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Jewish World Review August 5, 2004 / 18 Menachem-Av, 5764

Editors of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary, Tenth Edition

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'Spitting image'; 'eclectic'; 'spendthrift'


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Dear Editor:

When I was little, everyone told me I was the spitting image of my dad. It used to drive me nuts, but now, years later, I'm more interested in where the expression "spitting image" comes from. Can you help?

— E.B., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Dear E.B.:

The original phrase is "spit and image," meaning, as the present phrase does, "a person strikingly like another person." The phrase developed from a use of the noun "spit" to mean "a perfect likeness." This sense of "spit," first recorded in 1825, still occurs in British English but has fallen into disuse in the United States. It apparently developed from the familiar verb "spit" by way of a once popular saying that a son with a great resemblance to his father looked as much like him as if he had been spit out of his mouth. (Why being spit out of your father's mouth would make you look like him is a question we can't answer.)

Not everyone accepts the above explanation. Some have claimed that the phrase is actually a corruption of the phrase "spirit and image," pronounced by Southern speakers in such a way that "spirit" came eventually to be understood as "spit." It may be that some such process had an influence in the ultimate development of the phrase, but lack of evidence makes it impossible to say that for certain.

"Spitting image" was first recorded in 1901. Other variants, now extremely rare, are "spitten image" and "splitting image." For a time, "spitting image" was commonly cited as an error, but it has long since established itself as a standard, if somewhat informal, phrase.


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Dear Editor:

The word "eclectic" describes unusual combinations of things or interesting and unpredictable choices. Is there an interesting story behind the word itself?

— J.S., Gainesville, Fla.

Dear J.S.:

Before people started using "eclectic" in contexts like "an eclectic decorating style" or "eclectic taste in reading materials," the word referred to ancient philosophers who did not adhere to any one school of thought. These philosophers selected certain doctrines from various schools and rejected others. Given that, it is not surprising that "eclectic" comes from the ancient Greek "eklektikos," which in turn traces to "eklegein," meaning "to select." "Eklegein" has its origins in "ex-," meaning "out," and "legein," meaning "to gather." "Legein" also means "to say, speak" and is at the root of an eclectic mix of "eclectic" relatives. Meaning "to gather" it figures in the ancestry of "anthology," "catalog," "horology," and "legend." In its "to say, speak" sense we find "legein" at the root of "dialogue," "dyslexia," "epilogue," "prologue," "homologous," and "lexicon."

— — —

Dear Editor:

Whenever I see the word "spendthrift" I have to stop and think about what it means. To me, it seems like a spendthrift should be someone who spends a little, not someone who spends a lot or carelessly. Isn't the "thrift" in "spendthrift" the same as the "thrift" in "thrift store"?

— C.J., Tempe, Ariz.

Dear C.J.:

Yes, the "thrift" in "spendthrift" and the "thrift" in "thrift store" are one and the same word, but the relevant sense of "thrift" differs between the two terms. We can trace this noun back to the 13th century, when it was first used in Middle English. It derives from an Old Norse word meaning "prosperity," which came from the verb "thrifask," meaning "to thrive." Although the usual meaning of "thrift" is now "careful management of money," in its older uses the word has had meanings like "healthy and vigorous growth" and "savings accumulated through frugality" or "acquired or hoarded wealth." The connection between these senses is the idea that in order to prosper or thrive you must manage your money carefully and accumulate wealth by saving. A "spendthrift," then, is someone who spends his or her thrift - that is, who spends money that should be saved.


