Talk:Folk etymology: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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:''The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a [[WP:RM|requested move]]. <span style="color:red">'''Please do not modify it.'''</span> Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.</div><!-- Template:RM bottom -->

== deleted, may be appropriate elsewhere ==

The following sections are not relevant to an article on folk etymology. It may be relevant to retain them for addition elsewhere.[[User:Medeis|μηδείς]] ([[User talk:Medeis|talk]]) 16:20, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

=== Association with urban legends ===

Some etymologies are part of [[urban legend]]s, and seem to respond to a general taste for the surprising, counterintuitive and even scandalous. One common example has to do with the phrase ''[[rule of thumb]]'', meaning a rough measurement. An urban legend has it that the phrase refers to an old English law under which a man could legally beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb (though no such law ever existed).<ref>[http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-rul1.htm World Wide Words etymology of "rule of thumb"]</ref>

In the [[United States]], many of these scandalous legends have had to do with [[racism]] and [[slavery]]. Common words such as ''picnic'',<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/picnic.htm Urban Legends reference pages on supposed etymology of picnic]</ref> ''buck'',<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/buck.htm Urban Legends reference pages on supposed etymology of buck]</ref> and ''crowbar''<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/crowbar.asp Urban Legends reference pages on supposed origin of crowbar]</ref> have been alleged to stem from derogatory terms or racist practices. The "discovery" of these alleged etymologies is often believed by those who circulate them to draw attention to racist attitudes embedded in ordinary discourse. On one occasion, the use of the word ''[[Controversies about the word "niggardly"|niggardly]]'' led to the resignation of a U.S. public official because it sounded similar to the word ''[[nigger]]'', despite the two words being unrelated etymologically.<ref>[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mniggard.html Article on the etymology of the word niggardly]</ref>