Thanks, an interesting lesson, I’ve wondered the same thing sometimes.
What have we repaired recently? The first thing that comes to mind is that recently my amp didn’t amplify my guitar so we looked inside the guitar and a wire had detatched from where it should be..We reattatched it and it’s working now.
stokesjrj1 on
September 8th, 2008 11:05 am
I need to get a new monitor the upper right corner about the size of a golf ball all the pixels have died and the lower left corner in the shape of a quarter moon, the lower right corner in the shape of a white seagull and a spot about 7 inches along the bottom edge with some really strange shapes. Non repairable. Not a very old monitor’ was a nice 24 inch Acer widescreen. don’ clean them with windex, at least sprayed on directly to the surface.
Hello there.
I want you to please find the origin of the word >GingerGingerbread, Gingerman cookie, Ginger bread house, etc.< But this word is also a spice. Please find the origin of this word. I really need to know this word. Thanks so much for helping. Don’t make me ask you again….LOL
*Shorty*
Bradman on
August 12th, 2008 3:03 pm
Hello Marina,
Your show is really enjoyable.
I am interested in the word Right. You can turn right, be right wing, spell something right, draw a right angle, I have rights and I want it right away! Am I right?
Thanks
Brad
pennsyltucky9 replied on August 13th, 2008 2:10 pm:
Right ON!
bquarles0001 on
August 12th, 2008 2:38 pm
i was wondering… Boob is a funny word. where does it come from
sniperskaya on
August 12th, 2008 2:33 pm
Marina, I got my car repaired. If you think a tooth is painful, try the bill from an S class Benz. Still, didn’t hurt as bad as the Jag I used to have. Just trying to be humorous. I know root canals are no fun. Hope you’re feeling better/
funuzi on
August 12th, 2008 2:14 pm
Hi, hotforwords,
I always wanted to no why you use the word “french kiss” when you kiss with your tongue.
Maybe you can help me to solve this problem.
funuzi
fatcat03 on
August 12th, 2008 1:21 pm
hi,
i was just wondering what the origin of bamboo was.
So as for the on-going inquisition, Re: your sister….I was wondering if the above video (Repair) contained a picture of you and your sister…OR…are those just some other random twin pics?!
Capman911 on
August 12th, 2008 12:39 pm
Miss M. her’s a little interesting article about your Toblerone Candy bar.
Yea I know. I’ve been working on other projects and my site is taking longer than I had planned. I just need to clone myself. Too many projects and so little time.
pennsyltucky9 replied on August 13th, 2008 2:08 pm:
Thanks for you input. Buzzword had some great ideas too. So I’ll try to get something put up. Im getting close to starting a new USCG class this Monday so I’ll be a bit slow on this project until I get my students underway so to speak.
leonard on
August 12th, 2008 11:23 am
Inspiration for freedom to mean greed and that needs repairing. Or how about remaing in need of###
milooooo on
August 12th, 2008 10:11 am
how did gay get its slang meaning
smokey36bearreplied on August 12th, 2008 10:26 am:
go up top in the menus and chek out her radio shows to find the answer
jojokerus on
August 12th, 2008 9:59 am
Agonist, antagonist, protagonist. In molecular cell biology there is a lot of talk about an “agonist” or “antagonist” of an activity. But many also talk of “inducers” and “repressors”. Is there any conceptual distinction between “agonist/antagonist” and “inducer/recpressor”?
And if “agonist” is opposite “antagonist”, why do we need a “protagonist”?
jojokerus , wouldn’t this be a question for a molecular cell biologist instead of a philologist?
mittfh replied on August 12th, 2008 12:40 pm:
A protagonist was originally the principal character in a story - the relevant prefix being proto- = first. However, much more recently it was misinterpreted as pro- = in favour of. So antagonist (anti = against) relies on a false etymology.
The biochemical meanings are different again.
Agonist = an ion / atom / molecule / drug that binds to a specific receptor molecule, and elicits some kind of effect.
Antagonist = similar to agonist, but doesn’t have any effect, so ‘blocks’ the receptor.
For a more comprehensive explanation, do as I did - search Wikipedia
Speaking of which, I wonder if Marina’s a Wikipedian (someone who edits / updates Wikipedia pages)…
jojokerus replied on August 12th, 2008 2:20 pm:
Thanks for the input! I will look at Wikipedia with this in mind.
The usage of these words in mol.bio. seems to be interchangable (e.g. agonist = inducer and antagonist = repressor). Clearly, the intent is distinguish between things that either cause or prevent an action “downstream” of their contact with cellular compentents capable of the action.
If in fact the concepts connoted are fully equal I think it would have been better to have stuck to the terms “inducer” and “repressor” since I believe these are closer to common speach in English.
Next question: is “agony” related to “agonist” and “agonist” to “action”?
ednbv on
August 12th, 2008 9:29 am
Could I respectfully request the word “INCREDIBLE” to be used in your next video. This student will be anxiously awaiting the teachers lesson for today. By the way, this student beleives the word INCREDIBLE describes the teacher…….. Have a wonderful day! HUGS!
leonard on
August 12th, 2008 9:23 am
What I got repaired lately was my cars’ gas line. Brainwashed.http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8ehDDk9o CdU&feature=related
Hey Marina… What A TREAT You Are! Recently Repaired?… My Truck, My Computer, My House!!… DON’T ASK!
I messaged you recently and told you that I only just discovered you. A serendipitous event INDEED! Going through your older vids on YouTube… I commented on your LAME/COOL vid (the one in which you were outside… and bumping the table… and shaking the camera! )… and I observed that you were being too “fidgety” That’s my word request! LUV yer stuff… Oh!… and your videos are GREAT too!
I’d like to know about the word “nincompoop”. Where did that word come from? Having submitted this question, I must ***repair*** to my kitchen and construct my patented oatmeal repast. (Raisins and finely chopped canned pears or peaches added to the milk in the pot, bring to a boil and stir in the rolled oats. A little bit of honey and topped with crumbs of toasted sourdough bread crust.)
natwhilk on
August 12th, 2008 7:39 am
May I offer a “repair” to an older lesson?
The “answer” to the “spitting image” game is not quite accurate.
To understand the actual source for that term, you have to understand the dialect of English spoken in the deep south of the United States, such as that spoken in certain parts of Charleston, South Carolina.
If you were to hear a very southern woman say “spirit and image” which would be shortened in everyday conversation to “spirit’n image,” the heavy southern accent sounds just like “spitten image” to a non-southerner. Of course, a northerner would not want to be thought to speak lazily or commonly, so they would add the “g” to what was mistaken as an abbreviation for “spitting”. Thus, they would say “spitting image”.
The fact is, this has nothing whatever to do with “spit”… but the term is derived from a dialectical misunderstanding. It is quite plainly, the southern dialect at work on the old expression “he’s the spirit and image of his father”. In other words, not only does he look like his father (image), he also has the mannerisms (spirit) of his father.
I hope you will not expel me for daring to “repair” the lesson.
Thanks natwhilk
It turns out that “Spirit and Image” is a false etymology that came about years later when people were trying to interpret the phrase. It is true that people in the South were probably saying “Spirit and Image”.. but that is only because they thought that’s what the phrase was, since the word “spit” was no longer in popular use to refer to someone’s double… and I mean double as in what comes out of their mouth.. so someone’s “spit and image” would mean they looked the same and sounded the same. Spirit has a similar connotation to spit.
But the original phrase was “spit and image”.. as it was in use long before “spirit and image”.
Thanks for the feedback though.
natwhilk replied on August 13th, 2008 12:33 pm:
You’re my hero, Marina!
I will study further… was not aware of the “your the spit” expression for “your the double(or twin)” … Thanks for writing back.
I guess what I wrote is still true with respect to the linguistic development of the word “spitting”… which relates only accidentally to the original because it emerges only later after the original term had been lost and confused.
I do wish you could hear someone say it in Charleston, SC — or in the deep south… it’s a beautiful thing… and “the spirit’n” sounds JUST like “the spitten”.
You’re a great teacher and role model!
I curtsy before you,
Nat
metahotforwords on
August 12th, 2008 7:21 am
Here’s another wacky word pairing (not paring) I don’t get. In the old times, when you went to war against your enemy, you would flood their farms with saltwater or find some other way to get salt into their soil, thus rendering the farm land dead for years. Nowadays, though, when you meet someone really really great, she’s described to you as “salt of the earth.” Does that mean she’s poison? With friends like that, who needs salted earth? I don’t get. Can you please do your magic and investigate? I can’t find anything about the history of this phrase. Thanks, and wow what you’ve taught me!