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Up

07/28/04: 'Trousers'; 'argosy'
07/19/04: 'Sourdough wit'; 'headshrinkers'; 'seventh heaven'
07/08/04: 'The proof is in the pudding'; 'Pyrrhic victory'
07/01/04: Origin of 'vitamin'; 'binnacle list'
06/25/04: 'Abnegate' and 'abdicate'; 'feet of clay'; 'difugalty'
06/17/04: 'Whinge'; 'whole cloth'
06/10/04: 'The devil to pay'; 'crack', as in 'a crack marksman'; 'the dog that didn't bark'
06/03/04: 'Surrounded on three sides'; sleuths
05/18/04: 'Of the first water'; horses and horseradish; more
05/06/04: 'Historic' v. 'historical'; 'prestigious' = 'trickery'?; 'can of corn' as sports phrase
04/27/04: Derivation of 'bozo'; 'elt'; 'spill the beans'
04/21/04: Meaning of "budget'' in the word "fussbudget''; "bleeding hearts''; "skycap''
04/01/04: "Thin red line''; "doak"; "level playing field"
03/22/04: "King Canute"; "vodka"; "Cheese it. The cops!''
03/16/04: "Carrot and stick''; "hue and cry''; Where did the term "flea market'' originate?
03/09/04: Going "haywire"; "close, but no cigar"; "mahatma"
03/01/04: "Roundheel'' and "well-heeled''; "milquetoast"; "sick as a dog''
02/26/04: "Charley horse"; "`Foolproof''; "cracker-barrel''
02/17/04: "Dunce''; titles "Mr.'' and "Mrs.''; "under the weather''
02/10/04: "Turnpike''; "dead reckoning''
02/02/04: "Mutt"; "lobby" in its political sense; "procrustean bed"
01/27/04: "Decimate"; "duende"; a dessert "junket"?
01/14/04: Is "MacGuffin" related to all the "Mac" and "Mc" words we've been hearing about recently?; "afghans" and "Afghans"; "since Hector was a pup"
01/09/04: Confused about the word "hearsay"; "Burgle"; "waiting in line" or "waiting on line"?
12/31/03: The past tense of "plead''; Is "old adage'' redundant?; Where did "lounge lizard'' come from?
12/15/03: "Ostracize" and "oyster''?; Where does the "mentor'' come from?; "jeopard''
12/02/03: "Karats'' and "carats'' — meaning of and difference between; why apostrophe in "'cello''?; "hell-bent for leather''
11/18/03: "Hoosegow,''; why the little finger is called the "`pinkie''; difference between "lady'' and "dame''
11/13/03: 'Take it on the lam'; 'decorum'; 'you look like the wreck of the Hesperus'
11/03/03: Origin of "hypnosis"/"hypnotism"; "all right" or "alright"; emote
10/28/03: "Blue plate special"; how to use "hoi polloi''; "Peck's Bad Boy''
10/20/03: Who was the person the artist who first used "silhouette" as an art form?; why are they called migraine headaches?; origin of "keep one's shirt on"
10/13/03: "Grey'' in "greyhound'' has nothing to do with the color?; "at loggerheads''
09/29/03: Where does the word "karaoke" comes from?; people or persons?; "synecdoche"
09/23/03: Using "eke'' correctly; fedora; why do we call an especially flattering biography a "hagiography''?
09/10/03: Why do we call a zero score in tennis "love''?; "biannual'' or "semiannual''?; Is there any difference between "further'' and "farther''?; dilemma of using "dilemma''
09/02/03: "Out loud'' rather than "aloud''; "pushing the envelope''; "without rhyme or reason''
08/25/03: "Cheesy''; "hold a candle''
08/11/03: "Halcyon days''; Why isn't "sacrilegious'' spelled "sacreligious''?; "red light'' and "green light'' as expression — which came first, the inaction or the signals?
08/04/03: "Votive'' candles; "cosmeticizing"; "potluck''
07/28/03: Why ‘debt’ has a ‘b’ in it; "south moon under''; why "Rx'' is used for prescriptions
07/21/03: "Romance" & "Rome"?; punching & clocks; "conversate"
07/14/03: "Lukewarm''; Where did we get the word "wig'' for a fake head of hair?
07/09/03: Why doesn't "Arkansas'' rhyme with "Kansas''? ; "Catawampus"; "Jimmie Higgins work"
06/30/03: "Foozle"; author who wrote an entire novel without using a certain letter of the alphabet?; "kith and kin"
06/23/03: "On the fritz"; "knuckle down''
06/17/03: How did "lazy Susan'' come to be used for the rotating tray?; woolgathering'' as synonym for "idle daydreaming''; "in harm's way''
06/09/03: "Clotheshorse"; a god named "Ammonia"?
05/29/03: With kid gloves; "receipt'' = "recipe''?; from soup to nuts

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