PALL

[Dr. Goodword]

• pall •

Pronunciation: pawl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, Verb

Meaning: 1. [Noun] The cloth covering a casket. 2. [Noun] Any covering that obscures vision, as a pall of fog over the valley. 3. [Noun] A glum mood, as a pall of sadness that fell over the festivities. 4. [Verb] To make or become flat, stale, insipid, or boring.

Notes: Today's seemingly simple fellow is far more complex than it seems. This word has two sets of meanings and grammatical functions (noun and verb) that are totally unrelated. It is, in fact, two lexical orphans, neither having suffixed or prefixed forms other than the regular forms of tense and number (see Word History for details).

In Play: The nominal senses of this Good Word are probably familiar: "Mortimer dismayed the mourners by exclaiming, 'The whole casket? I thought pall-bearers only carried the pall!'" The verb, however, is often confused with to pale. They are not synonymous, though: "The Pepsi-Cola in his glass had palled from standing out too long." Other things pall, too: "Phoebe felt the conversation beginning to pall after an hour trying to escape the topic of men."

Word History: In fact, we have two discrete words today only coincidentally spelled the same. The noun comes from Old English pæll "cloak, covering" from Latin pallium "cloak, altar cloth". The verb, however, split off from appall, which comes from Old French apalir "to grow faint" (today apâlir), ultimately from Latin pallere "to grow pale". The root here is akin to pale and pallid, both from Latin. The same root (*pel- "pale, gray") surfaced with a suffix in Old Germanic in a word which Latin may well have borrowed as falco "falcon". Greek polios "gray" shares the same source. We see that word in English poliomyelitis, from Greek polios + myelos "marrow" + -itis "inflammation". (Today we thank John M. Dunlap for helping us lift the pall of mystery from this remarkably Good Word.)

[beck123]

I often wondered where the name "Pall Mall" came from. Let's see: there's the garment district for fashionistas, the theater district for those seeking a night's entertainment, and the pall mall for smokers.

[Slava]

I often wondered where the name "Pall Mall" came from. Let's see: there's the garment district for fashionistas, the theater district for those seeking a night's entertainment, and the pall mall for smokers.

To further confusticate matters, it's not even pronounced the way we Americans expect. It's more "Pal Mal" or "Pell Mell" than rhyming with all.

See: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Pall+Mall

[beck123]

Except for my grandparents, who always rhymed both words with "all." In their generation, they had probably never heard it pronounced when it appeared on cigarette packs (mostly pre-radio and pre-tv for po' folks,) so they just gave it their best shot.

[LukeJavan8]

Regarding pall: another use of the term.
In Roman Liturgy, especially prior to the 60's, the priest
would clean his vessels at the end of the mass. Placing
the paten upon the chalice with cloth napkin(purificator)
between. Atop the paten was placed a square linen-covered
cardboard, over which was draped the chalice cover: a
larger cloth covering. This small linen covered cardboard
was called a 'pall'.

[beck123]

The RC meaning is probably the same as the first definition - a cloth covering the body, in this case Christ's body. The parallel seems obvious to me, but what do I know.

I haven't been able to figure out how to add an avatar to my profile, yet. Can somebody help? We need to liven up the visuals in these fora.

[Slava]

I haven't been able to figure out how to add an avatar to my profile, yet. Can somebody help? We need to liven up the visuals in these fora.

I believe all you need to do is link to an address that has the picture you want to use. You do this in the last block of the Profile section. You can't upload a picture, so you have to have a link to one.

[beck123]

Thanks. This one's a little big.

Which ("little big") reminds me... The best sort-of sentence I can come up with stringing together pairs of opposites is, "It was left right out in the rain," which is not very impressive.

This is a challenge to the three people posting here to outdo this wonderful creation.[/u]

[Dr. Goodword]

Pall-mall was originally a croquet-like game involving hitting a ball with a mallet through a ring, from Fr. pallemaille, itself from Italian pallamaglio, from palla "ball" + maglio "mallet." Legend has it that Pall Mall in London once was a popular gathering place for pall-mall players.

[beck123]

Thanks, Doc. Palla doesn't even resemble the word my Sicilian grandfather used for "ball." I remember bocce (or something like that - I never saw it written,) so maybe you could clarify the difference for us.

[LukeJavan8]

[quote="Slava"][quote="beck123"]I haven't been able to figure out how to add an avatar to my profile, yet. Can somebody help? We need to liven up the visuals in these fora.[/quote]I believe all you need to do is link to an address that has the picture you want to use. You do this in the last block of the Profile section. You can't upload a picture, so you have to have a link to one.[/quote]


Ok you answered one question: no pictures on a thread.
But a link to a picture????
Do you mean like Google Images? Or can you give
a reference to a site, please, I am not at all computer
savvy, as many will attest.

[LukeJavan8]

[quote="beck123"]The RC meaning is probably the same as the first definition - a cloth covering the body, in this case Christ's body. The parallel seems obvious to me, but what do I know.

I haven't been able to figure out how to add an avatar to my profile, yet. Can somebody help? We need to liven up the visuals in these fora.[/quote]


That is quite possibly a very good explanation for the
pall: covering Christ's body. Never heard that.
You amaze me, Beck, storehouse of wisdom !!!!!

[LukeJavan8]

[quote="Dr. Goodword"][i]Pall-mall[/i] was originally a croquet-like game involving hitting a ball with a mallet through a ring, from Fr. [i]pallemaille[/i], itself from Italian [i]pallamaglio[/i], from palla "ball" + maglio "mallet." Legend has it that [i]Pall Mall[/i] in London once was a popular gathering place for pall-mall players.[/quote]


I've seen children in Italy playing something like that.
It reminded me of croquet, but wasn't. I believe it
was near Perugia.