Everybody has a nickname, and there’s usually a story to go with it. Martha and Grant reveal their own nicknames and the stories behind them. Also, is the expression “heebie-jeebies” anti-Semitic? And is there a better word than “retiree” for someone who moves on from a job late in life?

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Speaking of nicknames, the word “nickname” has an interesting etymology. It’s an example of a word formed by what linguists call “misdivision.” More here. If you have a nickname you’d like to share (and hey, let’s keep it clean, folks!), tell us about it in our discussion forum!

On to our callers:

A cantor from a synagogue in Nyack, New York, says she’s fond of the expression “the heebie-jeebies” but recently began worrying that it might be anti-Semitic. Did the term “heebie-jeebies” originate as a slur against Jews? By the way, the hosts mention a cartoon with the earliest known use of the term. You can see it here.

An adult caller from Phoenix is stung by the memory of losing an elementary school spelling bee when he misspelled the word “dilemma.” He insists that his teachers taught him that the word contains a silent “n.” After all these years, he’s still trying to find out whether “dilemna” is an acceptable spelling.

Recently we discussed the lack of a word in English for the act of trying to do in your offline life something you can only do on a computer, like expecting spellcheck to kick in if you’re scribbling a grocery list, for example. The hosts share suggestions emailed by listeners. How about “e-flex”? Or might “déjà undo” do?

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle about homophones, in this case, words that sound just like participles that have lost their final “g,” like “button” and “buttin’.” The first clue: “Picture Vladimir Putin trying to catch a departing bus.”

A woman and her boss want to resolve a dispute over the words “reoccuring” and “recurring.” Which is correct if you’re talking about something that happens again and again? Grant explains that there is indeed a difference between the two words—and that one of them is almost always the right choice, particularly in the world of business.

When a proper Southern lady fans herself and exclaims, “I do believe I have the vapors,” what vapors is she talking about, exactly? A caller from Austin, Texas wants to know the origin of this term. Just how did it come to apply to a whole range of things, from being flustered all the way to more serious maladies such as depression and hypochondria?

A former sociology professor shares a peeve about the language of political pundits: He’s irked when they say a candidate wants to “replicate” or “duplicate” his win. The professor explains why he thinks they should eschew those words and instead opt for “repeat.”

Cities have nicknames as well, including “Sacratomato” and “Lousyville.” Do you have a better city nickname? Let’s hear it.

This week’s “Slang This!” contestant is from Esquimalt, British Columbia. She tries to guess the meaning of the slang terms “white hat” and “necklace light.” And no, the latter has nothing to do with a “Frankenstein flash.”

A husband and wife are retiring after many years on the job. But they’re keeping their options open for future employment, and don’t want to be called “retirees.” The word “retirees” isn’t enough to connote the more “dynamic and open-ended” way of living they’re anticipating, nor does it take into account the possibility that they might continue to do some kind of paying work. How about “rehirees”? Or . . . ?

What’s the nickname for your hometown newspaper? Do share by words@waywordradio.org“>emailing us.

A Kentucky listener and her husband wonder about the proper meaning of the word “everloving.” Sometimes they hear it used to express frustration, as in, “Why won’t he pass the everloving basketball?”, but other times they hear it used more positively, as in, “I just want to get in my everloving bed and sleep!” Grant answers her everloving question.

Read the original blog post and listen to this episode.

Several small towns in southwest Missouri have nicknames. In the text below, the official name will be in parenthesis.

My brother lives in Pin Hook (Pleasant Hope).

I bought my gas heating stove in Dogtown (March).

Highway 32 goes through Pig Eye (Long Lane).

My wife’s childhood friend lives in Hog Eye (Charity).

I cannot think of any others right now, but a Professor at my alma mater, Dr. Jerry (Gerald Leonard) Cohen has written books about Missouri Place Names. He may have some nicknames in there as well.

Emmett Redd

I was very excited to hear the discussion on the spelling of dilemma. I, too, was eliminated from a 1970s spelling bee after spelling dilemma as dilemna. I accepted the correction, but I’ve always wondered why I had been so sure of the way I spelled it. I must have seen it in print that way somewhere. When I told a neighbor, who had won the bee the previous year and represented our region in the national bee, what word I missed, he correctly guessed how I had misspelled it. That made me feel better, and hearing on your show that I have company also makes me feel better even now!

A couple of ideas for the state of “not really retired”:

Renascence: I borrowed this word from one of my favorite Edna St. Vincent Millay poems. I actually thought of renaissance first, but was worried about the confusion with the well-known period of European history that carries that name. Dictionary.com cites one of the meanings of renaissance (lower case initial) as “a renewal of life, vigor, interest, etc.; rebirth; revival: a moral renaissance.”

Some word of phrase that captures the idea of a sabbatical: a period of time in which one removes oneself from one’s job or profession to rest, renew oneself, and perhaps discover new opportunities in which to apply oneself when returning to work.

Funny that the “dilemma/dilemna” discussion came up. I was planning to post about this one over the last few days.

In a previous life, I was a proofreader for newspaper ads, and one particular ad contained this word. My supervisor (who created the ad) used “dilemma”, and I corrected it. She called me on it, and went by the dictionary.com spelling, which is of course, “dilemma”. To this day, I still feel I am correct.

