Thread: Teak Dowel?
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Old 12-19-2011, 11:51 AM   #24
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
Teak Dowel?

There is a boat on our dock named Hepsabeth. I asked the owner what the name meant-- I thought it was a character out of the Harry Potter books, like the message owl--- but was told it was the name of a family member many, many generations ago. Turns out that Hepsabeth was, like Elizabeth, a popular girl's name back in the very early years of this country. But it wasn't a very pretty-sounding name and it soon died out and only Elizabeth remained in use.

I think it's that way with bung and plug. Bung is a kind of stupid-sounding word whereas plug is short, modern, and tells you exactly what it is. Our language is always evolving and I think bung is headed the same way as Hepsabeth.


-- Edited by Marin on Monday 19th of December 2011 01:53:03 PM
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