Julia Galef is extremely prepared for your trollish comments to this effect. She avoids the \u201CScouts are better than Soldiers\u201D dichotomy, instead, arguing that both these mindsets have their uses but right now we lean too hard in the direction of Soldier. She gives lots of evidence for this (including an evolutionary argument that Soldier was more useful in small bands facing generally simple problems). I\u2019ll review a little of this; for the full story, read Chaper 3 of the book.
READ BOOK Sniffing Luke's Farts:
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(don't) throw the baby out with the bath water - lose a good opportunity as part of a bigger clear-out, over-react in a way that appears to stem a particular problem, but in so doing results in the loss of something valuable or good - while the expression might well have been strengthened by a popular myth which suggested that centuries ago whole families bathed one after the other in a single bathtub, it is not likely that this practice, if ever it did prevail, actually spawned the expression . The idea of losing a baby when disposing of a bathtub's dirty water neatly fits the meaning, but the origins of the expression are likely to be no more than a simple metaphor. Wolfgang Mieder's article '(Don't) throw the baby out with the bathwater' (full title extending to: 'The Americanization of a German Proverb and Proverbial Expression', which appears in De Proverbio - Issue 1:1995 - a journal of international proverb studies) seems to be the most popular reference document relating to the expression's origins, in which the German Thomas Murner's 1512 book 'Narrenbeschwörung' is cited as the first recorded use of the baby and bathwater expression. Murner, who was born in 1475 and died in 1537, apparently references the baby and bathwater expression several times in his book, indicating that he probably did not coin the metaphor and that it was already established in Germany at that time. (Thanks MS for assistance)
berserk - wild - from Berserker, a Norse warrior, who went into battle 'baer-serk', which according to 1870 Brewer meant 'bare of mail' (chain mail armour). In fact the expression 'baer-saerk' (with 'ae' pronounced as 'a' in the word 'anyhow'), means bear-shirt, which more likely stemmed from the belief that these fierce warriors could transform into animals, especially bears and wolves, or at least carry the spirit of the animal during extreme battle situations. (Thanks Cornelia for this more precise derivation.) This derivation is also supported by the Old Icelandic word 'Beserkr', meaning 'bear-shirt'. I am additionally informed (thanks F Tims) that: "...I was reading an obscure book (see reference below) concerning Norse history/legend and found a discussion of the shirt in question. By their account, the 'bar-sark' was worn only by members of the Norse chieftan's personal bodyguard, they being the most ferocious, and thus the most feared, of the Vikings plundering eastern Scotland and the hapless Dane-mark. So, according to the book, the term does not apply to all invading Vikings, just the more obnoxious. In the book, also, the Norse word 'bar' (or 'baer', as the case may be) means 'wolf', from the hide of which the shirt was made, so it would be a 'wolf-shirt'..." (Book reference: Anglo-Saxon Classics: Norroena - Embracing the History and Romance of Northern Europe, Rasmus B. Anderson, LLD, Editor-in-Chief, Privately printed for members of The Norroena Society, 1906, and salient extract: "...Champions - Professed fighting men were often kept by kings and earls about their court as useful in feud and fray. Harald Fairhair's champions are admirably described in the contemporary Raven Song by Hornclofe - "Wolf-coats they call them that in battle bellow into bloody shields. They wear wolves' hides when they come into the fight, and clash their weapons together..." and "...These baer-sarks, or wolf coats of Harald give rise to an Old Norse term, 'baer sark', to describe the frenzy of fight and fury which such champions indulged in, barking and howling, and biting their shield-rims...")
