Plug
The idea of plugging a product—repeatedly promoting it, sometimes shamelessly—came up on the show last Tuesday. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it has gone through many meanings.
The verb started as a Dutch word meaning “to fasten with a plug,” and that sense of stopping something up with a plug is how it entered the English language. Next, it meant to drive a wedge into a wall to help secure a nail or screw.
That was followed by cutting a cylindrical core from a watermelon, for example, to test its ripeness. The idea of sealing an oil well or other shaft was the next step in the evolution of the word plug.
Then came a cluster-flurry of diverse meanings:
- to stick or jam, as a golf ball that plugs in soggy ground
- to make an electrical connection
- to insert data into a formula or a computing device
- to shoot someone
- to punch someone
In the middle of the 19th century, we get closer to the idea of promotion with this meaning: “to persevere doggedly; to plod.” Within 30 or so years, to plug away at a task worked its way into “to promote or to recommend,” then to “to give free publicity to.”
I don’t quite understand the jump from a stopper/wedge/plug to steady work, but perhaps that’s because I’m thinking of my granddaughters right now, who live near Tokyo. That was one hell of an earthquake.
Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition
Listen to Mike’s program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.
There is a collection of podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio button.
Visit The Senior Corner at seniors.tcnet.org
Comments