P.S. Like my name? Know what it means?
metahotforwords replied on August 12th, 2008 7:30 am:
I forgot to do my homework. The last time I had something repaired it was a tooth. I had broken two teeth (long story–don’t ask) and had to have their roots removed, so then I had these two holes in my jaw bone. The titanium implants are in now, and I will be getting real porcelain crowns in a few weeks. Well, I guess I haven’t been repaired yet. But I am prepared to be repaird.
salt was once very valuable. people were fighting over it.
metahotforwords replied on August 12th, 2008 7:44 am:
So valuable enough to fight over means really really great person? That’s not how the phrase is used, as far as I can tell.
natwhilk replied on August 12th, 2008 7:54 am:
The source of the “salt of the earth” is from a teaching in the Bible’s New Testament. The expression derives from the church. See Matt. 5:13-14 and Matt. 28:18-20. In one instance Jesus teaches his disciples that they are not to remove themselves from the world, but to add savor to it by fulfilling the commission to “make disciples of all nations”. In the other teaching, like it, he is exhorting the disciples not to hide their “lamp under a bushel”… but, “bring the lamp out, and put it on a table so that all can see it, and by it”. That is a paraphrase from memory (likely imperfect). There is another teaching about a “light on a hill”, but that is not necessarily related. The point is, that a righteous person who is devout in faith need not sequester themselves from general society as many religious orders had done at the time (and still do today). So, rather, they were urged to be “salt and light”. However, the idea of being the “light of the world” commonly became a term reserved for Christ alone. Thus, in the church, people would say about a saint, or a truly devout person who was nonetheless respected and loved by those outside the church “he is the salt of the earth”. It had nothing to do with “earth” as in “soil”. It had to do with the “world” as in “people” and “society”.
I’m sorry to ruin the lesson… Ms Hot for Words is probably way more fun than her admiring student:
Nat (Natalia)
Thanks Billy Boy(?), I didn’t remember that part… I looked up “salt and light” on google… and the reference came up on some random religious site. But, the part about the teaching was a paraphrase from memory… and I was worried I might be mingling something there… although I’m sure of the facts stated e.g. that the notion of “salt of the earth” is nothing to do with soil, et cetera. Yours, Natalia
ha! natalia! good to see another female poster. there are too few of them on here. cool.
buzzword replied on August 12th, 2008 9:06 am:
billy, i’ve used that site before to look up references, useful site. even the devil can quote scripture!
metahotforwords replied on August 12th, 2008 9:23 am:
Thanks, Nat, but I have a hard time relying on “salt and light” as the means of getting to “salt of the earth” simply because “he is the salt” was used to disuss someone not hiding their light under a bushel? Am I supposed to understand that?
I still don’t get it.
natwhilk replied on August 13th, 2008 11:57 am:
Okay Meta-zestos-for-logos, I suppose you boys are not going to get this until I put up my own YouTube video, exposing my own (someone less impressive) cleavage while I explain.
But, I will try it once more, sans boobies:
The simplest way to get it is: “He is the salt of the earth” is like saying “He is a man of the world” and not like saying “He is a man of the soil”. That is the essential distinction. It should be plain now. And that you seem to know a little Greek, I suppose you understand this anyway, but, if you want, I’ll go on (flashing eyes to the corner of the screen):
Okay, your question began by pondering the militant tactic of flooding an enemy field (crops) with salt water — this tactic ruined the soil for farming for a time, causing a disruption in the enemy’s food supplies… and costing them a lot of money. Yes, ’salt-water’ is bad… and before the salt is leached from it, it was completely worthless (owing to its being so plentiful in the earth).
Another poster commented that “salt” was highly valued for most of human history and very costly. Of course this is true. However, I doubt many of you would drive across town to another grocer offering buy-one-get-one-free deals on salt today.
But, alas, it is not “salt” that is the confusing term in your original question. It is the word “earth” that is at the crux. And as everyone knows, sometimes “earth” means “the world” and sometimes it means “the soil”. Well, this I hope is very clear to anyone who speaks English. Therefore, it should also be clear that the expression “he is the salt of the earth” is not synonymous with “he is the salt of the soil” — that would be non-sense, and certainly not an honoring statement.
Rather, it derives from the biblical teaching of Christ to his disciples that they should be as salt is to food when they are in the company of non-religious society. They should add ’savor’ to that company, rather than making themselves a nuisance by behaving self-righteously and pompously, which would only be off-putting. It is a metaphor.
This was a provocative and daring teaching at the time, as many sects of Judaism were trying to out-do each other in piety by becoming more and more weird and separatist — always making a show of their piety and eschewing general society for a sort of separatist life. So, Jesus teaching was profound… “be a flavoring to the world… bring value to the world… be a preserving force… be not completely cut off from society… be the salt of the earth.” In other words, don’t be jerks like the Pharisees.
Like that teaching, he said “let your light shine among men” (”men” meaning ‘all society’ and not just male persons)… and meaning “don’t just reserve your spirituality for God alone, but be a benefit to the world and not just to yourselves (your own religious club)… the metaphor here is that to keep to your selves and be so elitist is like “putting your light under a bushel” — which is no good to anyone.
So, the church has often taught believers to be “salt and light” meaning something they were to do with respect to the society they live in… and this provides all the context you should need for understanding that it has nothing whatever to do with ’soil’… so….
Thank you my fellow-student… now I am ruffling my pleated skirt to show a little leg — though not as long and tan as the teacher’s– and trying to press my somewhat smaller breasts together enough to produce a little cleavage anyway… does that help at all?
Yours, Nat
PS Captain, you put your saltpeter away before we have an explosion here!
no, actually … i just didn’t feel like i should be included in some “you’re not going to get this until blablabla” comment.
natwhilk replied on August 13th, 2008 12:49 pm:
Again, sorry Alex. I meant nothing by it but a little humor… please forgive… I can see now that it might have looked like I was putting men down… I love men… I’ll be more careful from now on!
I’ve always thought Marina was so successful in part because of her ability to keep the attention of her audience… which it seems to me is mostly, ahem, male. So, I was just playin’, that’s all.
natwhilk replied on August 13th, 2008 12:54 pm:
PS Alex, I’m glad not to be the only women here… you’re right… shouldn’t have generalized so much.
buzzword replied on August 13th, 2008 12:55 pm:
that was excellent. do you study theology or are you a well versed christian? cause you stated your point rather well, the sarcasm wasn’t bad either. what the hell is a meta-zestos-for-logos, is that hebrew? as i furrow my brow in a scholarly manner and consider if your a threat to my academic ego. does a furrowed brow count as cleavage?
natwhilk replied on August 13th, 2008 1:22 pm:
Haha, Buzz, I almost fell out of my chair reading about your impressive cleavage brow… you must have a very, very large brain to produce such cleavage!
I do not study theology… I am a Christian (Catholic) and for some reason I have an uncanny memory for things heard. I also love philology and my heroes besides Marina include C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (who were good friends, and both philologists, as you probably know well with your bulging brain).
“Metahotforwords” (somewhere above or below) asked if Marina knew what his name meant… so, I was humoring him with the Greek. Meta is for “beyond”… and so I added the Greek for the rest of it as well: “zestos” for “hot” (where we get the term “Zesty”) and “logos” for “words”. All Greek… just a hobby of mine.
