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hung a map of the new districts in his office. Gilbert Stuart, the painter, saw
this map and noticed the peculiar outline of the district in Essex County; he
added a head, wings, and claws to it and exclaimed: That will do for a
salamander. No, said Russell, Gerrymander. Thus, to redistribute a state
to get the maximum possible representation for one party at the expense of
the other came to be called gerrymandering.
Hobsons choice. Where did we get the expression Hobsons choice and its
meaning of no choice at
all?
From Tobias Hobson, who kept a livery stable in Cambridge, England, in the
seventeenth century. Hobson let out his horses only in rotation, saying, This
or none. Hobsons choice is no choice at all.
Lackadaisical. Why do we say a lazy, dawdling person in lackadaisical?
Its a bit of keen psychological observation. The term comes from the
exclamation, lackaday, which means shame on you, day just as though
the day were a person. And since most persons who cry lackaday and
blame the quick passage of time are looking for an excuse for their own lack
of energy, they are lackadaisical.
Laconic. Where does the word laconic come from?
From Laconia the general name for Spartan territory. The Spartans were
noted for their brusque speechthe best example of it being their reply when
Philip of Macedon wrote to their magistrates: If I enter Laconia I will level
Lacedaemon to the ground. The Spartans reply was: If.
Machiavellian. How did the word Machiavellian come to mean evil?
Niccolo Machiavelli of Florence wrote a book called The Prince. It
expounded the art of government and showed how by treachery and other
despicable acts it was possible for a prince to achieve and uphold arbitrary
power.
Martinet. Where did the martinet get that name?
From a commander of the French infantry. In the reign of Louis XIV of France,
General Martinet remodeled the French infantry by instituting very strict
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discipline based upon severe punishmentso severe that the French call cato-nine-tails a martinet, and the English adopted the term as a synonym for
a strict disciplinarian.
From the Romans. In Rome, a pedagogue was a slave who took the children
to school, to the theater, and on their outingsalthough he often taught
them as well. The word comes from the Greek paid, meaning child, and
agein, meaning to lead.
Pyrrhic Victory. Why do we call a success gained at too great cost a Pyrrhic
victory?
This Name for a ruinous victory is an allusion to the victories of King Pyrrhus
of Epirus over the Romans about 280 B.C. With a force of 25,000 men, Pyrrhus
met the Romans under the Consul Laevinius at Heracleathe first time that
Greeks and Romans had engaged each other in battle on such a large scale.
In the end, because of his cavalry and elephants, Pyrrhus severely defeated
tremely heavy losses. Rome refused to make peace with the victor and the
following year Pyrrhus again defeated the Romans at Asculumin two
engagements in which he lost most of his army. According to Plutarch, when
Pyrrhus was congratulated on the victory he said, Such another victory and
we are utterly undone.
Quack. Why is a medical charlatan pretending to be a physician called a quack?
Because he boasts of his salves. Quack is really an abbreviation of
quacksalver, which comes from the Dutch kwakzalverand this has this
idea of quacking about ones salves. But the idea behind all these terms is
that the quack is like the duckhe makes a big noise over nothing.
Quibble. Why do we call a petty argument over a minor point quibbling?
The word comes from the Latin Quibus. This is the dative and the ablative of
qui, meaning who or whichand it was used so much in legal documents
and fought over to such an extent by lawyers that it gave us the term
quibble.
Sabotage. Where does the word sabotage come from?
The wordwhich originally meant a willful destruction of machinery by
workmen in industrial disputesis French and is derived from sabot, the
name of the French workmens wooden shoe. When looms were first
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introduced in France the workmen of the mills objected to them and threw
their wooden shoes into the looms in order to put them out-of-order.
Sphinx. How did the sphinx get its name?
The name is Greek and means the strangler. The Sphinx got her name
because, according to legend, she strangled the travelers who could not solve
the riddle she propounded. Though the name is Greek the legend is Egyptian;
and though the Sphinx of the legend it a woman the famous Sphinx statue of
Egypt bears the head of a man.
Supercilious. Why do we call a haughty person supercilious?
Because in Latin super means above and cilium means eyebrow. A
supercilious person goes about with raised eyebrows.?
movement took hold and spread throughout America and the British Isles
with men signing a TTotal pledge.
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