From The Attic

 

The "Just Sayin'" attic of unused blog topics is overflowing, so it's time to clear them out.  Lucky you!

Did you ever wonder about America being named after Amerigo Vespucci?  That given name goes way back to an unexpected source -- the Visigoths, to whom it was Amalric.  Their 300 year rule over Spain left many such:  Adalfuns (Alfonso), Alewar (Alvaro), Hrodric (Rodrigo), Gundislav (Gonzalo)... along with the endings -ez and -es (Gonzales), which denotes "child of."  The term "hildago" (a gentleman or minor noble) may mean "child (hijo) of Goths."  Another interpretation is "child of someone" (hijo de algo) -- that is, not the offspring of a nobody. 

Speaking of words, "dog"has 161 meanings in slang.

The expression "the whole nine yards"was first recorded in 1907, and we usually think it means a cement or concrete truck's capacity, though some may conjure up an image of a part of a football field where, however, ten yards is the critical number  But those trucks range from eight to 12 1/2 cubic yards, and even 15 yard capacity trailers (pretty rare, though).  So...

Albania's name for itself is "Shqiperi."  That one would eliminate quite a few contestants in a spelling bee.

Have you always wondered where Portugal got its name?  No?  I had to know, for reasons unexplainable.  It comes from its second largest city, Oporto, which the Romans called "Porto Cale," meaning either warm or tranquil seaport.  Another explanation holds it was known as the Port of the Gauls, after the Celtic people who were there before the Roman takeover. 

 I recently came across a British travel writer using the word "brick" to denote a bar.  That was a new one to me, but we remember the sign for The Brick tavern in the opening of the TV show Northern Exposure.  Its inspiration actually exists and has been a fixture in Roslyn, Washington State, since 1889 (above).  I have no idea how that term came about, but there are many hotels, pubs and even pizza places using the word, including  an adult Lego bar (plastic building bricks).  The Brick in a Northern Exposure episode was nearly shut down by the health department; its namesake has a 23-foot running water spitoon gutter in front of the stools --  maybe a health department should look into that!