No threat here… just another philo (lover) of logos (words). Everyone should be a philologist in my view, don’t you agree?!! By the way, your name is fabulous. It should be on everyone’s lips.
buzzword replied on August 13th, 2008 1:41 pm:
have you read the screwtape letters? my wife likes c.s. lewis and j.r.r. tolkien as well. she to is catholic. we make an odd couple, i was working on my masters in anthropology when we got married. i visualize our relationship as that popular monkey contemplating a human skull stealing a glance at eve holding out an apple. yeah, i bit into it.
anyway, like aLx said, “good to see another female poster” you mentioned your interest in words, aLx is a good resource, he is studying linguistics in germany.
metahotforwords replied on August 13th, 2008 11:08 pm:
I appreciate your efforts, and I don’t need to see your cleavage nor your legs at all to be convinced by any good explanation or argument. You’re right, Natalia, and I probably would enjoy Marina’s philological exposition more than your biblical diatribe. Your argument for the only etymology (at least the one to which you keep returning) being solely biblical leaves me less convinced than your prior explanation. I have nothing against the bible, however I am convinced that language was used long before its existence and I was looking for a little something outside of a religious context. Sometimes it’s ok to say “we don’t know” and then that would lead me to wonder whether our trusty teacher would enlighten us. Having gone this long, though, and being so full of radioactive baggage like lights and soil and legs and pressed cleavage, well I would be surprised if our trusty teacher didn’t care to enlighten we dear students who wish she would do so.
buzzword replied on August 14th, 2008 6:35 am:
meta, i wouldn’t presume to speak for nat. it is my understanding that many words and phrases in the english vernacular have their origins in popular texts. marina has cited the bible as a source on several occasions. the bible is indeed a popular text and influential in western history and culture. it is a historical document and has been a valuable resource for many scholars in various fields of study. it has been used extensively in history, anthropology, philology and many others.
much of its content can be attributed to a variety of oral traditions most significantly jewish, and thus represents word usage functioning at that time. so indeed you are correct, language was used long before its existence. however, your expectation of finding something outside of a religious context indicates a bias. if the bible offers the earliest documented use of a word or phrase then the bible is cited as the source. sometimes a word or phrase can be traced to a single individual, usually they are traced to a document that represents a common word or phrase already in popular use. the older the text the more valuable it may be, as it may offer the earliest documented usage of a phrase or word.
documents as old as the bible are rare, but luckily its popularity has preserved it. so it is a valuable source for knowledge and access to a ancient culture. my background is anthropology, my theory is evolution. i do not believe jesus was the son of god, nor performed miracles or rose from the dead.
however i am well aware of the wealth of information available in the bible. some very important archaeological discoveries have been facilitated by biblical content. middle eastern cultural studies as well rely on the bible for insight into life in those times. to deny its validity as a resource on the basis of its religious claims is just unscientific.
hope you enjoyed my diatribe.
okay4now replied on August 14th, 2008 7:59 am:
Once, when I was twelve, we picked my girlfriends house to T.P. I decided, along with our extraordinarily advanced TPing methods (dressed in black, silent, really draping a place in toilet paper), to bring along a box of salt and write “I Love You M…” in the grass, then it would burn in and even after they cleaned-up my message would still be there. Romantic, no? When we finished I yelled those words and I’ll never forget her Dad’s car screaming down the street (with toilet paper streaming from the back of it) trying to catch us—he even got out and chased us on foot. Never found-out if the salt did what it was suppose to have done, maybe I’ve been a little disappointed with salt ever since. But I still love my notion of my message in burnt brown dried grass coming through on their perfect lawn…Deny, deny, deny, wink and deny again.
natwhilk replied on August 15th, 2008 1:09 pm:
Well said, Buzzy! You’ve got my vote for class prez, anyway!
PS Ahem, Meta-biblical-phobe, you might look into your religious, ah, “issues”. Can you really sanitize history from religion just because it (seems) to offend you?
PPS I simply gave you a history of the phrase “salt of the earth”. If you wish to think of it as being derivative of the field-sabotaging in warfare described above, be my guest… perhaps you should consider applying Ockam’s razor…. Regardless, I enjoy our exchanges and thank you for your provocative questions… next time, I promise to let our esteemed teacher do the investigation though — I am also more than assured no one is here (even partly) to see anything sexy… so, I’ll pipe down on that too — you are so cerebral! Thank you might delightful classmates, Nat
BillyB replied on August 17th, 2008 1:33 am:
Hey natwhilk, don’t pipe down… Me being somewhat of a one finger typist, try desparately to keep up to my brain in the communication department, but I do learn a lot from the folks that post here. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us & aLx may or may not agree. (on the us bit). You may or may not have understood me on the salt water thing… I have no Idea if someone flooded their fields with salt water, but the salt in the water would have been the agent that would render the soil sterile… enough a’ that.
True, I know Jesus was speaking to the disciples about the world & their responsibility to it, so please don’t temper your attitude with a lid.
I have offended folks with my posts here on the site before & been quite shocked at what can offend people… I posted a phobia link to someone that I didn’t know had a severe phobia about something & got their back, up about it. Whew.
“Religion|” the word itself scares me, unless you have context. I like James1: “26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (What you said kinda’)
I grew up attending a small church, so I know (head knowledge) a lot of stuff. I’m 50 now & seems just starting to learn to apply a little of that knowledge, but must confess I am much less sure of success now than I was at 30yrs.
I don’t think I’m ‘worth my salt’ in making any comment here. I’m just an old ’salty’ dog. I might get salt in my wounds if I mention ’saltpeter’ was used on sailors back in the day. Saltpeter isn’t even salt. I hope I getting all ’salty’ on you doesn’t get you upset.
Funny! I always tell people don’t believe a word I say until you researched my facts. Good Job Foxbow!
I know you know this but this is for the benefit for the students that might not know.
Potassium nitrate is the oxidizing component of black powder. Potassium nitrate can cause gastroenteritis (violent stomachache), high blood pressure, anemia, kidney disease, and general weakness and torpor. It also has an alarmingly depressive effect on the heart. Too strong a dose and not only would you not be able to get it up, chances are you wouldn’t be able to get up, period.
Sodium nitrate, also called salt peter, shares many applications with potassium nitrate. Both can be used to manufacture nitric acid, to propel model rockets, and to increase the shelf life of meats and other foods. Sodium nitrate is also used to manufacture glass and enamel. Like potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate may increase one’s likelihood of developing cancer, but it also occurs naturally in leafy green vegetables and may have some health benefits. Salt is a dietary mineral essential for animal life, composed primarily of sodium chloride. Chloride and sodium ions, the two major components of salt, are necessary for the survival of all known living creatures, including humans. Salt is involved in regulating the water content (fluid balance) of the body.
So when I say its not salt, what I meant its not ‘table salt’ as what most people refer to when they hear the term ‘Salt’.
BillyB replied on August 12th, 2008 9:06 pm:
Hi metahotforwords, as aLx said salt was very valuable… the properties of salt make it useful, no nessesary, for survival. It has many good uses & the planet (earth) would be baron without it’s essetial qualities, the poisoning of the earth (ground) you mention was just one of the methods of warfare, using a good thing (salt) in a way to protect one’s right to the land. Remember Sadam (madass spelled backwards) sabbatoging the oil wells. He wrecked the place with the oil wells that were at one time the very thing he sought…greed
So “salt of the earth’” is a compliment, honourable, a person of great value…in many ways.
If your name means what I think it does, I’m jealous. ‘nuf said.
natwhilk replied on August 13th, 2008 12:15 pm:
Okay Billyboy and Metazestos, I already said it above, but they didn’t flood the fields with “salt” did they? Wasn’t it with “saltwater”? One, was very valuable way back when; the other, perhaps the most common thing on earth (and thus not very valuable).
Anyway, the key to the original question isn’t the context of the term “salt” but rather the context of the word “earth”… perhaps the most famous prayer in the world says “in earth as it is in heaven” … which is probably not suggesting that something be put into the soil… isn’t it more likely saying that human society ought to be like heavenly society… peaceful, loving, orderly and good? Don’t you suppose?
Nat
pennsyltucky9 replied on August 13th, 2008 1:39 pm:
In ancient times, when this phrase was coined, salt was an absolutely indispensable commodity. Not only is it a “necessary nutrient,” for humans and livestock, much food was preserved using salt as well.
It is critical to to your survival to replace the salt in your system that gets lost daily through the sweat glands, especially if you have to work hard in hot climate areas. And most people did, if they wanted to store enough grain, put up enough dried meat, etc. to survive the following winter.
I think it’s also important to recognize just how rare a usable supply of salt from naturally-occurring salt sources was, when you live farther inland than just a couple days walk from the sea. Salt simply dissolves into water solution when it rains, so it doesn’t exist on the surface of the planet anywhere that rains can wash it down to the sea (except in collection basins like the Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA, which are very rare: why do you syppose the Mormons settled there in the first place?).
