Coction

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Coction

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Mar 26, 2021 7:44 pm

• coction •


Pronunciation: kahk-shên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. (Rare) The act of boiling. 2. (Medicine, obsolete) Digestion.

Notes: Occasionally we enjoy exploring words that have no ostensible use in the language. (What's wrong with the definitions "boiling" and "digestion"?) We thought you might be interested in knowing where concoction comes from: it originally meant "boiling together with" and only later, "that which has been cooked from a mixture of ingredients".

In Play: This does not mean that there are no opportunities to use this very good, if somewhat out-of-style word: "I don't think coction would clean the dirt out of these jeans." Should you tire of digestion, try something like this: "I don't think my coction is up to a spicy meal tonight."

Word History: Today's Good Word goes back to Latin coquere "to cook, boil". The original PIE word was pekw- "cook, ripen", visible today in Russian peku "I bake", which still vaguely resembles English bake, from the same source. In Sanskrit the root held its ground; pakva in that language means "ripe". However, this root took a mighty twist upon entering Greek and Latin. In Greek, the [kw] turned into another [p] under the influence of the first [p] (assimilation). The result was peptein "to cook, digest", which we borrowed as peptic, as in 'peptic ulcer'. In Latin just the opposite occurred: the [kw] converted the initial [p] into another [k], giving coquere, pronounced [kokwere]. Hard to believe, but true.
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Philip Hudson
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Re: Coction

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:15 pm

Coction might be fun to use. By the way, my spellcheck doesn't recognize it. I fear that folks here in the hinterlands would think I had brewed up a half baked [or boiled] concoction. This might get me permanently shunned by the men sitting on the spit and whittle bench.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

David Myer
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Re: Coction

Postby David Myer » Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:45 pm

Relax, Philip, we will sit with you on your wit and spittle bench.

On Wednesdays, I have a regular coffee at a tertulia. This Spanish word means 'group of funny old men who have coffee together once a week' or some such. But we don't sit at one of those curious sounding benches. Do you have a picture of one to share with us?

Philip Hudson
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Re: Coction

Postby Philip Hudson » Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:04 pm

There are many references to spit and whittle benches or clubs on Google, but no good photos. This Google link shows the Shelby County, Texas, Spit & Whittle Club but doesn't show any whittling.

http://uniqware.com/magazine7/level2htm/spitWhittle.htm

There was a spit and whittle bench near the door of the Simmons Mercantile store in Live Oak County, Texas when I was a boy. There old men sat and whittled. Each man whittled his stick until it was gone. Then, if it wasn't dinner time, he would get another stick. The goal was not to make a carved item. It was to while away the time while spitting tobacco and making idle talk. In the winter the bench would be taken into the store and set up near the wood burning heater. There they were reminded to use the spittoon but otherwise were never hindered. A boy could learn a lot of "out of school" gossip there. It was almost as good as the hangers on at the barber shop. A good mama would warn her boys not to linger there.

Here is a little poem, not written by me, that references spit and whittle.
As a kid it was always town on Saturday,
horses and wagons dotted our main street.
Tied to curb rings up and down Broadway,
then penny candy, was sometimes a treat.

Many had come to gin a weeks cotton,
and buy flour and coffee for another week.
Times back then would today seem rotten,
But that was life and times were bleak.

Worn out by years, old men would sit,
they did this having nothing pressing to do.
On a bench swapping yarns to whittle, and spit,
and think, at days end, how the time flew.

All older men needed was a plug of Brown’s Mule,
and a pocket knife, and of course a stick.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

David Myer
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Re: Coction

Postby David Myer » Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:23 am

Lovely, Philip. Enjoyed the imagery.

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Slava
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Re: Coction

Postby Slava » Thu Apr 01, 2021 6:13 am

When I was growing up, there was a fad for "street signs" as decorations, sayings on signs ala "No Parking" signs. I had one that read: Smokers and Chewers will please spit on each other, not on the stove or floor.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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