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

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Thought I'd pop over here with this one, have we done 'Po-Faced' ?
Here is what www.m-w.com has to say on the subject:-
"Etymology: perhaps from po chamber pot, toilet, from French pot pot
British : having an assumed solemn, serious, or earnest expression or manner : piously or hypocritically solemn "

However I think the po from toilet derivation misses the point that the face pulled when one is on the loo is not that or straight faced seriousness (or is that a case of too much information?).

So, any alternative derivations of this phrase? Or perhaps an explanation of the above?

I thought it was short for "poker-faced".

I stand corrected, but wait to see how.

ah now that would make more sense. I think perhaps m-w should stand corrected TC, not you!

I never even heard of that! Poker faced, yes, po, no.

No. Poker-faced and po-faced mean totally different things. Poker-faced means not moving a muscle so that you don't betray any emotion. Po-faced means "in the manner of a pompous old fool who doesn't recognise the humour in the situation".

I can't say where it came from, though.

Not really asking a Q here, just an observation...

I find that myself and my American partner often trip over some meanings of words, such as for instance yesterday -

valet...conversation after receiving the car back from the garage with repairs done, I asked if the car had been valeted as well...

my pard - huh? a valet is someone who parks your car.

me - yes, and also someone who cleans your car, also a personal adie such as in Charles Dickens times, that would help a well to do man get dressed and personal grooming.

my pard - NO - its someone who parks your car..

me - yes I did notice, I was just trying to tell you other stuff *long suffering sigh*

We also have discussions on spelling of words, for some reason we were talking about Jails, after watching Count of Monte Christo, and I mentioned that Jail was spelt Gaol at one time, and got an utter look of disbelief....*chuckles*

and still is if you want to be really pedantic, just no-one bothers any more. But we still have a 'Gaol road' running past the prison in our town.

"Gaol" is still spelt "gaol", if you want to spell it that way.

Too slow ReddyFreddy

Didn't realise it was a race.

I didn't know that you could still use the word spelling 'gaol' I just kinda assumed that it had been replaced by the modern version.

I guess that teaches me, assume nuffink...!

I was going to go off on one about soft g / hard g at the start of a word and the infamous illiterate American migrants misspelling 'gaol' as 'jail' "Because it sounds like that". But then I thought, wait a moment, we don't see Jeorge or jeriatric or jenitive or jenitals over the pond so that must be a load of old tosh.

Looking at dictionary.com they say
"From Middle English jaiole(from Old French), and from Middle English gaiol, gaol(from Old North French gaiole) both from Vulgar Latin *gaviola, from Latin *caveola, diminutive of cavea, cage, hollow"
so it looks like both 'gaol' and 'jail' are from the same route and have run alongside each other for quite a long while.

Although it does look like 'jail' was a varient phonetic spelling at some point in the past.

So did the acceptance of the spelling "jail" come before or after Elvis Presley?

Yes.

>> I asked if the car had been valeted as well... <<

Yes the only valets in America are car park jockeys.

And it is currently becoming a verb for car cleaning and detailing. This sense evolved from the actions of more attentive parking valets at high class parking lots who would take the trouble to remove their old gum wrappers, cigarette butts and used condoms before returning your car. For some reason this 'service' demands a gratuity. And this leads to a whole new business paradigm which takes the old 'car wash' to a new level of spit and polish called 'detailing'.

The old British valets are sometimes portrayed in early 20th century Hollywood films. By being essentially dressers and groomers, they are distinguished from butlers, who have greater duties and responsibilities for all of the household and not just the Master's wardrobe. At ye olde Inns and later luxury hotels, valets were fetchers and carriers who also groomed and watered horses.

But it may interest you to know that valet comes from:

VAR-LET (värlt)
n.
An attendant or servant.
A knight's page.
A rascal; a knave.

In America a varlet is just a high class name for a rascal not quite up to the calibre and standards of a scoundrel. Often confused with varmits which can also be quite rascally. Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam often cussed these 'wascally varmits'.


~jwf~ 'dancin to the gaol haus roche'

Jail is the American spelling, Gaol is the British spelling. Or so I was always told. In Ireland, we spell it Gaol in all official signs, but the Irish Monopoly board has "Go to Jail".

"but the Irish Monopoly board has "Go to Jail"."

That's because:
either the indigenous population is so law abiding that the jail is only provided for foreigners, or
the only appropriate punishment is transportation to the colonies.

Gnomon, that's what I always believed but if you refer to my earlier post dictionary .com says
"From Middle English jaiole(from Old French)"
Which would imply, as I said, that jail has coexisted with gaol for quite some time. Although for all I know middle french may be temporally equivalent to the mayflower migrants and subsequent repeat trips.

Hazarding a guess I would say Middle French is some centuries before the Mayflower. Even a few before Columbus.