Underground salt sources (often known as salt domes) left over from the drying out of ancient seabeds wouldn’t remain in place long unless they had been covered by impermeable rock layers (those which water can’t penetrate) that necessitate hard-rock mining (impossible prior to the advent of advanced metallurgy: copper, tin, or bronze tools were useless for this). Otherwise, if covered by porous rock layers like sandstone, it would have long since dissolved into the groundwater and once again irretrievably lost and sent to the sea. So typically there wasn’t ANY salt to be found in the uplands of the continental interiors unless you could get it by trading with people from the coast.
Now take a look at the size of the Eurasian continental mass. Imagine how many people lived in those massive landlocked areas where no access to sea salt could be had without trading for it. If you were a subsistence farmer living, say, in on the steppes of eastern Europe, or the Mongolian plateau, and the coastal traders/travelers who happened by your area once a year took a different route or were waylaid or beset by a natural disaster, you were plumb out of luck as far as your annual salt supply and so you had better not sweat for a year or your metabolism would rebel and you would be in seriously deep doo-doo!
Today, we probably get more than enough salt from the traces added into processed food recipes. Eating a quarter pounder with cheese and a large fries at McDonald’s almost makes me sick with all its saltiness, unless I’ve been out backpacking in the desert for a week or something like that (I normally don’t salt my food, and I sweat a lot in hot weather). So we in the modern day tend to take salt for granted because there is such plentiful access to giant underground salt mines and coastal evaporation ponds with all our sophisticated mining and collection technologies, and so it’s fairly cheap now. But it wasn’t always this way. Just 100 years ago, it was common to hear the expression, “Any man worth his salt…..” i.e, anybody whose value as a human was greater than the value of the trace amounts of salt left after we boil down his body and scrape off the salt crystals left over.
tryant on
August 12th, 2008 6:46 am
With the recent fighting between Russia and Georgia(sounds like it’s over now)I thought,maybe,Our esteemed Professor might do the word “confrontation” if it was requested,wich I think I just did. TY Marina.
tryant
aeonxavier on
August 12th, 2008 4:59 am
hy there ! i was wondering ….what exactly meant “strong wash” in the old days ..i couldn’t find it to save my life in the dictionaries…. i was reading a book and the word “strong wash” was an ingredient ,part of a sorcer’s recepy and i was intrigated that, i could not understand what was he using !i would appreciate it if u could shed some light of what this substance really was ….thank you! by the way!i like your videos ;)nice job !:) keep it up !
tryant replied on August 12th, 2008 6:54 am:
Hmmm,I’m no Sorcerer nor an Alchemist but,I would venture a *guess*,,again,stress the word *”guess”*.
Could “strong wash” be some form of acidic solution? Lye? Lime? I really dunno the answer but the question I liked.
tryant
pennsyltucky9 replied on August 12th, 2008 9:34 am:
That’s probably right.
aeonxavier replied on August 12th, 2008 12:11 pm:
see ..i thought so too ..but i really want to know what is the true meaning of it !:) ….if anybody want to help …feel free!thx
tryant replied on August 12th, 2008 8:20 pm:
If You don’t get the deffinate answer You seek aeonxavier,maybe try contacting a Wiccan group or maybe a Pagan group,I believe there are several on the net. Many of the Folks on those groups are kind and intelligent,also,They study the old ways.Never know,might work.
tryant
tommaralem1987 on
August 12th, 2008 4:28 am
About Germanic languages. The Aryans settled in the Indus valley in India, so naturally they brought along the language. If you analyze the root words of the words we use today, they have Indo-European roots that come from that shared language of the Indians and the Germanic Aryan immigrants to the Indus Valley. Sanskrit I believe developed from that interaction. Look for parallels in pronounciation in English and Hindi.
pennsyltucky9 replied on August 12th, 2008 11:03 am:
I think the Aryans were Persian, not Germanic.
ragabashmoon on
August 12th, 2008 3:04 am
I recently repaired my copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. It seems that the Xbox 360 version is compressed, and if you play other games that use the hard drive cache, then play GTA IV, GTA IV fills up the rest of the cache, and unable to delete the files from the other game, the Xbox 360 cries “DISC IS UNREADABLE” since it cannot decompress the files. So, it seems due to a flaw in the Xbox 360 not clearing it’s damn cache properly, I need to go to the “memory” tab and hit Y X LB RB X before I play GTA IV every time I play another game.
Makes me wonder if it’s possible for Microsoft to patch that flaw, or if it’s a hardware issue.
ragabashmoon replied on August 12th, 2008 3:07 am:
Oh, and on that note, if you are like me and have the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV, and get the constant errors, it’s not Rockstar’s fault, it’s your 360 not clearing the cache properly. So you need to go to the system —> Memory tab, and enter “drive options” then put in the little code, X left bumper, right bumper, X to clear your cache. Also, you will have to redownload patches for games (but not extra content) which is no big deal, just can be scary if you don’t know it’s going to happen.
EARTH in all its (Germanic states)
Guys, maybe you know that there are right now 7 official Germanic languages + 2 dead but very old and precious ones = 9 different forms for EARTH :
Gothic : AIRÞA
English : EARTH < old English EORÐE < old Saxon ERÞA
German : Erde < old German ERDA
DUTCH : AARDE
VIKING : JÒRð
Icelandic : JÖRð
Norvegian : JORD
Danish : JORD
Swedish : JORD
Q: What’s the difference between a drummer and a savings bond?
A: Eventually, the savings bond will mature and earn money
geronimo on
August 11th, 2008 10:30 pm
I just had my new Ford F-150 fixed some electrical problems and the other day I looked out my living room window and it was totally on fire. It burned to the ground, so nice repair mechanic guys! Thanks! Anyways regarding Marina flipping us all off at 15 sec in the vid, here is a great bird flipping vid.
I was just watching the olympics and heard them talking about the US men’s gymnastics team being underdogs. That got me thinking - where did the term “underdog” come from? Would you investigate?
smokey36bearreplied on August 11th, 2008 11:30 pm:
tommaralem1987 replied on August 12th, 2008 4:34 am:
Hello:
You don’t know? Dog fighting! I assume people would place bets on the dogs. The one with little chance to win would be placed at the “bottom” of the ‘betting pool’ or would be on the bottom of the list, if they wrote one.
Keep well
Can there also be this?
A pair is a unit of two..
To then split the unit up would be to un-pair them.
Now there are two separate units.
To re-unit-e them or to re-pair them,
To put back together ?
A word just came to me , INSANE, should it not be UNSANE?
tommaralem1987 replied on August 12th, 2008 4:41 am:
Hello:
The reasoning doesn’t hold. Pair means two of the same. If I break a grass trimmer, I will have the handle and the cutting ‘head.’ Do I have two of the same thing? Ex: “A pair of sneakers”
roadrunrnch replied on August 12th, 2008 11:51 am:
what?
Two of the same thing, This is not the
same as cut one thing in half.
Your glass trimmer is one thing.
Breaking it in half you now have one
thing in two pieces, not a pair.
Take two trimmers ( a pair ) and break them ,
Now you have a pair of heads and a pair of handles
Q: What do you call a beautiful woman on a drummer’s arm?
A: A tattoo.
tommaralem1987 replied on August 12th, 2008 11:19 am:
We call it a pair of pants because we look at pant as being defined as the covering of only one leg. The original word was Pantaloon, and it considered covering of both legs when defined. So say Pant. I put on a pant not a pair of pants.
Saying things like Glasses is correct because it is two individual lenses that are in use.
Another example of this type of stupidity is saying Binoculars. Bi is the Latin for 2. So it’s 2 nocular. Ergo I’m looking through a binocular, not binoculars.
Another: Akbar the great. Akbar in Arabic means great. So youre calling him great the great? Redundant!
roadrunrnch replied on August 12th, 2008 11:39 am:
Recently I had to have my car repaired. After hitting something on the road my tire blew out. When I took it in to get the tire replaced, the mechanics found that what ever I hit cause more damage to the front of my car than I originally thought. So I had to take it to my regular mechanic to get the necessary repairs.
groz422 on
August 11th, 2008 8:28 pm
In rememberance of isaac Hayes, can you please fine out where Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic came from.
danielpool52 replied on August 11th, 2008 9:09 pm:
god bless isaac hayes he did welcome home isaac
geronimo replied on August 12th, 2008 8:40 am:
Actually I believe it was L. Ron Hubbard who welcomed him home.
roadrunrnch replied on August 11th, 2008 9:20 pm:
Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic
overstimulated divided symbol with a secondary consequence in a hallucinatory vessel or just gibberish?
pennsyltucky9 on
August 11th, 2008 8:27 pm
I just had the car in the shop for a timing belt replacement. As far as my health is concerned, I don’t ever have to worry about it again. I’m dead already!
