# Any muletteers here? "Gnomons" to mean "tooth check?" Also, something for jarheads... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-muletteers-here-gnomons-to-mean-tooth-check-also-something-for-jarheads/762062 "2016-08-07T18:25:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-muletteers-here-gnomons-to-mean-tooth-check-also-something-for-jarheads/762062/1 "2016-08-07T18:25:13Z")
“Gnomon” ([Gnomon Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/gnomon)) is a rich word, made richer by Joyce in _Dubliners_ and subsequent works, and has engendered all sorts of lit essays depending on the various meanings that can be ascribed to him or are the stimulating (one hopes) fancy of the critic. Be that as it may, I read a new one in etymonline, under “mule” ([mule | Search Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Mule)), “vertical shaft that tells time by the shadow it casts” (especially the triangular plate on a sundial), 1540s, from Latin gnomon, from Greek gnomon “indicator (of a sundial), carpenter’s rule,” _also, in plural, “the teeth that mark the age of a horse or mule,”_ literally “one that discerns or examines,” from gignoskein “to come to know” (see gnostic (adj.)). In geometry from 1560s, from a use in Greek. In early use in English sometimes folk-etymologized as knowman. Related: Gnomonic [ital added] 1. Anyone of the equine persuasion ever heard of this? 2. I’ve heard the expression “long in the tooth,” although I’m not sure if it comes from the horse world. Does this (“gnomons”) then mean “certain teeth the growth of which shoe particularly clearly” an time-length relationship? (Wow, space-time enters…) 3. Or is it a case of whether certain teeth are present or absent after a certain age? I think human molars are like that, roughly but not necessarily. Sub query 1), also a fun fact: Etymonline tells us (cite as above) “jarhead” was slang for “mule” way before the Marines. Doesn’t mean that modern users of the term associated it with that; the visual haircut always seemed to me to be the source…Maybe I’m wrong? Fun fact 2, because of the domain name in the URL above: At one essential level _Finnegans Wake_ is predicated on what Joyce tells us, right there in the book, the “abnihilization of the Etym”: results already known in physics (_FW_ was published in 1939) as powerful as his were in language. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-muletteers-here-gnomons-to-mean-tooth-check-also-something-for-jarheads/762062/2 "2016-08-07T20:01:27Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 1. I’ve heard the expression “long in the tooth,” although I’m not sure if it comes from the horse world. I’ve always been given to understand that it does. Hence also the importance of not “looking a gift horse in the mouth”, since to do so would be an insult to the giver. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-muletteers-here-gnomons-to-mean-tooth-check-also-something-for-jarheads/762062/3 "2016-08-07T20:17:33Z")
Thnx. And FWIW, I believe there_is_ an honest to god muleteer, or close enough, in SD, who has posted in GQ… ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-muletteers-here-gnomons-to-mean-tooth-check-also-something-for-jarheads/762062/4 "2016-08-07T20:21:06Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I’ve always been given to understand that it does. Hence also the importance of not “looking a gift horse in the mouth”, since to do so would be an insult to the giver. No, not looking a gift horse in the mouth is because you can tell their rough age by the wear pattern. I believe long in the tooth for age is human due to teeth looking longer due to gum and bone loss due to age.(especially prior to periodontal care) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-muletteers-here-gnomons-to-mean-tooth-check-also-something-for-jarheads/762062/5 "2016-08-07T21:02:17Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 1. Anyone of the equine persuasion ever heard of this? What are you asking here? Are you looking for responses from _horses_? Are you aware that Mister Ed died a long time ago? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-muletteers-here-gnomons-to-mean-tooth-check-also-something-for-jarheads/762062/6 "2016-08-09T19:49:49Z")
There are some Bronies on the board. They might be able to help. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-muletteers-here-gnomons-to-mean-tooth-check-also-something-for-jarheads/762062/7 "2016-08-09T19:58:09Z")
Doesn’t matter. Looks like Leo lost interest in his thread almost immediately.