G-string and the Alphabet
Morgan asked about the origin of G-string. Linguist Robert Hendrickson says that G (or gee) stands for groin, which was a taboo word in the late 1800s. Cecil Adams (The Straight Dope), suggests an origin from "girdle-string", which appears as early as 1846. In other words, no one is certain where the term originated, though the undergarment actually exists.
At any rate, that led me to think about words based on letters of the alphabet. These words tend to fall into two broad categories: words based on the shape of a letter, and words that use a letter as an abbreviation for a longer word. Here’s a sample.
A-frame
B-movie
C-section
D-ring
E-book
F-10 (Fujita tornado scale)
G-string
H-bomb
I-beam
J-hook
K-12
L-hook
M-16
N-bomb
O-ring
P-ring
Q-school
R-rated
S-hook
T-bone
U-turn
V-neck
W-2
X-ray
Y-hook
Z-score
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