Got sand?

I just returned from a family reunion in northern Wisconsin. It required a trip through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Highway 2. Those who have taken that route know that it provides views of lush forest and frequent glimpses of Lake Michigan. It’s a two-lane highway, so passing opportunities are limited.

That means that I spent about 70 miles following a particular car. Among the bumper stickers that it sported was, “Got Sand?” It could have been an ad for a construction company, or -- based upon some of the other stickers -- it could have been an Evangelical prompt of some kind. At any rate, it provided wool for gathering.

Sand has been slang for courage since the mid-1800s. Here are three instances:

• 1867 George Washington Harris, Sut Lovingood Yarns: “I tell yu, he has lots ove san’ in his gizzard; he has the bes’ pluck I ever seed.”
• 1878 Fred Hart, Sazerac Lying Club: “. . . he was always so good-natured and smilin’ like, that a stranger would a thought thar warn’t no sand in him, and he wouldn’t fight nothin’. But he always carried a big bowie in his boot-leg and a dragoon six-shooter in his shirt, and would fight a rattlesnake and give it the fust bite.”
• 1881 New York Times 18 Dec. 4/3 “Sand --To have sand in one’s craw. To be determined and plucky. Equivalent to grit.”

As the last quote indicates, it is allied to the word grit, also slang for courage, fortitude, and stamina, and Chapman’s American Slang assigns a date of 1825. The mention of craw in that New York Times article reveals the origin. A craw is a pouch-like protuberance found in the gullet of many birds. In it, food undergoes partial digestion by rubbing against tiny stones that the bird has ingested.

By the way, if the bird swallows stones that are too large, they stick in its craw, which figuratively describes anything that we can't accept.


Now 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 no archive.

Write to Mike with comments or questions:
wordmallATaol.com
(substitute @ for AT above)

Check out Mike's program-based books here:
Arbutus Press
http://arbutuspress.com/store_ling.html
or at Amazon.com

Visit the Senior Corner at http://seniors.tcnet.org

The Sandwich Is There

The headline above is part of the punch line of a hoary pun, of course:

Q. Why can’t you starve in the desert?
A. Because of the sand which is there.

Word parts denoting sand show up in some $2 words, and that makes them interesting.

The combining form ammo- comes from the Greek word ammos, sand. There is ammocoete, the larval form of various lampreys (sand + bed). Then there’s the ammodyte, a venomous snake (sand + burrow/dive). And there are plants and insects that live exclusively near sand; they are ammophilous (sand + loving).

The Latin formation aren-, as most people know, gave the name to the arena, a combat zone covered in sand to soak up blood and guts. Anything arenacious has the form or appearance of sand. Arenicolite is a worm-hole originally made in sand, then preserved in sandstone rock. And arenicolous (sand + dwelling) means the same as ammophilous.

The Greek form psamm- shows up in many scientific terms. Add psammophilous (sand + loving) to arenicolous and ammophilous. A psammophyte is a plant found in sandy soil. A psammosarcoma is a fleshy tumor with sand-like particles.

Sabul- owes its existence to the Latin sabulum, sand. “Darling, you look sabulous” is something you may say to a friend whose hair is covered in sand. Sabulosity is an obsolete term for sandy, and sabuline doubles as a synonym for sabulous.

Finally, the Latin saburr- (sand) is a close cousin of sabul-. Saburra is a foul granular matter deposited in the stomach. To saburrate is an obsolete verb meaning to place ballast in a ship. And in ancient medicine, saburration--applying heated sand to the body--was seen as salubrious.

Sidebar: Mr. Sandman

Check out Mike's latest book here: http://arbutuspress.com/
at Amazon.com

Visit the Senior Corner at http://seniors.tcnet.org

wordmallATaol.com
(substitute @ for AT above)