Thanks, an interesting lesson, I’ve wondered the same thing sometimes.
What have we repaired recently? The first thing that comes to mind is that recently my amp didn’t amplify my guitar so we looked inside the guitar and a wire had detatched from where it should be..We reattatched it and it’s working now.
I need to get a new monitor the upper right corner about the size of a golf ball all the pixels have died and the lower left corner in the shape of a quarter moon, the lower right corner in the shape of a white seagull and a spot about 7 inches along the bottom edge with some really strange shapes. Non repairable. Not a very old monitor’ was a nice 24 inch Acer widescreen. don’ clean them with windex, at least sprayed on directly to the surface.
currently repairing two broken ribs
Mountain Lions native of the americas
Interesting report on repair. Hope your tooth feels better
bill/`elliott
Hello Marina,
re ( + ) pair = fix, what about; re ( + ) peat = say/do it again but peat = vegetable matter
I learned that it’s better to take, whatever it is, to the professionals and pay up.
I just had my roof repaired. The recent severe weather in the Midwest didn’t like my old roof and removed it.
Начала слова KGB ????
Hello there.
I want you to please find the origin of the word >GingerGingerbread, Gingerman cookie, Ginger bread house, etc.< But this word is also a spice. Please find the origin of this word. I really need to know this word. Thanks so much for helping. Don’t make me ask you again….LOL
*Shorty*
Hello Marina,
Your show is really enjoyable.
I am interested in the word Right. You can turn right, be right wing, spell something right, draw a right angle, I have rights and I want it right away! Am I right?
Thanks
Brad
Right ON!
i was wondering… Boob is a funny word. where does it come from
Marina, I got my car repaired. If you think a tooth is painful, try the bill from an S class Benz. Still, didn’t hurt as bad as the Jag I used to have. Just trying to be humorous. I know root canals are no fun. Hope you’re feeling better/
Hi, hotforwords,
I always wanted to no why you use the word “french kiss” when you kiss with your tongue.
Maybe you can help me to solve this problem.
funuzi
hi,
i was just wondering what the origin of bamboo was.
Marina:
So as for the on-going inquisition, Re: your sister….I was wondering if the above video (Repair) contained a picture of you and your sister…OR…are those just some other random twin pics?!
Miss M. her’s a little interesting article about your Toblerone Candy bar.
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/13/hidden-bear-i n-toble.html
Also.
http://fosta.typepad.com/sleepinginmyhead/2007/09/ tobler-oh-yeah.html
hidden images…. .neat - http://snarfd.com/2007/11/28/the-bizarre-obscene-a nd-disturbing-hidden-images-in-leonardo-da-vincis- sacred-art/
These hidden images are cool: http://www.planetperplex.com/en/subliminal_message .html
I don’t get things repaired, I’m usually the one that has to repair things.
I hear you there!!!
If you and Marina need any help fixing something with the site that you don’t understand, I wouldn’t mind helping out.
btw, your running out of time: “Captain Jack WS is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. Please try back in 15 days as of July 29th.”
Yea I know. I’ve been working on other projects and my site is taking longer than I had planned.
I just need to clone myself. Too many projects and so little time. 
I like the games idea, Captain sir. Carry on.
Thanks for you input. Buzzword had some great ideas too. So I’ll try to get something put up. Im getting close to starting a new USCG class this Monday so I’ll be a bit slow on this project until I get my students underway so to speak.
Inspiration for freedom to mean greed and that needs repairing.
Or how about remaing in need of### 
how did gay get its slang meaning
go up top in the menus and chek out her radio shows to find the answer
Agonist, antagonist, protagonist. In molecular cell biology there is a lot of talk about an “agonist” or “antagonist” of an activity. But many also talk of “inducers” and “repressors”. Is there any conceptual distinction between “agonist/antagonist” and “inducer/recpressor”?
And if “agonist” is opposite “antagonist”, why do we need a “protagonist”?
jojokerus , wouldn’t this be a question for a molecular cell biologist instead of a philologist?
A protagonist was originally the principal character in a story - the relevant prefix being proto- = first. However, much more recently it was misinterpreted as pro- = in favour of. So antagonist (anti = against) relies on a false etymology.
The biochemical meanings are different again.
Agonist = an ion / atom / molecule / drug that binds to a specific receptor molecule, and elicits some kind of effect.
Antagonist = similar to agonist, but doesn’t have any effect, so ‘blocks’ the receptor.
For a more comprehensive explanation, do as I did - search Wikipedia
Speaking of which, I wonder if Marina’s a Wikipedian (someone who edits / updates Wikipedia pages)…
Thanks for the input! I will look at Wikipedia with this in mind.
The usage of these words in mol.bio. seems to be interchangable (e.g. agonist = inducer and antagonist = repressor). Clearly, the intent is distinguish between things that either cause or prevent an action “downstream” of their contact with cellular compentents capable of the action.
If in fact the concepts connoted are fully equal I think it would have been better to have stuck to the terms “inducer” and “repressor” since I believe these are closer to common speach in English.
Next question: is “agony” related to “agonist” and “agonist” to “action”?
Could I respectfully request the word “INCREDIBLE” to be used in your next video. This student will be anxiously awaiting the teachers lesson for today. By the way, this student beleives the word INCREDIBLE describes the teacher…….. Have a wonderful day! HUGS!
What I got repaired lately was my cars’ gas line. Brainwashed.http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8ehDDk9o CdU&feature=related
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8ehDDk9oCdU&feature= related
Hey Marina… What A TREAT You Are!
Recently Repaired?… My Truck, My Computer, My House!!… DON’T ASK! 
I messaged you recently and told you that I only just discovered you. A serendipitous event INDEED!
Going through your older vids on YouTube… I commented on your LAME/COOL vid (the one in which you were outside… and bumping the table… and shaking the camera! 
)… and I observed that you were being too “fidgety” 
That’s my word request! LUV yer stuff… 
Oh!… and your videos are GREAT too! 
no repairs lately just recharge of my laptop. don’t use it so its back to shelf for it.
whre did porn come from
I’d like to know about the word “nincompoop”. Where did that word come from? Having submitted this question, I must ***repair*** to my kitchen and construct my patented oatmeal repast. (Raisins and finely chopped canned pears or peaches added to the milk in the pot, bring to a boil and stir in the rolled oats. A little bit of honey and topped with crumbs of toasted sourdough bread crust.)
May I offer a “repair” to an older lesson?
The “answer” to the “spitting image” game is not quite accurate.
To understand the actual source for that term, you have to understand the dialect of English spoken in the deep south of the United States, such as that spoken in certain parts of Charleston, South Carolina.
If you were to hear a very southern woman say “spirit and image” which would be shortened in everyday conversation to “spirit’n image,” the heavy southern accent sounds just like “spitten image” to a non-southerner. Of course, a northerner would not want to be thought to speak lazily or commonly, so they would add the “g” to what was mistaken as an abbreviation for “spitting”. Thus, they would say “spitting image”.
The fact is, this has nothing whatever to do with “spit”… but the term is derived from a dialectical misunderstanding. It is quite plainly, the southern dialect at work on the old expression “he’s the spirit and image of his father”. In other words, not only does he look like his father (image), he also has the mannerisms (spirit) of his father.
I hope you will not expel me for daring to “repair” the lesson.
Your diligent, and admiring student,
Nat Whilk
Thanks natwhilk
It turns out that “Spirit and Image” is a false etymology that came about years later when people were trying to interpret the phrase. It is true that people in the South were probably saying “Spirit and Image”.. but that is only because they thought that’s what the phrase was, since the word “spit” was no longer in popular use to refer to someone’s double… and I mean double as in what comes out of their mouth.. so someone’s “spit and image” would mean they looked the same and sounded the same. Spirit has a similar connotation to spit.
But the original phrase was “spit and image”.. as it was in use long before “spirit and image”.
Thanks for the feedback though.
You’re my hero, Marina!
I will study further… was not aware of the “your the spit” expression for “your the double(or twin)” … Thanks for writing back.
