Free Rice Words For Sunday 10/5/08

A few days ago I wrote on several early modern dance terms, and I begin today with one more: sarabande. This Spanish dance, originating in the 16th century, has a very distinctive three-beat measure, where the second and third beats are often tied, corresponding to the "dragging" steps in the dance. The Wikipedia article tells us it became a traditional movement of the suite in the baroque period, coming usually after the courante. The sarabande plays a prominent role in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. It gives the whole a stately and even solemn air, as the beat-drag, beat-drag goes on. Here is a Youtube video of it, which I have been listening to as I was writing this. GF Handel also wrote sarabande music, which is here. What a great way to begin the day--listening to the refined music of the sarabande (and making sure we learn a new word in the process!).

Bemegride

The OED only knows the word as megimide, an electuary from the pharmacologist's medicine bag. It is a "cyclic organic compound acting as a respiratory and central nervous system stimulant, sometimes used to counteract the effects of barbiturates." The first appearance is in the mid-1950s. But it was also known from those days as bemegride, and the latter is 10X as well attested as megimide, yet the latter only appears in the OED. Figure that one out... In any case, the initial appearance tells us how both names might have develped: "We have recently treated four cases of barbiturate poisoning with new barbiturate antagonist B methyl B ethyl glutarimide (N.P 13 'megimide'). If we drop the "betas," we can see the "m" is methyl, the "e" is ethyl, the "g" is the first letter of glutarimide, and then the "imide" follows. Yet, if we want to keep the "beta" intact, we see the word opening up for us nicely...

Well, megimide, if not bemegride, became a sort of household word in England in 1956 because of the strange death of Gertrude Hullett (1906-56). Her physician, Dr. John Bodkin Adams, a suspected serial killer, had reportedly killed more than 150 of his patients, though he was never convicted of these crimes. He was, however, convicted of 13 offenses of prescription fraud. Hullett was depressed after the death of her husband, and was prescribed, by Adams, a large amount of barbiturates. She overdosed on July 19, 1956 and fell into a coma. Rather than treating her with the right doses of the new "miracle drug" (megimide), which Adams had secured from the house surgeon at a local hospital, he only gave her 10cc of a 100cc regimen (He was supposed to administer 10 cc every 5 minutes until improvement was seen). But he didn't do that, and she died of the overdose. He had quickly cashed her check for medical services before she died. Many other interesting things followed from that case, including the arrest and trial of Dr. Adams, in which the words megimide and bemegride became fixed in the English-language vocabulary. Those days are long gone, but they add to the story of bemegride. Read more about it here. Here is an article telling about the development of various treatments for barbiturate overdose. After you wake up to the world, you realize that every little thing, and not just politics, has a history.

Miscellaneous Useful Verbs and Nouns

The words taradiddle, chirm, sciage, collimate each have their uses. Taradiddle is both a noun and verb, but as the former it used to mean "a trifling falsehood, a petty lie." It is the 18th-19th century equivalent to "misspoke" in 21st century politico-speak. From 1865: "Oh, don't call them lies, sister; it's such a strong, ugly word. Please call them tallydiddles, for I don't believe she meant any harm." Or from Huxley in 1885: "Everybody told us it would be very cold, and, as usual, everybody told taradiddles." Taradiddle had a bit of a comback in the 1980s, focusing on the meaning of empty or senseless talk or activity. From the respected Economist: "There is much taradiddle in the City about the Bank's moral obligation to make restitution. Taradiddle it is... We might also call it balderdash or buncombe/bunkum. It is worth recovering today, since there is so much action and communication out there for which it is appropriate.

Chirm, also a noun and a verb, is one of a family of words connected with sounds made by birds. That "family" consists of chirk, chirp, and chirr. Thus, as a verb it means "to chirp as a bird." "The bird chirms as it is whistled to." "Listen to the chirming of the birds." As a noun it refers generally to a clamor or confused noise. From Bacon in the 17th century: "The churme [they obviously didn't have standardized spelling in those days...] of a thousand taunts and reproaches..." Today we could use the word to describe any hum, din, whirring of insects, school children, workers talking to one another, etc. We too often are contented with the word "buzz" so let's improve our vocabulary and bring chirm to help.

Sciage is a term from massage, meaning a "saw-like" (from the French word scie, "saw") movement of the hand. The word was first used in English in the late 19th century; I am sorry to say that I don't know the techniques of massage well enough to say whether the word is still used. From 1885: "Sciage is a pressure of a come-and-go movement, similar to the action of a saw, and is practised with the hard side of the hand."

Let's conclude this essay with a word on collimate. It really is too complex a word for ending an essay, I think, but suffice it to say that the Latin collimare seems to be an erroneous reading of collineare in Cicero, which means to "bring into a straight line." Thus, the verb collimate today is taken from optics or astronomy and means to adjust (a telescope) so that the line of slight is in the required position. This obliges one to makes sure that optical axes are aligned. Collimation is the accurate adjustment of the line of sight of a telescope. Here is a video telling you how to collimate your telescope...with exactly 120 views.

More words to go....in the next essay.

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