So for the past few years (yes, I obsess), I have been wracking my mind trying to think of the word I must have been confusing with “dilemna”. The only word I have been able to come up with is “condemn”. Whie it has the same “emn” grouping, and the same silent-n pronunciation, I never felt as though this was the word I was looking for.

So it’s very reassuring to hear that others have had this same dilemna as I. [Image Removed by User]

Oh, in addition (upon hearing the remainder of the episode), the newspaper was the Daily Union Democrat, or DUD.

What about “column”? Newspaper talk, even.

I have to pick some nits with your Slang This quiz this week.

You said “Once the white hat set up the honeypot computer, all the script kiddies and wannabe hackers attacked it, that’s how he figured out how they operated.”

This initial sentence isn’t bad. “honeypot computer” is a somewhat awkward construction, much like if you said “pick-up truck automobile”. The word computer is extraneous.

My more significant criticism is for your definition, “a computing expert who tries to catch hackers and online criminals.” In fact a “white hat” is simply a security expert who applies his expertise for good instead of evil.

This usually means that the “white hat” is attempting to find and protect vulnerabilities (much like a sheriff), but these white hats are extremely unlikely to care who it is that is attempting to break in, nor are they likely to try to catch them.

“Honeypot computer” is a somewhat awkward construction, much like if you said “pick-up truck automobile”. The word computer is extraneous.

Kevin, I worked in IT for more than 15 years for a variety of companies big and small here in New York City and I know of at least two other kinds of “honeypots”: honeypot networks and honeypot routers. So, the specification of “computer” was necessary to make clear what I was talking about.

My more significant criticism is for your definition, “a computing expert who tries to catch hackers and online criminals.” In fact a “white hat” is simply a security expert who applies his expertise for good instead of evil. This usually means that the “white hat” is attempting to find and protect vulnerabilities (much like a sheriff), but these white hats are extremely unlikely to care who it is that is attempting to break in, nor are they likely to try to catch them.

In my experience, “white hats” take on a variety of tinges and shades. Some indeed are as you describe, but some are more as I described it. I think my definition is more encompassing of the many types and was, therefore, more appropriate for the slang quiz.

Perhaps it’s possible to run a honeypot that consists of a single computer, but it’s hard to see how. Generally speaking the honeypot will consist at a minimum of a target (possibly a computer), a specially configured router/switch/bridge, and a second machine which analyzes the traffic flows that are sent from the upstream networking device.

I’ll grant that the target computer in such a setup could be called a “the honeypot computer” but it’s more than just that computer that makes the analysis possible, and that whole system is generally referred to as “the honeypot”.

As for the second item, I continue to think it was a mischaracterization of the goals of a “white hat”. In my experience “white hats” do the following as common tasks:

• Search security infrastructures for known vulnerabilities
• Install honeypots and tripwires to watch for invasion through unknown means
• Test security infrastructures, to see if the results are in line with expectations
• Do basic security research to find possible improvements (fixed bugs, better processes, etc.)

I have never in my life met a “white hat” whose actual job involved attempting to track down the specific individuals behind an attack and “catch” them, or otherwise hold them to justice, but your definition makes it sound like that is the most common task.

As such, we’ll have to agree to disagree, but I wanted to get my objections and proposed clarifications noted someplace near your proposed definitions.

With regard to the origin of “Heebie Jeebies” I would like to point out a source that might escape word smiths, but is quite familiar to the jazz-babies in your audience. Namely, a discography.

Many Dixieland bands and swing orchestras have recorded the tune “Heebie Jeebies” but the earliest recording I have is of the Louis Armstrong Hot Five dixieland group dated 26 February 1926.

Heebie-jeebies was a familiar expression in Nawlins during the 1920’s, lending further credence to the idea that it is NOT an anti-Semitic expression and might have originated in the African-American or Creole communities of New Orleans at the dawn of the Jazz Age.

LOL, Gulliver! (And I’m laughing WITH you AT myself, mind you, because I’ve just been amazed at how many people have called and written to say that they, too, were taught to spell the word with an “n.” It’s fascinating. As they say in academia, “Further investigation is needed.”)

I wrote an email about this before I got to the end of the show and found out there was a discussion forum, but I had associated the vapors with the miasma theory of disease which held that disease was carried by bad smells, vapors, and mist. This was what prompted people to avoid the night air. Of course the association with misty areas producing disease isn’t unreasonable since those would be areas where stagnant water might collect as well.

I’m not sure why it would be more prevalent in the South.

This was all before germ theory came into prevalence.

Kaa said:
WalDalton-Borders & Noble-A-Million

Reminds me of a music course titled “Babrarchtohmsk” which taught about Bach, Brahms, and Bartok in one package.

janus said:
I had associated the vapors with the miasma theory of disease which held that disease was carried by bad smells, vapors, and mist. This was what prompted people to avoid the night air.

janus, that actually makes sense. I had a similar association of vapors with illness; in this case, giddiness. Your comment also makes me think of malaria as coming from “mal” (bad) and “aria” (air) which attempted to explain the cause of this malady originating from bad air around swamps and marshes.

Re: the “retiree” conundrum: how ’bout just saying the simple truth “we’re moving on”? (Sorry if that was no help… [Image Removed by User] )

I, too, was once victim of the “Dilemna Dilemma”, which word I now spell “dilemma”. Victimn no longer! [Image Removed by User] — OK, that was a little too silly. [Image Removed by User]