Self-Catharsis and the Family Jewels
The Onion article in our “Language in the News Feature” about Mel Brooks trying to save the word schmuck reminded me of my first visit to Germany decades ago. I was stunned to see Schmuck on several stores in every town we visited. I could tell by the wares offered in these stores that the word meant “jewelry” in German. I immediately figured out that the meaning of this word in Yiddish came from the concept of “the family jewels”.
When we first entered Athens with a 7-year-old and 9-year-old in the back seat after 400-500 miles on the road, I was delighted to see autokatharsis (αυτοκάθαρσις) over the doors of many establishments. That was exactly what I needed after all those hours of frustration at thinking up funny answers to the questions, “Are we there yet” and “How much longer?” Actually, I wasn’t sure that it was self-catharsis that I needed; I actually felt that I needed help.
However, thanks to my knowledge of etymology (see, I told you it comes in handy), I soon figured that these establishments were car washes, not self-induced soul washes. Aristotle had passed and Greece was left with the original meaning of the word katharsis. (Αυτοκάθαρσις may have been a brand name since “carwash” seems to be πλυντήριο αυτοκινήτων in Greek today.)
These are the sorts of incidents that convinced me that much if not most of the history of our thought lies within the very words we use. At least words tell us much about ourselves and how we think about things and have thought about them over the centuries.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Re ‘Subjunctive’: I only see this possibility to communicate with the Blog, is that right?
My question is about the use of the subjunctive. I see it omitted where it should be used in printed matter. So the question is, is the use of the subjunctive passé now in formal written English?
I do editing here in Norway, and I wish to be using correct English. But not only correct, current! I don’t want to be making things sound very old-fashioned.
So I wonder…..
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:33 am
Katheleen,
This comment somehow avoided my otherwise sharp eye and fell through the cracks. Actually, the subjunctive is dead in the US and, I believe, in most dialects of English except those of the upper class in Britain. We still say, “If I were you, …” but that is because this phrase has become idiomatized. “If it rains tomorrow” carries both the obvious meaning of the phrase and also that which I would express as “If it were to rain tomorrow”.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:38 am
Another incident of misleading foreign words in the other direction happens here in Lewisburg whenever French visitors visit. The most interesting thing they find downtown is the pet store which reaches for a level of sophistication with its French name, “Pet Popourri”. Whenever we see laughing people photographing the sign, we know they are from Franch, were pet means “fart”. Wonder why they didn’t go all the way and call the store the “Pet Poopery”? Might as well.