# Nix **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 30, 2006, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775 "2006-08-30T11:24:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/1 "2006-08-30T11:24:37Z")
I’d just like to congratulate **fierra** on yet another brilliant Staff Report, and to note that she has been promoted to full SDSAB membership. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/2 "2006-08-30T11:39:58Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope message boards, **C K Dexter Haven** , glad to have you with us. When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the Staff Report under discussion. Saves searching times, and helps keep us on the same page. In this case: [What’s the origin of “nix”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mnix.htm) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/3 "2006-08-30T12:54:28Z")
[QUOTE=Santos L Halper] Welcome to the Straight Dope message boards, **C K Dexter Haven** , glad to have you with us. When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the Staff Report under discussion. Saves searching times, and helps keep us on the same page. In this case: [What’s the origin of “nix”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mnix.htm) 🙂 [/QUOTE] BWA-HA-HA! GOOD ONE! 😃😃😃🆒🆒🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/4 "2006-08-30T13:20:17Z")
Great article. A minor note and a disagreement (with one of your sources). First, the link to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary doesn’t work. (try [Nix Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/nix) instead). Second, I’m a bit confused as to how it works as an adverb. Particularly in the quoted example: “They said nix on our plan.” Seems to plainly be a noun (something that was said), with a prepositional phrase (‘on our plan’) acting as an adverb (using a slightly uncommon use of ‘on’ to mean ‘regarding’). Can anyone who agrees with M-W enlighten me as to the hows of adverbial nixosity? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/5 "2006-08-30T14:41:49Z")
Nice work **fierra**. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/6 "2006-08-30T16:30:19Z")
[QUOTE=Quercus] Great article. A minor note and a disagreement (with one of your sources). First, the link to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary doesn’t work. (try [http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/nix](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/nix) instead). Second, I’m a bit confused as to how it works as an adverb. Particularly in the quoted example: “They said nix on our plan.” Seems to plainly be a noun (something that was said), with a prepositional phrase (‘on our plan’) acting as an adverb (using a slightly uncommon use of ‘on’ to mean ‘regarding’). Can anyone who agrees with M-W enlighten me as to the hows of adverbial nixosity? [/QUOTE] _cf._ [http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/no](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/no) What neither the dictionary nor the article mentions is the alternate slang form “nit”, which was popular about 100 years ago, also from German, unrelated to “nit” = “louse egg or juvenile”. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/7 "2006-08-31T00:49:05Z")
Maybe I’m being a little bit unduly negative here, but how on earth does a Staff Report get approved on the basis of reading a couple of online dictionaries and a Wikipedia article of all things? The entire mention of Nix as a water horse looks like something taken from a quick browse of the (rather poor) Wikipedia article (and, in fact, some of the content of the straff report looks to be a straight borrow from the Wikipedia article but reworded). Furthermore, any cites to Wikipedia should require a full date and time of access, as, since this is Wikipedia we are talking about, the article could be about pocket lint or Pokémon or something tomorrow. It seems to me that someone should really go consult more reliable sources and get a better understanding of the topic if they are writing up something for a report of this kind. I don’t know that that would even fly for a high school report. A quick google is not an authoritative answer by any stretch of the imagination ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/8 "2006-08-31T03:50:06Z")
> [@](#): > > **C K Dexter Haven** wrote: > Nix What? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/9 "2006-08-31T05:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=Dan Norder] Maybe I’m being a little bit unduly negative here, but how on earth does a Staff Report get approved on the basis of reading a couple of online dictionaries and a Wikipedia article of all things? [/QUOTE] There’s a few things wrong with your post here. I did not write the report but I sat next to the person who wrote it as it was written. I’ll respond. The article was not done from “reading a couple of online dictionaries and a Wikipedia article”. Links were provided to online sources because there has been an evolution over time to providing online references for things, as people would rather click on them than go to their library and look up works, or go get a hardcopy of the OED. We also don’t happen to own a hardcopy of the OED - how many people do? We didn’t even include the link to the OED online because most people I know also don’t have online paid access to the electronic OED. If you want another hardcopy reference we have, check page 776, left-hand column of “Cassell’s English Dictionary”, 4th Ed., 1976. Or many other sources. You don’t need to keep quoting sources that all agree with each other - that’s just citation padding. > [@](#): > > The entire mention of Nix as a water horse looks like something taken from a quick browse of the (rather poor) Wikipedia article (and, in fact, some of the content of the straff report looks to be a straight borrow from the Wikipedia article but reworded). Should implications of plagiarism be posted here, or reported to the Powers That Be? I’m sure there’s a rule on it somewhere. In any event, see below for more about water critters. > [@](#): > > Furthermore, any cites to Wikipedia should require a full date and time of access, as, since this is Wikipedia we are talking about, the article could be about pocket lint or Pokémon or something tomorrow. As has been explained to me innumerable times by many, it’s not a peer-reviewed scholarly article, it’s a Staff Report. > [@](#): > > It seems to me that someone should really go consult more reliable sources and get a better understanding of the topic if they are writing up something for a report of this kind. I don’t know that that would even fly for a high school report. A quick google is not an authoritative answer by any stretch of the imagination The report was not done by “a quick google”, it was done by looking up the etymology of a word. It was a simple, direct question sent in to the SDSAB, and was answered in a similar simple and direct fashion. Ed looked at the Report and in his own words said it was “good, short answer”. What really is