DONGLE

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Slava
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Re: DONGLE

Postby Slava » Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:37 pm

Theories on the etymology of "dongle":

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/a ... es/278180/

Mostly off the wall, but rather a fun read nonetheless.
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MTC
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Re: DONGLE

Postby MTC » Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:42 pm

Got up in Western gear, Morton strode confidently to the bar and ordered a sarsaparilla, but the out-of-tune "dingle, dongle, dingle" of his spurs betrayed his status as a dude.
Last edited by MTC on Mon Jul 29, 2013 9:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Perry Lassiter
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Re: DONGLE

Postby Perry Lassiter » Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:48 pm

Since dongle appeared in the column, I have used it frequently and found it a useful word!
pl

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Slava
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Re: DONGLE

Postby Slava » Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:42 pm

Since dongle appeared in the column, I have used it frequently and found it a useful word!
When was that? This post or the original 2005 edition or the 2007 one? :D

:oops: By the by, when I posted this version, I did not notice that the Word History had been changed. It should read thusly:
Today's Good Word has a very short history. It was first the name of a chip for the Apple ][+ computer, introduced in 1979, a chip that was required to prevent unauthorized use of Apple's first accounting program (thank you Pierre Laberge). It is easy to see that this word might have been an intentional variant pronunciation of dangle. However, as the definitions above make clear, the original dongle didn't dangle. In all probability, the word was made up, then gained wider currency as dongles did begin to dangle and the word made more sense to the general population.
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Philip Hudson
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Re: DONGLE

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:33 pm

MTC: Yeah. Dude's spurs do go "dingle, dongle, dingle" and it gives them away every time. Tex Ritter says, and he ought to know, that his spurs go "jingle jangle jingle."
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_9pVRZ0QKw
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