h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I also liked 'lightrotting'.

Personally I'm going to adopt 'workstead' as a means of referring to where I work in the same way that I use homestead when I'm talking about my house!

Not quite sure why we can't use 'truth' and its derivatives, but it would be a shame to let 'sooth' disappear. perhaps we could also agree to bring back 'forsooth'

>> Soothly we live in mighty years! <<

Perhaps it's because of our overexposure to advertising claims by pharmaceutical companies but the word soothe has been much used in regard to the bringing of pain relief or the healing of dry itchy skin and we have lost its connection to truth.

Soothe is of course derived from sooth (truth) in the sense of giving support to a claim of truth. To soothe was to take the side of someone making otherwise doubtful statements.

>>
soothe
O.E. so�ian "show to be true," from so� "true" (see sooth). Sense of "quiet, comfort, mollify" is first recorded 1697, on notion of "to assuage one by asserting that what he says is true" (i.e. to be a yes-man), a sense attested from 1568.
Online Etymology Dictionary, � 2001 Douglas Harper
<<

And of course the most famous use is in the oft misquoted line by William Congreve:
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congreve,_William



It has probably never happened, and likely never will, but there is a chance that 'soother' could be confused between meaning a thing or person which soothes and the comparative form of sooth meaning truer.

"With jellies soother than the creamy curd." --Keats.

Ironically then, the word soother when used as the name for what is also called a pacifier, suckie or dummy (a false rubber tit for suckling babes) could give the impression of being truer than the real thing. No wonder we grow up confused and convinced that the whirled is lying to us.

http://www.bizrate.com/childrenshealthcare/products__keyword--soothers.html


~jwf~

Interestingly, in Scotland 'dummy' is often unabbreviated, ie 'dummy tit'. That's a perfectly respectable term.

Elsewhere I've been discussing the word 'haven'.

We all know what a haven is, right? It's a common English word, from the Norse for 'harbour', as in Stonehaven, Whitehaven, København. Only...we wouldn't call a harbour a haven. We'd call it a harbour. So it seems to me that this is a noun that's gone from the concrete to the abstract and now only survives in a limited number of metaphorical stock phrases. I've come up with:
- Tax haven
- A haven of peace and tranquility
- Shaven haven. ()
- Safe haven.

Any more?

Can we think of any *concrete* uses?

Are there any other nouns that have made this concrete to abstract journey?

It seems a little odd to be that this word is so commonly understood (commonly enough to generate a rude usage) without having anything tangible to attach it to. I mean...what *is* a haven, other than 'something that could be metaphorically thought of as a bit like somewhere a ship might shelter from a storm'?

In the course of supervising the removal of "a lot" of ivy today (four of those "ton" bags were full to bursting)I used the phrase 'wild-life haven' which started a lengthy discussion. I also used the word 'soothly', which elicited nothing. Either it's a word still in use in this part of North Lincs or the locals have got so used to my idiolect that they no longer take any notice of anything odd I say.
I'm still trying to think of another word that only exists in the abstract.

Hmm.. how about Manna.


And ambrosia, that stuff the greek gods ate/drank (depending on which episodes of Xena you're watching - ah, thank haven, for leettle girls ).

Perhaps it's another (mild) example of residual tidewater English in the colonies but a haven is a perfectly acceptable concept here that still conjures very real images of assorted shelters from the storm, including concrete ones. Because the English that came here came here quite some time ago it is perfectly normal to seek haven without modifying it (presumably for the landlubbers) to safe haven.

There is at least one place name in Nova Scotia - Glen Haven.
At a guess I'd say that understanding what that means would be more common among fisherfolk and sailors who would use the term in specific reference to sheltering bays and coves; but it would be understood without comment out in the fields, back in the woods and up in the hills as well.


~jwf~

We have a Stonehaven too, but I think it's just a hotel/lodge/resort sorta thingy beyond my taste and budget thank you very much. Never went down that road. The gate was open but...
peace
~jwf~

>> Elsewhere I've been discussing the word 'haven'.
>>
>> Only...we wouldn't call a harbour a haven.

Waddaya mean 'we', white man?

See: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=Nelson+Haven,+New+Zealand&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FQWwiv0d9lNUCg&split=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=23.875,57.630033&ll=-41.231606,173.298683&spn=0.056803,0.11055&z=13&iwloc=addr

Ah...but is that a toponym (as in Stonehaven, Whitehaven...our would you say 'My boat is moored in the haven'? Or would it be 'My boat is moored in the harbour at Glen Haven?'

I'm not being prescriptive, incidentally. If haven survives as a concrete noun in NZ English...then good - and I've learned something new today.

I meant Nelson Haven above.

Haven a good time.
Wish you were here.



~j~

>> would you say 'My boat is moored in the haven'?

Yes... or I would if it wasn't in my driveway

BTW, other than Haven Road (leading towards it from the city) and a few local businesses/clubs/etc, it's the only 'haven' I know of in this part of teh whirled

I have a hunch it was called a haven due to the protection from the open sea by the Boulder Bank - a natural, 12km long, 100m wide 'breakwater'

Sorry...I'm not being deliberately dense, merely seeking clarification...

When someone says that their boat is moored in the haven...is this refering to the harbour, or an abbreviation of a toponym?

Eg...coming from Liverpool, I might refer to 'The 'Pool'.*

For example, might might one refer to a boat being moored in a haven in Aukland?



* Originally there was a pool, the colour of liver. Apparently. Somewher around where Dale St is now. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=liverpool+dale+street&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=11.197897,39.375&ie=UTF8&ll=53.409481,-2.984719&spn=0,359.961548&z=15&layer=c&cbll=53.409536,-2.984565&panoid=wvEXqPeaj7zmxry8BCAjfA&cbp=12,49.921368799693056,,0,3.392857142857151

>> might one refer to a boat being moored in a haven in Aukland

No

Saying 'my boat is anchored in THE Haven' in Auckland would prompt puzzled looks from all but those who know (and are talking about!) Nelson

If Mar is anywhere about perhaps she can enlighten us.
Does Havana simply mean harbour?
~j~

The locals call it 'Habana', of course.

That sounds more like a house than a harbour.
Or is it the old V/B consonant shift thingy and habana means harbour?
That would be consistent with cabana being a shelter. Like a cave.

~j~

As far as I'm aware...it doesn't mean 'harbour'.