like the word, and I double-dare you to ask a floorwalker for the haberdashery department when you next go shopping for socks …

By: John

John — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:11:42 +0000

qyooqy » No you don’t. “dashing” comes from “cutting a dash” http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dashing
haberdasher actual derives from a French root hapertas (small wares) http://www.etymonline.com/inde.....aberdasher
Now you know.

By: qyooqy

qyooqy — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:36:52 +0000

Haberdashery?! I’ve learned another word and I love it! Now I know where describing someone as ‘dashing’ comes from.

By: John

John — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:16:26 +0000

Kenneth Wright » An abridged version is still available through Amazon

By: Kenneth Wright

Kenneth Wright — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 18:48:28 +0000

S.J. Perelman spoofed a very similar advertisement for the same item of gentlemen’s haberdashery in a humorous squib entitled “Send No Money, Honey”. Original magazine publication details unknown, but it’s in the 1959 collection “The Most of S.J. Perelman”, which I believe is still in print. The same anthology includes “Insert Flap A and Throw Away”, also inspired by magazine ads for unlikely gadgets and novelties.

By: JB

JB — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:42:54 +0000

Anne!! You Prude!

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:56:13 +0000

I think I could resist that tie.

By: Blurgle

Blurgle — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:01:17 +0000

“Think how the girls gasp with wonder as the question takes form so amazingly”?

Yeah, they’d wonder. They’d be wondering all the way to the door.

By: jayessell

jayessell — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:27:29 +0000

Good guess Stannous, but I think actual Radium would cost too much, even in microscopic quantities.

Double that for being Wartime!

I’m guessing phosphorescent paint.
Expose to light first, it glows for a few minutes.

Were it actual miniture lightbulbs as used in model railroads (“grain-of-wheat”?)(again…Wartime!) they’d mention batteries.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:26:48 +0000

So you think the “pulsing” part is just hyperbole?

By: Stannous

Stannous — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:19:28 +0000

I’m guessing radium paint.

But for the modern equivalent look at these:
I suggest you look at the bras-
http://enlighted.com/pages/gallery.shtml