A Friend in West Virginia, Part Six

My friend's problems showed up very much about his job, as his anger manifested itself in the nasty language he used to describe both his female boss and coworkers (he didn't specify the number of coworkers, or their gender). Now, likely most of us, if not all of us, have criticized bosses and coworkers on any given day, but this was long lasting and deep seated with my friend. The saddest thing of all, it turned out that such animosity was not reciprocated toward him; indeed, it was just the opposite, as when he had some surgery, the boss and coworkers sent a card and gifts to him. He sent me pictures of it all.

Note: In "Part 4," about my friend's few food likes and many food dislikes, I forgot to mention he also very much likes bacon.

WORD HISTORY:
Boss-This word, meaning "a person in charge (usually of employees)," has a shaky history, but English got the word in the New World during the 1600s from Dutch "baas," which meant, "manager, supervisor, master or captain of a ship." The word didn't become more widely used until the 1800s, in American English. The Dutch word came from a previous Dutch "baes," meaning "household manager, master." Exactly where this came from, however, is unknown, although it "could" be a West Germanic invention, as German has "Base" (pronounced "bah-zeh," once spelled "basa"), which is now a bit of an antiquated term for "aunt," also, "female cousin." The German form "might" be the retention of the original meaning, with the idea of females supervising household matters (child rearing, cooking, etc) progressing to the more general "manager," in the other West Germanic languages; of course, it could also be the reverse, where German transformed "manger" into the female relatives meaning. Old English had "bonda," "seemingly" from the same source, as it meant "family or household master." Forms in Low German and Frisian (both had "bas," meaning "manager, supervisor, master") have seemingly died out. "Apparently" there are/were no forms in the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages. The verb form was derived from the noun; thus further giving us the verbal expression, "boss around;" that is, "give lots of orders to someone, use a higher position to lord over others."