I guess what I wrote is still true with respect to the linguistic development of the word “spitting”… which relates only accidentally to the original because it emerges only later after the original term had been lost and confused.
I do wish you could hear someone say it in Charleston, SC — or in the deep south… it’s a beautiful thing… and “the spirit’n” sounds JUST like “the spitten”.
You’re a great teacher and role model!
I curtsy before you,
Nat
Here’s another wacky word pairing (not paring) I don’t get. In the old times, when you went to war against your enemy, you would flood their farms with saltwater or find some other way to get salt into their soil, thus rendering the farm land dead for years. Nowadays, though, when you meet someone really really great, she’s described to you as “salt of the earth.” Does that mean she’s poison? With friends like that, who needs salted earth? I don’t get. Can you please do your magic and investigate? I can’t find anything about the history of this phrase. Thanks, and wow what you’ve taught me!
P.S. Like my name? Know what it means?
I forgot to do my homework. The last time I had something repaired it was a tooth. I had broken two teeth (long story–don’t ask) and had to have their roots removed, so then I had these two holes in my jaw bone. The titanium implants are in now, and I will be getting real porcelain crowns in a few weeks. Well, I guess I haven’t been repaired yet. But I am prepared to be repaird.
salt was once very valuable. people were fighting over it.
So valuable enough to fight over means really really great person? That’s not how the phrase is used, as far as I can tell.
The source of the “salt of the earth” is from a teaching in the Bible’s New Testament. The expression derives from the church. See Matt. 5:13-14 and Matt. 28:18-20. In one instance Jesus teaches his disciples that they are not to remove themselves from the world, but to add savor to it by fulfilling the commission to “make disciples of all nations”. In the other teaching, like it, he is exhorting the disciples not to hide their “lamp under a bushel”… but, “bring the lamp out, and put it on a table so that all can see it, and by it”. That is a paraphrase from memory (likely imperfect). There is another teaching about a “light on a hill”, but that is not necessarily related. The point is, that a righteous person who is devout in faith need not sequester themselves from general society as many religious orders had done at the time (and still do today). So, rather, they were urged to be “salt and light”. However, the idea of being the “light of the world” commonly became a term reserved for Christ alone. Thus, in the church, people would say about a saint, or a truly devout person who was nonetheless respected and loved by those outside the church “he is the salt of the earth”. It had nothing to do with “earth” as in “soil”. It had to do with the “world” as in “people” and “society”.
I’m sorry to ruin the lesson… Ms Hot for Words is probably way more fun than her admiring student:
Nat (Natalia)
Thanks Billy Boy(?), I didn’t remember that part… I looked up “salt and light” on google… and the reference came up on some random religious site. But, the part about the teaching was a paraphrase from memory… and I was worried I might be mingling something there… although I’m sure of the facts stated e.g. that the notion of “salt of the earth” is nothing to do with soil, et cetera. Yours, Natalia
ha! natalia! good to see another female poster. there are too few of them on here. cool.
billy, i’ve used that site before to look up references, useful site. even the devil can quote scripture!
Thanks, Nat, but I have a hard time relying on “salt and light” as the means of getting to “salt of the earth” simply because “he is the salt” was used to disuss someone not hiding their light under a bushel? Am I supposed to understand that?
I still don’t get it.
Okay Meta-zestos-for-logos, I suppose you boys are not going to get this until I put up my own YouTube video, exposing my own (someone less impressive) cleavage while I explain.
But, I will try it once more, sans boobies:
The simplest way to get it is: “He is the salt of the earth” is like saying “He is a man of the world” and not like saying “He is a man of the soil”. That is the essential distinction. It should be plain now. And that you seem to know a little Greek, I suppose you understand this anyway, but, if you want, I’ll go on (flashing eyes to the corner of the screen):
Okay, your question began by pondering the militant tactic of flooding an enemy field (crops) with salt water — this tactic ruined the soil for farming for a time, causing a disruption in the enemy’s food supplies… and costing them a lot of money. Yes, ’salt-water’ is bad… and before the salt is leached from it, it was completely worthless (owing to its being so plentiful in the earth).
Another poster commented that “salt” was highly valued for most of human history and very costly. Of course this is true. However, I doubt many of you would drive across town to another grocer offering buy-one-get-one-free deals on salt today.
But, alas, it is not “salt” that is the confusing term in your original question. It is the word “earth” that is at the crux. And as everyone knows, sometimes “earth” means “the world” and sometimes it means “the soil”. Well, this I hope is very clear to anyone who speaks English. Therefore, it should also be clear that the expression “he is the salt of the earth” is not synonymous with “he is the salt of the soil” — that would be non-sense, and certainly not an honoring statement.
Rather, it derives from the biblical teaching of Christ to his disciples that they should be as salt is to food when they are in the company of non-religious society. They should add ’savor’ to that company, rather than making themselves a nuisance by behaving self-righteously and pompously, which would only be off-putting. It is a metaphor.
This was a provocative and daring teaching at the time, as many sects of Judaism were trying to out-do each other in piety by becoming more and more weird and separatist — always making a show of their piety and eschewing general society for a sort of separatist life. So, Jesus teaching was profound… “be a flavoring to the world… bring value to the world… be a preserving force… be not completely cut off from society… be the salt of the earth.” In other words, don’t be jerks like the Pharisees.
Like that teaching, he said “let your light shine among men” (”men” meaning ‘all society’ and not just male persons)… and meaning “don’t just reserve your spirituality for God alone, but be a benefit to the world and not just to yourselves (your own religious club)… the metaphor here is that to keep to your selves and be so elitist is like “putting your light under a bushel” — which is no good to anyone.
So, the church has often taught believers to be “salt and light” meaning something they were to do with respect to the society they live in… and this provides all the context you should need for understanding that it has nothing whatever to do with ’soil’… so….
Thank you my fellow-student… now I am ruffling my pleated skirt to show a little leg — though not as long and tan as the teacher’s– and trying to press my somewhat smaller breasts together enough to produce a little cleavage anyway… does that help at all?
Yours, Nat
PS Captain, you put your saltpeter away before we have an explosion here!
“you boys” … ? what the … ?
“you MEN!” is what I should have said… ooops… is that better? Sorry, my-b, no offense intended, Alex. Truly, Nat
“you men” … ? what the … ?
no, actually … i just didn’t feel like i should be included in some “you’re not going to get this until blablabla” comment.
Again, sorry Alex. I meant nothing by it but a little humor… please forgive… I can see now that it might have looked like I was putting men down… I love men… I’ll be more careful from now on!
I’ve always thought Marina was so successful in part because of her ability to keep the attention of her audience… which it seems to me is mostly, ahem, male. So, I was just playin’, that’s all.
PS Alex, I’m glad not to be the only women here… you’re right… shouldn’t have generalized so much.
that was excellent. do you study theology or are you a well versed christian? cause you stated your point rather well, the sarcasm wasn’t bad either. what the hell is a meta-zestos-for-logos, is that hebrew? as i furrow my brow in a scholarly manner and consider if your a threat to my academic ego. does a furrowed brow count as cleavage?
Haha, Buzz, I almost fell out of my chair reading about your impressive cleavage brow… you must have a very, very large brain to produce such cleavage!
I do not study theology… I am a Christian (Catholic) and for some reason I have an uncanny memory for things heard. I also love philology and my heroes besides Marina include C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (who were good friends, and both philologists, as you probably know well with your bulging brain).
“Metahotforwords” (somewhere above or below) asked if Marina knew what his name meant… so, I was humoring him with the Greek. Meta is for “beyond”… and so I added the Greek for the rest of it as well: “zestos” for “hot” (where we get the term “Zesty”) and “logos” for “words”. All Greek… just a hobby of mine.
No threat here… just another philo (lover) of logos (words). Everyone should be a philologist in my view, don’t you agree?!! By the way, your name is fabulous. It should be on everyone’s lips.
have you read the screwtape letters? my wife likes c.s. lewis and j.r.r. tolkien as well. she to is catholic. we make an odd couple, i was working on my masters in anthropology when we got married. i visualize our relationship as that popular monkey contemplating a human skull stealing a glance at eve holding out an apple. yeah, i bit into it.
anyway, like aLx said, “good to see another female poster” you mentioned your interest in words, aLx is a good resource, he is studying linguistics in germany.
