![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gravityeyelidsvia http://ift.tt/2aAGMdr:
thebibliosphere:
ssalogel:
the-tao-of-fandom:
I’m so mad rn because apparently a potential word origin for the word ‘phony’ (meaning anything fake) is ‘fawney’ (i’m no etymologist but it’s an option) and a ‘fawney rig’ was a confidence scam where you sold a brass ring as a gold one (which Mr. Lipwig does all the time) and it leads me to believe that THIS:
“Personally, I think you’re a phony,” [said Miss Dearheart].
Is some goddamn next level punnery.
@thebibliosphere how’s that for a pun?
I still remember the first time I learned this.My thesis advisor was actually the leading linguist specialist in the UK at the time (he might still be I haven’t checked) and a big part of my thesis focused on the evolution of words and word meaning because Pratchett used original word meaning to convey a LOT of things in his work so there’s a whole lot of puns we’re missing out on because we don’t recognize them as such.
But for whatever reason I decided to look up “phony” and a few hours later I was down this rabbit hole of learning what a fawney was and I turned to Nigel my professor and went “I think I have learned a thing” and I showed him the passage and he, a fellow Pratchett fan, took his glasses off and muttered “god dammit”.
So yes, Tao, you hit the nail on the head again :D
thebibliosphere:
ssalogel:
the-tao-of-fandom:
I’m so mad rn because apparently a potential word origin for the word ‘phony’ (meaning anything fake) is ‘fawney’ (i’m no etymologist but it’s an option) and a ‘fawney rig’ was a confidence scam where you sold a brass ring as a gold one (which Mr. Lipwig does all the time) and it leads me to believe that THIS:
“Personally, I think you’re a phony,” [said Miss Dearheart].
Is some goddamn next level punnery.
@thebibliosphere how’s that for a pun?
I still remember the first time I learned this.My thesis advisor was actually the leading linguist specialist in the UK at the time (he might still be I haven’t checked) and a big part of my thesis focused on the evolution of words and word meaning because Pratchett used original word meaning to convey a LOT of things in his work so there’s a whole lot of puns we’re missing out on because we don’t recognize them as such.
But for whatever reason I decided to look up “phony” and a few hours later I was down this rabbit hole of learning what a fawney was and I turned to Nigel my professor and went “I think I have learned a thing” and I showed him the passage and he, a fellow Pratchett fan, took his glasses off and muttered “god dammit”.
So yes, Tao, you hit the nail on the head again :D
