The compulsive correcter!

Got a friend I've known forever who has some serious Ob/Comp issues. You my dear Gillian, correct people but you have nothing on this guy. You are a cool breeze.

Picture this. A live music recital with a guy playing an acoustic six string and singing at the same time. My friend is mortifying my brother and I by correcting the singers lyrics as he's singing. (He was our guest there.) He had the stones to give me hurt puppydog eyes after I gave his kidney a bit of a knuckle massage the second time he did it, and he wouldn't stop! (We can't bring him back anymore. It was the singer's house.)

Anyway the latest round is started by me telling my youngest what I thought was the origen of the word "coward". I heard it from what I thought was a good source. ( It was on TV and everythin'!) The CC heard a different one and calls me up four hours later at about midnight to give me a big "Aha!" as he reads aloud out of the big book of word origins.

I told him about you and we both agreed to go by your answer. I won't poison the well by telling you what I said or he said the right answer was. Which wouldn't be fair as he hasn't had the same chance to smooze you like I have. *Tips head to the side and bats eyes affectionately*

ALSO, another one has come up in the meanwhile. When talking about famous abreviated places like L.A. and you write something like, "He lives in L.A." Do you need a second period after the period after the "A"? That doesn't look right to me.

Thank you for your time.

BD

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

First things first. No, you don't need the second period; yes, it looks wrong. Therefore, we all just pretend it's there.

Second . . . wow. That guy sounds really rude. As I've said, repeatedly, I know when to let things go, and during a live performance in someone's house is definitely one of those times.

As to your actual question. It's from Latin, originally. It roughly means, "one who turns tail." I've read that it stems from "cowherd," like "shepherd," but that doesn't really make sense to me. Why would that become a synonym for the opposite of bravery? Do cowherds run away all the time or something, and I who was raised in the suburbs just don't know about it?

Be warned, however, that books of word origins are often wrong about things. Very, very few words were originally acronyms, for example, and pretty much all of those that were are 20th Century in origin. No matter what you've heard about "tip," "posh," or at least one word of Old English origin that I can't write on this board.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I also heard it was a corruption of "cow herd". It was coined by British knights to mean a coward. Which isn't that big a stretch when you consider that to be the source. A British knight was trained to kill people since the age of 11 or so, so he's going to have a disparaging view of men who aren't as lethal as he is lethal. (Didn't want to end the sentence with a preposition)

Now my friend's definition says its from the French, and means the opposite of "toward" which meant in the direction of the head. As oppose to "coward" which meant in the direction of the tail.

Okay I guess he wins.

(And even as a kid that supposed acronym you can't mention here sounded like bullsugar to me.)

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Gimme a minute to read through Jay's latest observations...

"Is" is a verb, Don.

Is not.

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Is so.

Hmm, I wonder if "so" is a preposition?

Mak, I think our pedantry over "is" is the thing we've hijacked the thread with.

That depends on what the definition of "is" is

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

I was just pointing out a need that Germans have.

As well as certain ramifications that indicative verbs can cause.

As for is, is is something that is, that is, is it an is question, or is is (is it?) just as it is? This is for us who are to discover what it is about is.

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Is is not what isn't.

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It is son't (tm).

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

Argh! I know this is a reference to someone - probably a politician - but I can't place it!

Have mercy, Serenitude.

Try here:

http://www.slate.com/id/1000162/

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I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

Ah. Thank you for that, Van Rijn.

I'm kicking myself for not remembering the details, but at least I was right about it being a politician. A moderately high-profile politician...

Hijack warning:

A related article was about Video Game Avatar destruction. It included an interesting slideshow that had simulations from RollerCoaster Typhoon...

absolutely split-second timing Serenitude! following in Groucho's footsteps!

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clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Thank you. You know, I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.

How he got in my pajamas, I'll never know...

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

maybe he is one the that vomited on BigDons bed.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

While we were in Africer we shot some pictures of the native goils, but they weren't developed.

But we're going back next year and by then...

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Oh man, its 4:30 am my time and I just went in there to try and salvage some bedding to sleep on the sofa. I have one quilt and one pillow.

Tomorrow come daylight I will get to t