# Epiphanies about the meanings of words and phrases **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740 "2006-07-16T15:09:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/21 "2006-07-17T14:16:07Z")
When I was a kid, I thought you kept your clothes in Chester drawers. It was years before I realized the term was “chest of drawers”. “Drawers” is one of those words that starts to look wrong when you stare at it. I had to look it up to make sure I was spelling it right. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/22 "2006-07-17T15:02:56Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] For many years, when I saw or heard the word “painstaking,” I thought “pain staking.” When I finally realized that it’s “pains taking,” I had a Homer Simpsonesque “D’oh” moment with the forehead-slamming and the eye-rolling. [/QUOTE] Oh. Well, don’t I feel foolish. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/23 "2006-07-17T15:46:14Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] For many years, when I saw or heard the word “painstaking,” I thought “pain staking.” When I finally realized that it’s “pains taking,” I had a Homer Simpsonesque “D’oh” moment with the forehead-slamming and the eye-rolling. [/QUOTE] Thanks for that! I just read it to my cow-orker and we simultaneously slapped our foreheads saying ,“D’oh!” ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/24 "2006-07-17T16:02:23Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] For many years, when I saw or heard the word “painstaking,”… [/QUOTE] Reminds me of… > [@Jack Handy](#): > > Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: “Mankind”. Basically, it’s made up of two separate words- “mank” and “ind”. What do these words mean ? It’s a mystery, and that’s why so is mankind. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/25 "2006-07-17T16:12:29Z")
I used to think “penultimate” meant something like the pinnacle or the very best. I didn’t realize until I started taking Greek in college and was learning about ultimate and penultimate syllables that “penultimate” means “next to last.” :smack: The thing is, I know I’m not the only person who was ever clueless about that word. I still see people use it wrong on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/26 "2006-07-17T16:46:05Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I used to think “penultimate” meant something like the pinnacle or the very best. I didn’t realize until I started taking Greek in college and was learning about ultimate and penultimate syllables that “penultimate” means “next to last.” :smack: The thing is, I know I’m not the only person who was ever clueless about that word. I still see people use it wrong on a regular basis. [/QUOTE] Except that it’s usually used to indicate that the goal has almost been reached. It means “next to last” because the goal is _the_ last. I heard it as a croquet term. The very last peg in croquet is called the “ultimate”. Hit the ultimate first, and you win. The “penultimate” is the last peg before the “ultimate”. So really, “penultimate” means “almost there”. I learned all about this in a novel called A Rush On the Ultimate a mystery novel by H.R.F. Keating which I read back in 1985. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/27 "2006-07-17T17:32:41Z")
[QUOTE=Smeghead] Reading the Horatio Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin serieses (I don’t care if that’s not a word) taught me constantly how many phrases we don’t really think about have a nautical origin. [/QUOTE] The way O’Brian strings together words and phrases so precisely and exactly lead me from one literary epiphany to the next. I wish I could communicate as effectively in everyday life like that. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/28 "2006-07-17T20:19:27Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I still get the words “niece” and “nephew” confused. Whenever I hear or read either one, I have to stop and remind myself which gender the person is. [/QUOTE] _Niece_ looks like _nice_, as in “little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice”. Also, _nephew_ contains the word _he_, which can serve to remind you that a nephew is male. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/29 "2006-07-17T20:56:26Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] For many years, when I saw or heard the word “painstaking,” I thought “pain staking.” When I finally realized that it’s “pains taking,” I had a Homer Simpsonesque “D’oh” moment with the forehead-slamming and the eye-rolling. [/QUOTE] I’ll be damned. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/30 "2006-07-17T23:09:46Z")
I had often wondered, during the course of my formative years, how in the world John, Juan, and Ivan could all be the “same” name. Then one day, when I was in high school, I was playing around with writing things in Roman style – replacing J with I and U with V, etc. And I wrote out the name “Juan”. It came out IVAN. I was utterly and complely stunned. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/31 "2006-07-17T23:09:39Z")
I thought the origin of the expression, “the die is cast” had to do with making a mold. Something’s already molded, you can’t change it. For some reason, when I was watching _Pirates 2_ last week, I realized the origin was probably gambling…Die being the singular form for dice and cast meaning thrown. Geez, I always make things more complicated! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/32 "2006-07-17T23:34:55Z")
I knew I was ready to be a teenager when I figured out the difference between ‘masticating’ and ‘masturbating’. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/33 "2006-07-17T23:37:42Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] [pedant]Except that sailors reckon the “left” and “right” of a navigable channel by reference to the rising tide, so the port-hand marks would be as you go _up_ the Columbia River. Does this mean Portland ought to be Starboardland? 😃 [/pedant] [/QUOTE] [Bigger pedant] Actually, Portland was one toss of the coin from being Boston. And both of the choices were hometowns of the two men involved in the coin toss. [/bigger pedant] That one about the old maids was new to me, too, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/34 "2006-07-17T23:38:55Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] When I was a kid, I thought you kept your clothes in Chester drawers. It was years before I realized the term was “chest of drawers”. “Drawers” is one of those words that starts to look wrong when you stare at it. I had to look it up to make sure I was spelling it right. [/QUOTE] Yep, chester drawers here, too. My latest epiphany: I thought epitome meant “the best that could be achieved”, then I found it it meant “a typical example”. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/35 "2006-07-18T01:13:08Z")
The “epi” part of epidermis means “outer,” right? A “tome” is a big book, right? So, “epitome” is the cover of a big book, right? No. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/36 "2006-07-18T01:17:04Z")
I used to think the word “detrimental” meant profoundly good. Instead it’s the exact opposite. DOH ! ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/37 "2006-07-18T01:25:47Z")
The meanings behind _painstaking_ and _old maid_ were new to me too… GT ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/38 "2006-07-18T01:36:28Z")
Re: ‘the die is cast’, it’s an English translation of the Latin ‘alea iacta est’ which does, in plain old English, mean “the die has been thrown”. I have these stupid epiphanies ALL THE TIME. I only last year realized that “The Bible” means “The Book”. The stupid part? I had been studying ancient Greek, including the word ‘biblion’ which means ‘book’, for several months already. Three other recent ones: Carnival = carne-vale, Latin for ‘goodbye, meat’. Phillip = Phil-hippos, or horse-lover, in Greek. This was just dumb. All I needed to do was add the -os. Aborginal = I read about a tribe in ancient Italy called the “Aborigines”. ‘Could the English word referring to early/original inhabitants of any place be transference for that?’ I wondered excitedly. I looked it up. The word actually breaks down as ab-origines. Straightforward Latin for ‘from the beginning’. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/39 "2006-07-18T02:52:44Z")
[QUOTE=YaWanna] [Bigger pedant] Actually, Portland was one toss of the coin from being Boston. And both of the choices were hometowns of the two men involved in the coin toss. [/bigger pedant]. [/QUOTE] The city planners, they were. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740/40 "2006-07-18T02:55:17Z")
Growing up in a church, I always wondered what the hullaboo was about “youth in Asia”. What, are they not respecting their elders these days? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epiphanies-about-the-meanings-of-words-and-phrases/364740.md?page=3)