Comments on: International Wine Smuggler

By: Todd Havens

Todd Havens — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:46:53 +0000

Nice work, Brendan!

I figured it was a Latin derivative, but stayed with the offspringers (French, Italian, Spanish) in college and never really ventured up the tree.

As for the need for a band of linguists…my diploma would like to think it wasn’t all in vain.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 07:34:42 +0000

I have to pipe in just to say that I majored in phonology back in college (with my practical work done on Yapese). After all this is over, maybe we can band together in some sort of enterprise requiring a Bacchanal band of linguists – there must be a need for such a thing!

And while I’m not hugely into etymology, I did my stint with Latin, so can tell you that hirsute (almost) undoubtedly just comes from the Latin word ‘hirsutus’, which means shaggy – lots of bugs have the word ‘hirsutus’ in their taxonomic names as well, if they are hairy little critters.

All this by way of saying… great post and great story, Todd! International wine smuggler is a great thing to have handy to tack on to a resume.

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:40:15 +0000

Etymology is fascinating! Have a look at porcellan–and then *blurk*!

(talking about European culture… *she shakes her head*)

No surprise that you like the ambiguity of it all. Kind of like the fleeting taste of earthiness after swallowing a Murphy-Goode …

But I digress, for *this* topic goes over my head and might make me a bit woozy.

By: Todd Havens

Todd Havens — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:14:01 +0000

The braiding of hair. Indeed, a new level of conversation. Ha. At least it’s pseudo-cosmopolitan since we’re talking about Europe!

I took classes in semantics but it wasn’t a focus. I like ambiguity in semantics as a function of syntax…more of the left-brain structure of things…FASCINATING.

Etymology? Blech.

By: International Wine Smuggler? « A Goode Guy

International Wine Smuggler? « A Goode Guy — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:24:01 +0000

[...] to Frank Gutierrez’s blog, at least, where I guest-posted earlier [...]

By: Andy's GoodeLife

Andy's GoodeLife — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:22:31 +0000

*she runs to wikipedia*

*wait*

Actually, I cannot speak for the Mediterranean countries… but women can braid their hair here (oh.my.gosh.)…

(Is this conversation really happening?)

Thanks for the new word — so your main linguistic course of study was semantics? But can you share with me the etymology of the word hirsute?

By: Todd Havens

Todd Havens — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:24:49 +0000

Ha. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly a life’s goal to get you to drink wine, Lady Andrea…I started years ago with the sugary, fruity stuff, after all (white zinfandels, if memory serves)…but it just seemed like a natural proposition since you’re so entrenched in the Murphy-Goode campaign.

As for the lack of shaving…that one didn’t strike me as much. Are you saying that Germany is more hirsute (my big word for the day) than the Mediterranean countries?

By: Andy's GoodeLife

Andy's GoodeLife — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:04:10 +0000

*she chuckles, yea, she snorts*

Whether they bathed and wore deodorant or not. (C’mon, we’ve all ridden on buses in Rome in the sweltering summer heat, right?)

You neglected to say “regardless of whether they shave or not”…

Bravo, bello! You have yet again managed to get a little laughter out of me… perhaps one day you drive me to drink ?

(And linguistics, eh? Me phonetics…)