More Unusual Words--from Gowpen to Fritiniency

I think I will begin this essay with one of the 'others' on my list; possibly even two others. It isn't because these are impossible to spell but because they have such rich stories behind them. The first is blatherskite, also known as bletherskate (The OED lists both; the Webster's Third International and the Century only have blatherskite). It was used in a Multnomah County (OR)-sponsored spelling bee last Saturday, and Linda Goerz got it right. The definition gives little that makes us want to pursue breathlessly after it, but we begin with it. It is "a noisy talkative fellow; a talker of blatant nonsense." From 1864: "A muddle-headed 'bletherskite' called Colorado Jewett." It can also refer to foolish talk, as this 1861 NT Tribune use has: "To wit, our proving, not by verbal blatherskyte, but by facts, that the C.S.A (Confederate States of America) is dependent on us."

The OED opens up a world to us when it says that this contemptuous term appears in the Scottish Ballad Maggie Lauder, and this Ballad was a favorite American Camp ditty during the War of Independence. With nearly trembling hands I found the video of two Scotsmen singing it, and then I discovered the lyrics, since you never can understand the words a Scotsman sings. As the latter site says, the song was credited to Francis Semphill (1616-1682), who wrote it circa 1642. It appeared in the "Quaker's Opera" in 1728, and is the story of the Scottish lass Maggie, who meets a piper on her way to Fife. Though the words can be interpreted in more than one way (of course, the piper's bagpipes can stand for more than one thing...), the straightforward interpretation is that she is entranced by his bagpipe playing and asks him to look her up if he ever visits Anster. The first stanza, where our word appears, is this (in Scottish):

"Wha wadna be in love
Wi' bonnie Maggie Lauder?
A piper met her guan to Fife,
And pier'd what was't they ca'd her;
Right scornfully she answer'd him,
Began you hall shaker,
Jog on your gate,
ye bladderscate,
My name is Maggie Lauder."

Here is a modern "translation" of the sentiment:

"Who would not be in love with bonnie Maggie Lauder?
A piper met her goin' to Fife and asked what people called her.
Right scornfully she answered him, "Begone you lazy beggar!
Jog on your way, you blatherskate! My name is Maggie Lauder."

Well, we need go no further, for we have found our word. I can just hear my great-great-great-great grandfather humming this tune as he marched his way to New York City. Taking the word apart, we have blather/blether and skate. The former means "to talk nonsense loquaciously," as in Robert Burn's statement, "Some are busy blethrin/ Right loud that day." Or, from Punch in 1884: "Fluent folly may maunder and blether." A skate is not only a blade of sorts but also a mean or contemptible person. For example, we talk about a cheap skate, though I never knew before today that such a word meant "a contemptible person." I think we now know plenty about this word. Remember if you use the blether, you append skate. If it is blather, it is followed by skite.

Dactylion, Pogonion, Akropodion, etc.

Let's at least turn to one of the words on the list: dactylion. It means the tip of the middle finger. So, instead of giving people the finger from now on, if you were inclined to do that, all you need tell them is that you will give them the dactylion. I wonder if you will escape with more than your life... But while on this word, I want us to pause on a few more "on" or "ion"-ending words that have to do with tips of bodily parts. Each one is rather rare and should be learned. The pogonion is the tip of the chin (the Greek word pogon means "beard," so that a pogonologist studies beards. By the way, pognoniasis is not simply a vauge "beard disease" but is the "growth of beard by a woman; female hirsutism").

There is some dispute as to what the akropodion actually is. This is an extremely rare word, with fewer than a hundred appearances on a "Google search," but it was used in the 2006 kids spelling bee. Online dictionaries defined it as is the tip or the most prominent point of the heel. Indeed, that is how Webster's Third International defines it. You would think, then, that this is correct. But if you take the word apart, it doesn't seem to suggest that meaning. Akropodion, literally, means "the tip of the foot." I decided to try to dig a little deeper and discovered a 1938 work, A Handbook of Methods for the Study of Adolescent Children, ed. by William Walter Greulich, et al. in which we have the following description (p. 18):

"Foot Length. The length of the foot is measured along a straight line connecting the pternion and the akropodion. The akropodion is the point on the first (or second) toe which projects farthest forward when the subject is standing erect. The pternion (following pterna, the Greek word for "heel")is the most posteriorly projecting point on the heel, as determined under the same conditions."

I am going to go with this definition and ignore the dictionary. So, before closing this essay, let's review and expand our understanding of "ion" terms on the body. We have the pternion, akropodion, pogonion, dactylion. But the afore-cited book lists others: the nasion, stomion, onathion, akromion suprasternale, thelion, omphalion, symphysion, trochanterion, stylion and phalangion. The word akromion is more frequently spelled acromion. Go figure...But, then again, there are three times as many attestations of acropodion as akropodion. But stop for a moment. Recall that the Unabridged, the grand old Webster's Third International has akropodion but not acropodion. It defined akropodion as the tip of the heel, even though the akropodion is, in fact, the tip of the first or second toe. Online sources for akropodion copy the Unabridged, getting it wrong. But the 3X as many references online for acropodion define it as the tip of the toe. Can't you see that we really are confused here? I am going to call the tip of the toe the akropodion and the tip of the heel the pternion. And, I am now going to quit and take up the other "ion" parts of the body on a different occasion!

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