wrong with the OED and the like for determining origins of the usage of words? Do you have a dispute with the report from a factual basis? (a careful reading of the Staff Report also reveals that she refers to _nihhus_, two h’s, not a single h as appears in Wikipedia. That second h _nihhus_ came from the OED, and was not “grabbed” from Wikipedia. Someone who was just grabbing stuff from there probably wouldn’t have noticed the difference - but I digress.) For example - let’s address the unjust insinuation that **fierra** just grabbed words from Wikipedia and re-worked them for the water sprite reference. She checked other sources - Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, for example (page 821, bottom right-hand side, if you want confirmation that I’m not “googling” that right now) - and they either backed up the basic definition or else we couldn’t find backing for something and thus didn’t report it. For example, neither of us is certain whether or not there really is a Greek root connection to _nisein_ as Brewer’s says. I can also tell you that we checked several other sources and did not find conflicting informaiton - “Man Myth and Magic” omits nix (it would be between pages 2004 and 2005, volume 15, if you think I’m “googling” that). Other sources we have and checked, and either did not find anything or found no conflicting information, include: “Myths and Legends From Around the World” (Sandy Shepherd) “Symbols of Power (at the time of Stonehenge)” (Clarke, Cowie, and Foxon) “Norse Myths” (R.I. Page) “The Book of Sea Monsters” (Bob Eggleton) “Introduction to Viking Mythology” (John Grant) “Sagas of the Norsemen” (Time-Life) “Encyclopedia of World Mythology” (Ed: Arthur Cotterell) “World Mythology” (Ed: Roy Willis) “The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology” (1999) (Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm) “The Mythology Library - Classical Mythology” (Arthur Cotterell) “Introduction to Greek Mythology” (David Bellingham) “Greek Myths” (Robert Graves) Check **any** of those references to see if you find any definition of nix which conflicts with what was said in the article. I don’t think you will, mainly because they’re all sitting on **fierra’s** bookshelf and were checked by her. It’s possible more were; there are plenty of references and books like it laying about our house. In any event, let’s just put this accusation of “a quick google” search to rest. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/10 "2006-09-01T21:12:06Z")
What is the con trick “nix the buffer”? ---
**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:** [September 2, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/11 "2006-09-02T04:21:35Z")
Three things: 1. **Quercus** , did you say nixosity? Ever since 1974, it has been Nixonity. 2. There will be no Stevie Nicks references. Let’s nip that in the bud. Tick a lock. Mum’s the word. 3. You’re right, darling, those opal earrings look lovely. I wouldn’t nix those in a month of Sundays. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/12 "2006-09-02T11:12:45Z")
Thanks, **Santos** , for catching me. At let me add to what **Una** said: Staff Reports are not intended as scholarly, definitive items… no more are Cecil’s columns. They do not usually reflect original research; they are intended to both inform and amuse. The goal is to give answers to questions, not just to tell the questionner to “go look it up.” When a question can be thoroughly answered by one source, we usually do NOT do a Staff Report: we (usually) tell the person asking the question where to look to find an answer. So, someone writing a Staff Report always uses several sources, and the process of combining, reconciling, simplifying, etc is where our writers add value. In the early days, when the internet wasn’t so well developed, we did lots of word and phrase origin questions. Nowadays, there are plenty of online sites, so we only tackle such when the obvious sites don’t cover it (or are conflicting.) **fierra** did an excellent job of checking a multitude of experts, and it’s a fine Report. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/13 "2006-09-03T05:04:46Z")
What **Una** and **Dex** said, but I want to add something they are too polite to say: There is a shocking number of people who cannot find Google with both hands and the members of the SDSAB, on encountering a question modern fourth graders are taught how to research, must restrain ourselves from suggesting that the questioner had help getting online and typing his question because there are chimpanzees who could find the answer if they applied themselves. It’s not our fault some readers fall outside the “not too lazy to do the most basic research” demographic but answering their easily-answered questions with wit and far more data than the questioner needed has made the likes of me full members of the SDSAB. And if, while we are gently slapping down the questioner and burying him with the data he’d have if he weren’t a dead-ass, we answer a question some reader has never asked but is suddenly interested in the answer of, that’s a bigger part of the job. Pointing out the limitations of the questioner is fun but we have the honor of “SDSAB” after our usernames because we answer the questions of casual visitors who do not realize how easily they could answer their own questions. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/14 "2006-09-03T23:07:18Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] It’s not our fault some readers fall outside the “not too lazy to do the most basic research” demographic but answering their easily-answered questions with wit and far more data than the questioner needed has made the likes of me full members of the SDSAB. And if, while we are gently slapping down the questioner and burying him with the data he’d have if he weren’t a dead-ass, we answer a question some reader has never asked but is suddenly interested in the answer of, that’s a bigger part of the job. Pointing out the limitations of the questioner is fun but we have the honor of “SDSAB” after our usernames because we answer the questions of casual visitors who do not realize how easily they could answer their own questions. [/QUOTE] You research those questions? I just make shit up. Nobody knows the difference. No, not really. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/15 "2006-09-04T02:28:59Z")
> [@](#): > > You research those questions? I just make shit up. [Aha! I _knew_ it!](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011116.html) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/16 "2006-09-04T03:19:51Z")
**Colibri** , that’s called “original research using primary sources.” ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nix/370775/17 "2006-09-05T13:42:33Z")
The contribution by \*\*fierra \*\*on the origin of \*heretic \* still has the “nix” in the \ tag. [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mheretic.htm](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mheretic.htm) Someone should change the word “nix” in the \ tag to “heretic” in other words.