ORT

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

ORT

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:42 pm

• ort •

Pronunciation: ort • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. Leftovers, the food scraps that remain after a meal is finished. 2. The crumbs, scraps, the remains left over from any job, as cleaning up the orts on a construction site.

Notes: This word is remarkable in that it is one of the few words in English actually spelled as it is pronounced. It has been in the English language since the 14th century and is making yet another comeback in the 21st. How is that for staying power? It is almost always used in the plural, orts, just as is the case with its near synonyms, leftovers and crumbs.

In Play: The original meaning of today's word apparently was "leftover animal feed" but my experience with animals leads me to believe that animals are careful not to leave food behind. In fact, they tend to help us out with our leftovers: "Ernie, would you let the dog back into the kitchen to clean up the baby's orts?" However, orts can be any kind of leftovers you can imagine: "Oh, the good committee posts go to the senior faculty; junior faculty are left the orts." (Sounds like a faculty feeling its orts, doesn't it?)

Word History: Today's Good Word is probably the reflex of an unattested Old English noun that we surmise was something like *oræt, a cognate of Early Modern Dutch ooraete, now found in a few dialects as oort or orte "remains of food or fodder". If this guess is correct, or- is an old prefix of uncertain meaning found in a few frozen forms like ordeal. It would be akin to the German prefix ur- "proto-" seen in that word every spelling bee enthusiast knows, Ursprache "proto-language". Eat comes from a root found in most Indo-European languages, such as German essen and Russian est'. (We want make sure that the main course of our gratitude today goes to Mr. Mark Angney's B-Block senior English class of Concord-Carlisle High School in Concord, Massachusetts, since today's word was their idea.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

eberntson
Lexiterian
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:48 am
Location: Cambridge, Mass
Contact:

Just a triviality

Postby eberntson » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:14 am

In German, "ort" means "a place or district", such as "New England ist ein ort..." or "Der ort is Upstate New York genant..." I know it doesn't seem to have any bearing :? Just another little Anglo-Saxon & Germanic word migration.
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns

Perry
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2306
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:50 am
Location: Asheville, NC

Postby Perry » Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:38 am

I suppose that if all one gets to eat are all kinds of leftovers, one would get ort of sorts. :D
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

skinem
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:33 pm
Location: Middle Tennessee

Postby skinem » Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:41 am

Learned this word while overseeing a series of children's camps...one of the goals at mealtime was "No ort!" It's a little scary that staff could fire up a hundred 6th graders enough so that at the end of mealtime they are loudly chanting while pounding the tables "No ort! No ort!"

Since then, I've fallen into a small construction company I run on the side. I now have quite a number of the crew convinced that the "technical construction" term for scrap and trash is ORT--(Only Removable Trash)...
Wonder where they got that idea?

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:56 am

Well there is ort, and then there's ort, we have major ort at our house. I'm working on outting all the ort, in fact it's more like ORT! Hey, I like this, I'm going to use this word a lot, Perry good puns btw.

mark not-ort Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Postby gailr » Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:21 pm

In my house, any orts are quickly disposed of as the cat snorts them up.
-gailr

Perry
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2306
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:50 am
Location: Asheville, NC

Postby Perry » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:19 pm

I don't know much about ort, but I know what I like.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

Palewriter
Lexiterian
Posts: 291
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:59 pm

Postby Palewriter » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:29 pm

I don't know much about ort, but I know what I like.
Well then, if you know what you like, it's easy. The ort is everything else. Or ort to be.

-- PW
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"

Ferrus
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 99
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:33 pm
Location: Birmingham, UK

Postby Ferrus » Fri Dec 22, 2006 4:45 pm

Ort can also mean 'bit'.

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Fri Dec 22, 2006 6:46 pm

of c'orts it can

mark left-over Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Postby gailr » Fri Dec 22, 2006 10:32 pm

He was a Fellow at the College of Orts and Letters.

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:57 pm

Abort this ort-cavort-for-sport!
(or do I distort? ODID for short)
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

Stargzer
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2578
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:56 pm
Location: Crownsville, MD

Postby Stargzer » Sat Dec 23, 2006 12:07 am

The shiny mechanical man advances towards the woman ...

"Ort! Klatu Beratta Nikto!"

The robot's visor lifts and a red beam begins to emerge ...

"OH NO! "GORT! GORT! KLATU BERATTA NIK--!" BZZZZZZZZZZZZT! POOF!

And thus, the destruction of Humanity commenced because someone couldn't follow instructions.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 57 guests