From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!zeppo!wheps!ihnss!ihps3!stolaf!borman Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: Psychological distance Article-I.D.: stolaf.391 Posted: Mon Jun 21 01:14:49 1982 Received: Thu Jun 24 01:22:35 1982 I didn't see the original letter on this, but I've got a comment on the different names given to the animal and the meat. The English language has many pairs of words of this type: beef cow pork pig lamb sheep These three come to mind quickly. If you trace back in the English language, you will come to the time when the Normans invaded what is now England. The locals spoke Anglo-Saxon, and the Normans spoke Norman, related to French. The first column above is traced to Norman, and the second column to Anglo-Saxon. Since the Normans were the rulers, the 'common' speech of Anglo- Saxon was looked down on, and not used at the table, where as out in the stables, the locals used their terms. The two languages became intertwined, but many of the social distincions remained. Thus, we have many word pairs of this type in the English language. By the way, this isn't limited to just animals. Many of our 'dirty' or 'vulgar' words came from Anglo-Saxon. One example is feces/shit. The first is considered acceptable, where as the second is still considered vulgar. My mother's an English teacher, and that's who I first heard this from. I may have forgotten things, or mixed something up. If anyone is aware of errors I've made, please correct me. By the way, I find the etymologies of words interesting. Is there any one out there who has ever sat down and read a dictionary, looking at etymologies? I get strange looks when I mention that I occasionally read dictionaries... -Dave Borman St. Olaf College ihnss!ihps3!stolaf!borman