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Q-tip

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 12:07 am
by Brazilian dude
Does anybody know why a Q-tip (also known as cotton bud/cotton swab) is called Q-tip?

Brazilian dude

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:11 am
by KatyBr
why not call it a q-tip? \
The real reason?
It looks like a Q. the top part anyway.

Kt

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:25 am
by Brazilian dude
I don't see it.

Brazilian dude

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 11:46 am
by KatyBr
I don't see it.

Brazilian dude
OK

Kt

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 5:55 pm
by anders
Could be because the tips look like cute catkins.

The Q might also be short for 'cotton' in Arabic: quTn قُطْن

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:27 pm
by M. Henri Day
According to the Wikipedia entry,
The "Q" in the name stands for quality.
Now they tell us !...

Henri

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:29 pm
by Stargzer
And furthermore, thanks to the link in the Wikipedia article from Henri . . .

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:28 pm
by gailr
2003 Q-tips Cotton Swabs remains the market leader and continually searches for new and improved opportunities to serve consumers. The company launched the first official Web site www.qtips.com.
I, for one, will be sleeping better tonight! Thanks, Larry.
-gailr

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:57 am
by Stargzer
Thank Henri. The link was on the Wikipedia page he posted.

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:40 am
by Brazilian dude
Thank you, guys.

Brazilian dude

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:56 am
by Flaminius
Could be because the tips look like cute catkins.

The Q might also be short for 'cotton' in Arabic: quTn قُطْن
I am just wondering if Hebrew qaTan (small) is merely a coincidence? Cotton in that language, by the way, is named periphrastically; tsemer gefen (vine wool).

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 3:21 pm
by anders
The qTn roots seem to be mutually exclusive in meaning. Ugaritic qTn is only 'small', Arabic qTn has a root meaning like 'to live, dwell, reside', but most derivatives mean cotton or other plants; none like 'small'.

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:06 pm
by tcward
The qTn roots seem to be mutually exclusive in meaning. Ugaritic qTn is only 'small', Arabic qTn has a root meaning like 'to live, dwell, reside', but most derivatives mean cotton or other plants; none like 'small'.
So would Arabic refer to Mistletoe as qTn, as well?

-Tim

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:41 pm
by anders
No. qTn plants include quTniiya 'pulse, legumes', quTaaniiya 'maize', yaqTiin 'a variety of squash'.

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:32 pm
by Flaminius
I couldn't drop the idea and checked [url=http://education.yahoo.com/reference/di ... try/cotton[/url](2000).
qTn
To be(come) thin, fine, small.
COTTON, from Arabic quTn, quTun, cotton, perhaps akin to Akkadian qataanu, to be(come) thin, fine (of textiles), or perhaps borrowed from an unknown source.
Heritage is sounding unusually diffident here. Now I really drop the idea.

Flaminius