A Little Of Everything
A few thoughts on some things:
First, I no longer follow professional sports and I haven't for quite a number of years now. Whiny players and whiny owners... put them all in a bag and shake it up and you won't know which one will hop out first! This situation, probably more than others, has given my progressivism and populism a shot in the arm. It just shows, to paraphrase a famous saying, "Money changes people, and lots of money changes people absolutely!" If you're a regular reader, you already know that I am VERY pro-worker, but in the case of whiny pro-athletes, I'm not sure which side is worse, the players or the owners, so I detest both with equal passion. In Cleveland, we don't have many "professional" teams, or at least it seems that way, and I don't go against them, but I just don't pay much attention to them. Of course, someone's got to win, so I'd just as soon it be our own whiny millionaires, as some other town's. And, we need something here to lift the spirits of this beleaguered community. Having said that, I heard this from someone who said they heard it on one of the local sports programs. I kept chuckling for 24 hours, so help me!!! Just so everyone understands, even though I pay little attention to sports here, even I knew that the Cleveland Browns were "supposed" to be pretty good this season. That hasn't happened, and they have (CORRECTLY!) become the butt of jokes in these parts. (Hey, you want millions? Then play and coach like deserving millionaires, not a bunch of dweebs!) Anyhow, and I'm not claiming this is exactly how the story went, but you'll get the gist of it...
A guy parked in a lot so he could do some shopping. He left two Cleveland Browns' tickets on the dashboard. When he came back, he found that the car had been broken into, and now there were FOUR tickets!!!
About the governor of Illinois, Blagojevich, or maybe it should be "Son-of-a vich:" ("Vatt?" "No vich!") Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, so once that's over....FRY HIM!!!
Yesterday I heard on the radio that Census statistics show how devastated some states have been economically since, I believe it said, the year 2000. Try though I have, I couldn't find out where they got the story, but I believe it!!! Come to Ohio, if you don't already live here, and you can see for yourselves. Anyway, the report mentioned how incomes have fallen, and believe me, I know it! If I find the overall Census stats, I'll post them here at some point.
Word History:
Lot (Lottery)-Noun-This goes back to Old Germanic "khlut/khlutom." The word denoted the use of some objects, often times pieces of wood with names on them, which were then put into some container which was then shaken, the first "lot" to fall out (or be drawn out by hand) was used to determine the selection of a person for something, or to give them a share of something; thus we still say, "cast lots." Land was often distributed this way, and this gave us "lot," for a piece of land, as the process transferred its name to the parcel of land. It wasn't until the 1800s that the word also took on the meaning of "many, a large number, or bunch," and this idea may have come from land being distributed in many "lots;" that is, a large number of drawings were held to distribute land. In Old English the word was spelled "hlot," with the "h" obviously becoming silent over time.*** German has "Los" (an eventual sound shift made many "t" sounds in German become "s" sounds; thus, for example, we say "kettle," but they say "Kessel.") which means "lot, portion, share of something, but also a ticket of chance." The word also is used in other Germanic languages, for example, Swedish has "lott."
The word was either borrowed directly into Latin, or via Old French, and eventually gave Italian "lotteria," which eventually came into many of the Germanic languages, including English, as "lottery." Old French had the root word from Frankish, a Germanic language, which gave its name to the French language.
***The Old English verb, meaning "to cast lots," was "hleotan." To "cast your lot with," originally meant to share in the winnings of something.
First, I no longer follow professional sports and I haven't for quite a number of years now. Whiny players and whiny owners... put them all in a bag and shake it up and you won't know which one will hop out first! This situation, probably more than others, has given my progressivism and populism a shot in the arm. It just shows, to paraphrase a famous saying, "Money changes people, and lots of money changes people absolutely!" If you're a regular reader, you already know that I am VERY pro-worker, but in the case of whiny pro-athletes, I'm not sure which side is worse, the players or the owners, so I detest both with equal passion. In Cleveland, we don't have many "professional" teams, or at least it seems that way, and I don't go against them, but I just don't pay much attention to them. Of course, someone's got to win, so I'd just as soon it be our own whiny millionaires, as some other town's. And, we need something here to lift the spirits of this beleaguered community. Having said that, I heard this from someone who said they heard it on one of the local sports programs. I kept chuckling for 24 hours, so help me!!! Just so everyone understands, even though I pay little attention to sports here, even I knew that the Cleveland Browns were "supposed" to be pretty good this season. That hasn't happened, and they have (CORRECTLY!) become the butt of jokes in these parts. (Hey, you want millions? Then play and coach like deserving millionaires, not a bunch of dweebs!) Anyhow, and I'm not claiming this is exactly how the story went, but you'll get the gist of it...
A guy parked in a lot so he could do some shopping. He left two Cleveland Browns' tickets on the dashboard. When he came back, he found that the car had been broken into, and now there were FOUR tickets!!!
About the governor of Illinois, Blagojevich, or maybe it should be "Son-of-a vich:" ("Vatt?" "No vich!") Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, so once that's over....FRY HIM!!!
Yesterday I heard on the radio that Census statistics show how devastated some states have been economically since, I believe it said, the year 2000. Try though I have, I couldn't find out where they got the story, but I believe it!!! Come to Ohio, if you don't already live here, and you can see for yourselves. Anyway, the report mentioned how incomes have fallen, and believe me, I know it! If I find the overall Census stats, I'll post them here at some point.
Word History:
Lot (Lottery)-Noun-This goes back to Old Germanic "khlut/khlutom." The word denoted the use of some objects, often times pieces of wood with names on them, which were then put into some container which was then shaken, the first "lot" to fall out (or be drawn out by hand) was used to determine the selection of a person for something, or to give them a share of something; thus we still say, "cast lots." Land was often distributed this way, and this gave us "lot," for a piece of land, as the process transferred its name to the parcel of land. It wasn't until the 1800s that the word also took on the meaning of "many, a large number, or bunch," and this idea may have come from land being distributed in many "lots;" that is, a large number of drawings were held to distribute land. In Old English the word was spelled "hlot," with the "h" obviously becoming silent over time.*** German has "Los" (an eventual sound shift made many "t" sounds in German become "s" sounds; thus, for example, we say "kettle," but they say "Kessel.") which means "lot, portion, share of something, but also a ticket of chance." The word also is used in other Germanic languages, for example, Swedish has "lott."
The word was either borrowed directly into Latin, or via Old French, and eventually gave Italian "lotteria," which eventually came into many of the Germanic languages, including English, as "lottery." Old French had the root word from Frankish, a Germanic language, which gave its name to the French language.
***The Old English verb, meaning "to cast lots," was "hleotan." To "cast your lot with," originally meant to share in the winnings of something.
Labels: Blagojevich, economy, English, etymology, Germanic languages, Italian, professional sports
posted by Randy at 1:01 PM
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