What the Hail?
-
neoplacebo
- Admiral of the Fleet
- Posts: 12708
- Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:42 pm
- Location: Kingsport TN
What the Hail?
Big storm at my house yesterday evening, way beyond the edge of wetness, nearly the threat of "hail" plus lots of wind...... edgy thoughts of being threatened with a power outage. Anyway, I thought that hail should be spelled another way. After all, hail is a word of praise and honor. It should be Hayle or even Haayle always with a capital letter, just to signify that it represents something godawful that comes from the sky and it's fast and loose. So, what the hell does anybody else think? Can you change the spelling of a word? Is it against the law? Why did it come to be this way to start with? Damn.
-
rstrong
- Captain
- Posts: 5889
- Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 9:32 am
- Location: Winnipeg, MB
Re: What the Hail?
Hail to the sun god, he is a fun god, Ra Ra Ra!
(Ankh if You Love Isis!)
(Ankh if You Love Isis!)
-
neoplacebo
- Admiral of the Fleet
- Posts: 12708
- Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:42 pm
- Location: Kingsport TN
Re: What the Hail?
I suspect those Old Norse, Middle Norse, Old English, and Middle English were some serious drinkers. But I don't really hold that against them. It's apparent to me that the spelling of "hail" has been a shameful and tragic footnote in linguistic history, more than likely due to double vision and alcoholic tremors during a long ago session of the famous linguistic custom of "name that stuff" in which most all educated folks participated. So I guess we're stuck with "hail" instead of something more accurate....like "cumulonimbus retch" or "sky rocks."Vrede wrote:The two meanings for the same word came from different Old Norse and Old English words that sounded somewhat similar. Blame the Middle English and Middle Norse for mucking things up.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hail?s=t
Maybe you should have called this The Homophonic Thread. :>
-
JTA
- Commander
- Posts: 3898
- Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:04 pm
Re: What the Hail?
Got some sky rocks raining down in these parts right now.
You aren't doing it wrong if no one knows what you are doing.
-
neoplacebo
- Admiral of the Fleet
- Posts: 12708
- Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:42 pm
- Location: Kingsport TN
Re: What the Hail?
I bet those rubes are calling it "hail." Ridiculous bunch of cumulonimwits. Take care and realize what you're really dealing with. Good luck.JTA wrote:Got some sky rocks raining down in these parts right now.
-
Mr.B
- A bad person.
- Posts: 4891
- Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:22 pm
Re: What the Hail?
Oh, hail yes!neoplacebo wrote:"I bet those rubes are calling it "hail." Ridiculous bunch of cumulonimwits. Take care and realize what you're really dealing with. Good luck."JTA wrote:"Got some sky rocks raining down in these parts right now."