I appreciate your efforts, and I don’t need to see your cleavage nor your legs at all to be convinced by any good explanation or argument. You’re right, Natalia, and I probably would enjoy Marina’s philological exposition more than your biblical diatribe. Your argument for the only etymology (at least the one to which you keep returning) being solely biblical leaves me less convinced than your prior explanation. I have nothing against the bible, however I am convinced that language was used long before its existence and I was looking for a little something outside of a religious context. Sometimes it’s ok to say “we don’t know” and then that would lead me to wonder whether our trusty teacher would enlighten us. Having gone this long, though, and being so full of radioactive baggage like lights and soil and legs and pressed cleavage, well I would be surprised if our trusty teacher didn’t care to enlighten we dear students who wish she would do so.
meta, i wouldn’t presume to speak for nat. it is my understanding that many words and phrases in the english vernacular have their origins in popular texts. marina has cited the bible as a source on several occasions. the bible is indeed a popular text and influential in western history and culture. it is a historical document and has been a valuable resource for many scholars in various fields of study. it has been used extensively in history, anthropology, philology and many others.
much of its content can be attributed to a variety of oral traditions most significantly jewish, and thus represents word usage functioning at that time. so indeed you are correct, language was used long before its existence. however, your expectation of finding something outside of a religious context indicates a bias. if the bible offers the earliest documented use of a word or phrase then the bible is cited as the source. sometimes a word or phrase can be traced to a single individual, usually they are traced to a document that represents a common word or phrase already in popular use. the older the text the more valuable it may be, as it may offer the earliest documented usage of a phrase or word.
documents as old as the bible are rare, but luckily its popularity has preserved it. so it is a valuable source for knowledge and access to a ancient culture. my background is anthropology, my theory is evolution. i do not believe jesus was the son of god, nor performed miracles or rose from the dead.
however i am well aware of the wealth of information available in the bible. some very important archaeological discoveries have been facilitated by biblical content. middle eastern cultural studies as well rely on the bible for insight into life in those times. to deny its validity as a resource on the basis of its religious claims is just unscientific.
hope you enjoyed my diatribe.
Once, when I was twelve, we picked my girlfriends house to T.P. I decided, along with our extraordinarily advanced TPing methods (dressed in black, silent, really draping a place in toilet paper), to bring along a box of salt and write “I Love You M…” in the grass, then it would burn in and even after they cleaned-up my message would still be there. Romantic, no? When we finished I yelled those words and I’ll never forget her Dad’s car screaming down the street (with toilet paper streaming from the back of it) trying to catch us—he even got out and chased us on foot. Never found-out if the salt did what it was suppose to have done, maybe I’ve been a little disappointed with salt ever since. But I still love my notion of my message in burnt brown dried grass coming through on their perfect lawn…Deny, deny, deny, wink and deny again.
Well said, Buzzy! You’ve got my vote for class prez, anyway!
PS Ahem, Meta-biblical-phobe, you might look into your religious, ah, “issues”. Can you really sanitize history from religion just because it (seems) to offend you?
PPS I simply gave you a history of the phrase “salt of the earth”. If you wish to think of it as being derivative of the field-sabotaging in warfare described above, be my guest… perhaps you should consider applying Ockam’s razor…. Regardless, I enjoy our exchanges and thank you for your provocative questions… next time, I promise to let our esteemed teacher do the investigation though — I am also more than assured no one is here (even partly) to see anything sexy… so, I’ll pipe down on that too — you are so cerebral! Thank you might delightful classmates, Nat
Hey natwhilk, don’t pipe down… Me being somewhat of a one finger typist, try desparately to keep up to my brain in the communication department, but I do learn a lot from the folks that post here. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us & aLx may or may not agree. (on the us bit). You may or may not have understood me on the salt water thing… I have no Idea if someone flooded their fields with salt water, but the salt in the water would have been the agent that would render the soil sterile… enough a’ that.
True, I know Jesus was speaking to the disciples about the world & their responsibility to it, so please don’t temper your attitude with a lid.
I have offended folks with my posts here on the site before & been quite shocked at what can offend people… I posted a phobia link to someone that I didn’t know had a severe phobia about something & got their back, up about it. Whew.
“Religion|” the word itself scares me, unless you have context. I like James1: “26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (What you said kinda’)
I grew up attending a small church, so I know (head knowledge) a lot of stuff. I’m 50 now & seems just starting to learn to apply a little of that knowledge, but must confess I am much less sure of success now than I was at 30yrs.
I don’t think I’m ‘worth my salt’ in making any comment here. I’m just an old ’salty’ dog. I might get salt in my wounds if I mention ’saltpeter’ was used on sailors back in the day. Saltpeter isn’t even salt. I hope I getting all ’salty’ on you doesn’t get you upset.
you man.. salpeter.. kno3 =potasium nitrate… that’s a salt..
oh it’s saltpeter in english..
Funny! I always tell people don’t believe a word I say until you researched my facts. Good Job Foxbow!
I know you know this but this is for the benefit for the students that might not know.
Potassium nitrate is the oxidizing component of black powder. Potassium nitrate can cause gastroenteritis (violent stomachache), high blood pressure, anemia, kidney disease, and general weakness and torpor. It also has an alarmingly depressive effect on the heart. Too strong a dose and not only would you not be able to get it up, chances are you wouldn’t be able to get up, period.
Sodium nitrate, also called salt peter, shares many applications with potassium nitrate. Both can be used to manufacture nitric acid, to propel model rockets, and to increase the shelf life of meats and other foods. Sodium nitrate is also used to manufacture glass and enamel. Like potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate may increase one’s likelihood of developing cancer, but it also occurs naturally in leafy green vegetables and may have some health benefits. Salt is a dietary mineral essential for animal life, composed primarily of sodium chloride. Chloride and sodium ions, the two major components of salt, are necessary for the survival of all known living creatures, including humans. Salt is involved in regulating the water content (fluid balance) of the body.
So when I say its not salt, what I meant its not ‘table salt’ as what most people refer to when they hear the term ‘Salt’.
Hi metahotforwords, as aLx said salt was very valuable… the properties of salt make it useful, no nessesary, for survival. It has many good uses & the planet (earth) would be baron without it’s essetial qualities, the poisoning of the earth (ground) you mention was just one of the methods of warfare, using a good thing (salt) in a way to protect one’s right to the land. Remember Sadam (madass spelled backwards) sabbatoging the oil wells. He wrecked the place with the oil wells that were at one time the very thing he sought…greed
So “salt of the earth’” is a compliment, honourable, a person of great value…in many ways.
If your name means what I think it does, I’m jealous. ‘nuf said.
Okay Billyboy and Metazestos, I already said it above, but they didn’t flood the fields with “salt” did they? Wasn’t it with “saltwater”? One, was very valuable way back when; the other, perhaps the most common thing on earth (and thus not very valuable).
Anyway, the key to the original question isn’t the context of the term “salt” but rather the context of the word “earth”… perhaps the most famous prayer in the world says “in earth as it is in heaven” … which is probably not suggesting that something be put into the soil… isn’t it more likely saying that human society ought to be like heavenly society… peaceful, loving, orderly and good? Don’t you suppose?
In ancient times, when this phrase was coined, salt was an absolutely indispensable commodity. Not only is it a “necessary nutrient,” for humans and livestock, much food was preserved using salt as well.
It is critical to to your survival to replace the salt in your system that gets lost daily through the sweat glands, especially if you have to work hard in hot climate areas. And most people did, if they wanted to store enough grain, put up enough dried meat, etc. to survive the following winter.
I think it’s also important to recognize just how rare a usable supply of salt from naturally-occurring salt sources was, when you live farther inland than just a couple days walk from the sea. Salt simply dissolves into water solution when it rains, so it doesn’t exist on the surface of the planet anywhere that rains can wash it down to the sea (except in collection basins like the Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA, which are very rare: why do you syppose the Mormons settled there in the first place?).
Underground salt sources (often known as salt domes) left over from the drying out of ancient seabeds wouldn’t remain in place long unless they had been covered by impermeable rock layers (those which water can’t penetrate) that necessitate hard-rock mining (impossible prior to the advent of advanced metallurgy: copper, tin, or bronze tools were useless for this). Otherwise, if covered by porous rock layers like sandstone, it would have long since dissolved into the groundwater and once again irretrievably lost and sent to the sea. So typically there wasn’t ANY salt to be found in the uplands of the continental interiors unless you could get it by trading with people from the coast.