black market - illegal trade in (usually) consumer goods, typically arising in times of shortages and also relating to the smuggling and informal cash-sales of goods to avoid tax - there seems no reliable support for the story which claims that the black market term can be traced to Charleston slaves of the 1700s. Nor sadly do official dictionaries give credence to the highly appealing suggestion that the black market expression derives from the illicit trade in stolen graphite in England and across the English channel to France and Flanders, during the reign of Elizabeth I (1533-1603). It is true that uniquely pure and plentiful graphite deposits were mined at Borrowdale, Cumbria, England. And there was seemingly a notable illegal trade in the substance. In the 16th century graphite was used for moulds in making cannon balls, and was also in strong demand for the first pencils. The Borrowdale mine was apparently the only large source of pure graphite in Europe, perhaps globally, and because of its military significance and value, it was taken over by the Crown in Elizabeth I's reign. The mine and its graphite became such a focus of theft and smuggling that, according to local history (thanks D Hood), this gave rise to the expression 'black market'. Frustratingly however, official reference books state that the black market term was first recorded very much later, around 1931. This is a pity because the Borrowdale graphite explanation is fascinating, appealing, and based on factual history. However, while a few years, perhaps a few decades, of unrecorded use may predate any first recorded use of an expression, several hundred years' of no recorded reference at all makes it impossible to reliably validate such an origin. We might conclude that given the research which goes into compiling official reference books and dictionaries, underpinned by the increasing opportunity for submitted evidence and corrections over decades, its is doubtful that the term black market originated from a very old story or particular event. If there were any such evidence it would likely have found its way into the reference books by now. The expression black market is probably simply the logical use of the word black to describe something illegal, probably popularised by newspapers or other commentators. The word black is a natural choice and readily understood for describing anything negative, theatening or illicit, and has been used, in some cases for centuries, to describe all sorts of unapproved, sinister or illegal things - e.g., black art (secret or unknown method), black humour/humor or black joke (tasteless joke), blacklist and blackball (reject or exclude), blackmail (demand with threats), blackleg (strike-breaker), black magic (witchcraft), black mark (a negative assessment), black spot (dangerous road section), black label (illicit licquor), black Irish (Mediterranean-Irish mixed-race, amongst other meanings), black dog (temper or depression), black economy (activities of the illegal unregulated untaxed economy), black house (prison or illegal workhouse), black hole (lost or hidden information, amongst other meanings), black hat (villain), blackguard (slanderer or shabby person). The first use and popularity of the black market term probably reflect the first time in Western history that consumer markets were tightly regulated and undermined on a very wide and common scale, in the often austere first half of the 1900s, during and between the world wars of 1914-18 and (more so in) 1939-45. Interestingly the black market expression has direct literal equivalents in German (scharz-markt), French (marché noir), Italian (mercato nero) and Spanish (mercado negra) - and probably other languages too - if you know or can suggest where the expression first appeared please let me know . Further to the above entry I am informed (thanks Dr A Summers, Mar 2014) of another fascinating suggestion of origin: "...The market town of Crieff in Perthshire was the main cattle market up till 1757, but at the start there was opposition from the Provost in Perth, so there was an illegal trade in cattle before it became the official Drover's Tryst or cattle market. The cattle were known as The Black (hence the origin of the regiment The Black Watch, a militia started to protect the drovers from rustlers) so the illegal market was known as the 'black market'..."
book - bound papers for reading - etymologists and dictionaries suggest this very old word probably derives from Germanic language referring to the beech tree, on whose wood ancient writings were carved, before books were developed.
bulls and bears, bull markets and bear markets (stock exchange and financial markets terminology) - generally: optimists and pessimists, or more specifically: bulls (stock traders) and bull markets refer to upward price trends and tactics; bears and bear markets refer to downward price trends and tactics - some say that the expressions relate to bull and bear fighting, a bloodsport in parts of Europe in past times, and the image of bulls goring with their horns in upward motion, whereas bears tend to swipe in a downward motion. This metaphor may certainly have helped to reinforce the expression, but is unlike to have been the origin. More probable is the derivation suggested by Brewer in 1870: that first, bears became synonymous with reducing prices, notably the practice of short selling, ie., selling shares yet not owned, in the expectation that the stock value would drop before settlement date, enabling the 'bear' speculator to profit from the difference. This terminology, Brewer suggests (referring to Dr Warton's view on the origin) came from the prior expression, 'selling the skin before you have caught the bear'. This proverb was applied to speculators in the South Sea Bubble scheme, c. 1720, (see 'gone south' ) and alludes to the risky 'forward selling' practice of bear trappers. Brewer quotes an extract written by Waller, from 'Battle Of The Summer Islands': "....So was the huntsman by the bear oppressed, whose hide he sold before he caught the beast..." At some stage after the bear term was established, the bull, already having various associations with the bear in folklore and imagery, became the natural term to be paired with the bear to denote the opposite trend or activity, ie buying stock in expectation of a price rise. The bull and bear expressions have been in use since at least as far back as 1785; according to financial writer Don Luskin, reference and explanation of bull and bear meanings appears in the book Every Man His Own Broker, or, A Guide to Exchange Alley, by Thomas Mortimer. (Luskin says his 10th edition copy of the book was printed in 1785. Other references: David W. Olson, Jon Orwant, Chris Lott, and 'The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Markets' by Wurman, Siegel, and Morris, 1990.) 2ff7e9595c
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