# Why is the office 'governor' but the race 'gubernatorial'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810 "2013-09-27T16:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/21 "2013-09-28T01:14:22Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > The EU is concerned (some might say obsessed) with standardisation across the various member countries. This is made more difficult by the language differences. > > Meat is a good example and there are many many regulations about it. One of the basic problems is what sort of meat it is. Mutton, sheep meat, lamb are all the same thing and that’s just the English words. Add in mouton, schaap, montone and caoireoil, to mention but a few, and you can see the problem. > > The solution was to revert to the latin root. So sheep meat is ovine, pork is porcine and beef is bovine. cite? this smells like bs to me. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/22 "2013-09-28T01:38:41Z")
When Arnold won in California I figured we’d end up with a beer (specifically a dopplebock) called Gubernator or Governator. Looking online, it appears that someone made a Governator, but it’s an ESB and they pulled it when his attorneys asked them to stop. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/23 "2013-09-28T04:53:36Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Mutton, sheep meat, lamb are all the same thing and that’s just the English words. Not exactly. Mutton is from a mature sheep, so it’s different from lamb. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/24 "2013-09-28T08:37:51Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > And actually, [before it was Latin it was Greek](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/governor)–the Latin _gubernator_ is from the Greek κυβερνήτης or _kybernetes_, meaning “pilot” (in a nautical sense) or “steersman”. Hey, that looks like one for the “cool etymologies” thread! Governor has the same etymology as cybernaut 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/25 "2013-09-28T08:45:46Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Hey, that looks like one for the “cool etymologies” thread! Governor has the same etymology as cybernaut 😃 From what city (or cities … ) are “novocastrians” from ? (I do know the answer.) The relevance is that its clearly a latin adjective… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/26 "2013-09-28T08:54:28Z")
Newcastle? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/27 "2013-09-28T09:07:11Z")
It’s usually assumed that the distinction between the Anglo-Saxon word for the animal and the French-derived word for the meat goes back to Norman invasion times: > **[Why do we eat “beef” and “pork” rather than “cow" and “pig"?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343146/why-do-we-eat-beef-and-pork-rather-than-cow-and-pig)** > > A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD > **[List of English words with dual French and Old English variations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_with_dual_French_and_Anglo-Saxon_variations)** > > This list of English words with dual French and Old English variations lists various English words with redundant loanwords. After the Norman invasion of England in 1066 many of the more refined English (Old English) words describing finished products were replaced with words, borrowed from Anglo-Norman (such as "beef," a prepared food). In contrast, common unfinished equivalents continued to use the native English term (such as "cow," a living animal). This replacement can be explained by the f... ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/28 "2013-09-28T16:34:32Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > This seems like a good bunch of folks to ask one of my long pondered questions: Why do the people known as Filipinos live in the Philippines? An F and a single P vs. a Ph and a double P? 'cause those islands were run until 1898 by Spain, who named them in honor of King Felipe as the Filipinas, while English-speakers, who knew the guy as King Philip, translated that as Philippines(\*). By the time the Americans took over the locals insisted in continuing to refer to themselves by the Spanish (by then incorporated into Tagalog) term. (\*)FWIW the Filipinos spell it “_ **P** _ilipinas” in the official language. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/29 "2013-09-28T17:25:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Not sure if this is the case here, but sometime the same Latinate root finds it’s way into English multiple times, but by different paths. A word might find it’s way into English via French (or sometimes Spanish or Italian), and then another form will be borrowed directly from Latin… Right. A close parallel to governor/gubernatorial is **law/legal**. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810/30 "2013-09-29T01:52:14Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > 'cause those islands were run until 1898 by Spain, who named them in honor of King Felipe as the Filipinas, while English-speakers, who knew the guy as King Philip, translated that as Philippines(\*). By the time the Americans took over the locals insisted in continuing to refer to themselves by the Spanish (by then incorporated into Tagalog) term. > > (\*)FWIW the Filipinos spell it “_ **P** _ilipinas” in the official language. Very interesting. Thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-office-governor-but-the-race-gubernatorial/669810.md?page=1)