Now take a look at the size of the Eurasian continental mass. Imagine how many people lived in those massive landlocked areas where no access to sea salt could be had without trading for it. If you were a subsistence farmer living, say, in on the steppes of eastern Europe, or the Mongolian plateau, and the coastal traders/travelers who happened by your area once a year took a different route or were waylaid or beset by a natural disaster, you were plumb out of luck as far as your annual salt supply and so you had better not sweat for a year or your metabolism would rebel and you would be in seriously deep doo-doo!
Today, we probably get more than enough salt from the traces added into processed food recipes. Eating a quarter pounder with cheese and a large fries at McDonald’s almost makes me sick with all its saltiness, unless I’ve been out backpacking in the desert for a week or something like that (I normally don’t salt my food, and I sweat a lot in hot weather). So we in the modern day tend to take salt for granted because there is such plentiful access to giant underground salt mines and coastal evaporation ponds with all our sophisticated mining and collection technologies, and so it’s fairly cheap now. But it wasn’t always this way. Just 100 years ago, it was common to hear the expression, “Any man worth his salt…..” i.e, anybody whose value as a human was greater than the value of the trace amounts of salt left after we boil down his body and scrape off the salt crystals left over.
With the recent fighting between Russia and Georgia(sounds like it’s over now)I thought,maybe,Our esteemed Professor might do the word “confrontation” if it was requested,wich I think I just did.
TY Marina.
tryant
hy there ! i was wondering ….what exactly meant “strong wash” in the old days ..i couldn’t find it to save my life in the dictionaries…. i was reading a book and the word “strong wash” was an ingredient ,part of a sorcer’s recepy and i was intrigated that, i could not understand what was he using !i would appreciate it if u could shed some light of what this substance really was ….thank you! by the way!i like your videos ;)nice job !:) keep it up !
Hmmm,I’m no Sorcerer nor an Alchemist but,I would venture a *guess*,,again,stress the word *”guess”*.
Could “strong wash” be some form of acidic solution? Lye? Lime? I really dunno the answer but the question I liked.
tryant
That’s probably right.
see ..i thought so too ..but i really want to know what is the true meaning of it !:) ….if anybody want to help …feel free!thx
If You don’t get the deffinate answer You seek aeonxavier,maybe try contacting a Wiccan group or maybe a Pagan group,I believe there are several on the net. Many of the Folks on those groups are kind and intelligent,also,They study the old ways.Never know,might work.
tryant
About Germanic languages. The Aryans settled in the Indus valley in India, so naturally they brought along the language. If you analyze the root words of the words we use today, they have Indo-European roots that come from that shared language of the Indians and the Germanic Aryan immigrants to the Indus Valley. Sanskrit I believe developed from that interaction. Look for parallels in pronounciation in English and Hindi.
I think the Aryans were Persian, not Germanic.
I recently repaired my copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. It seems that the Xbox 360 version is compressed, and if you play other games that use the hard drive cache, then play GTA IV, GTA IV fills up the rest of the cache, and unable to delete the files from the other game, the Xbox 360 cries “DISC IS UNREADABLE” since it cannot decompress the files. So, it seems due to a flaw in the Xbox 360 not clearing it’s damn cache properly, I need to go to the “memory” tab and hit Y X LB RB X before I play GTA IV every time I play another game.
Makes me wonder if it’s possible for Microsoft to patch that flaw, or if it’s a hardware issue.
Oh, and on that note, if you are like me and have the Xbox 360 version of GTA IV, and get the constant errors, it’s not Rockstar’s fault, it’s your 360 not clearing the cache properly. So you need to go to the system —> Memory tab, and enter “drive options” then put in the little code, X left bumper, right bumper, X to clear your cache. Also, you will have to redownload patches for games (but not extra content) which is no big deal, just can be scary if you don’t know it’s going to happen.
Watch out, you don’t want to get the Red Ring of Death!
EARTH in all its (Germanic states)
Guys, maybe you know that there are right now 7 official Germanic languages + 2 dead but very old and precious ones = 9 different forms for EARTH :
Gothic : AIRÞA
English : EARTH < old English EORÐE < old Saxon ERÞA
German : Erde < old German ERDA
DUTCH : AARDE
VIKING : JÒRð
Icelandic : JÖRð
Norvegian : JORD
Danish : JORD
Swedish : JORD
I just had to repair my CESSPIT full of SKIT ! It’s like chocolate, dense, brown, heavy but with another taste.
REPAIR = REPARE are twins like SHIP and SKIP
I had to get the blower on my hot tub repaired. Fortunately in is under warranty. Drop by Marina anytime and check it out!
I had a blower in my hot tub, but she drowned.
OMG that was funny!!!!!!
Q: How can you tell the stage isn’t level?
A: The drummerhas drool coming out only one side of his face.
(thought you needed a good
joke)
Hey! my joke was awesome chacha. Much better than those drummer jokes.
hello marin1 i have a word request
it is the word… CHRESTOMATHY. jaja 
Q: What’s the difference between a drummer and a savings bond?
A: Eventually, the savings bond will mature and earn money
I just had my new Ford F-150 fixed some electrical problems and the other day I looked out my living room window and it was totally on fire. It burned to the ground, so nice repair mechanic guys! Thanks! Anyways regarding Marina flipping us all off at 15 sec in the vid, here is a great bird flipping vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtSc0tFWh7s
YIKES, that’s sucks!
I just got my car suspension repaired. The car is fine, but now I need my wallet repaired
Cool video G. Some countries if you give the thumbs up sign it means the same thing
You should get “the flight of the concords” DVD’s they are a lot more funny than that video shows.
Bush gives you his one finger salute
I was just watching the olympics and heard them talking about the US men’s gymnastics team being underdogs. That got me thinking - where did the term “underdog” come from? Would you investigate?
THIS will help
Hello:
You don’t know? Dog fighting! I assume people would place bets on the dogs. The one with little chance to win would be placed at the “bottom” of the ‘betting pool’ or would be on the bottom of the list, if they wrote one.
Keep well
hey wwhere does the word sexy some from?
Q: Do you know how to confuse a drummer?
A: Put a piece of sheet music in front of him.
Can there also be this?
A pair is a unit of two..
To then split the unit up would be to un-pair them.
Now there are two separate units.
To re-unit-e them or to re-pair them,
To put back together ?
A word just came to me , INSANE, should it not be UNSANE?
Hello:
The reasoning doesn’t hold. Pair means two of the same. If I break a grass trimmer, I will have the handle and the cutting ‘head.’ Do I have two of the same thing? Ex: “A pair of sneakers”
what?
Two of the same thing, This is not the
same as cut one thing in half.
Your glass trimmer is one thing.
Breaking it in half you now have one
thing in two pieces, not a pair.
Take two trimmers ( a pair ) and break them ,
Now you have a pair of heads and a pair of handles
Why do we call pants a pair of pants?
Q: What do you call a beautiful woman on a drummer’s arm?
A: A tattoo.
We call it a pair of pants because we look at pant as being defined as the covering of only one leg. The original word was Pantaloon, and it considered covering of both legs when defined. So say Pant. I put on a pant not a pair of pants.
Saying things like Glasses is correct because it is two individual lenses that are in use.
Another example of this type of stupidity is saying Binoculars. Bi is the Latin for 2. So it’s 2 nocular. Ergo I’m looking through a binocular, not binoculars.
Another: Akbar the great. Akbar in Arabic means great. So youre calling him great the great? Redundant!
Don’t know
I call mine Wranglers….
Recently I had to have my car repaired. After hitting something on the road my tire blew out. When I took it in to get the tire replaced, the mechanics found that what ever I hit cause more damage to the front of my car than I originally thought. So I had to take it to my regular mechanic to get the necessary repairs.
In rememberance of isaac Hayes, can you please fine out where Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic came from.
shaft
god bless isaac hayes he did welcome home isaac
Actually I believe it was L. Ron Hubbard who welcomed him home.
Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic
overstimulated divided symbol with a secondary consequence in a hallucinatory vessel or just gibberish?
I just had the car in the shop for a timing belt replacement. As far as my health is concerned, I don’t ever have to worry about it again. I’m dead already!
If you don’t repair the car… dead ma