[lit-ideas] Re: The Names of the Body Parts
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 14:05:38 EDT
In a message dated 7/5/2009 1:48:58 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> Do we call a 'neck' a neck because it performs the function of a _neck_?
Reminds of the the question I once asked my daughter when she was little:
"Why do we call a pig a 'pig' ?"
"Because they're so dirty," she said.
By the same reasoning, we call water "water" because it's so wet.
Etymology can be fun.
----
fun -- sad. Funny queer, rather than funny ha ha.
E.g. without defecation we would explode (I wrote this in a booklet I
browsed and should have bought the other day), "English as a fucking second
language".
The authors write, "Given the important function of the ass, it's cruel
that the expression is used derogatorily in English."
Ditto, 'prick'. Surely a 'tool' as important as that should not be used
derogatorily.
And the c-word so strong -- why?
Anyway, 'neck' of course does not mean _gyrate_ the head to one side or
the other.
"lung" does not mean 'breather'.
Heart does not _mean_ blood-purifier.
The _only_ body part I can see it means what it does is the 'tooth', the
'edente', the eater.
It would be otiose to have the names of the body parts (alla Heidegger,
'zuhandesein') for the MAIN functions they perform. Surely I can put _EACH_
of my body parts (cfr. "The man without a navel [Adam] still leaves in me")
to a different use.
E.g. my nipples, my mother says, may become operative if I find myself in
a desert island with a baby.
The 'toe' is more operative than the other fingers in the foot, hence the
special name.
The 'middle finger' is another relevant case.
"You see with your eyes". Does that mean that 'eye' means SEER? No. (Note
that the fish have no eye-lids)
And then there's internal organs we may not know the function of: 'brain',
the thinker? appendix -- useless. foreskin.
testicles -- sperm-carriers?
knee -- disjointer?
thighs?
The orifice (mouth, arsehole) are interesting in that they are vacua,
vacuum. To define, clumsily, the OED as an 'orifice' is offensive. I was
quoting from the OED for the brilliant quotes under 'mouth', not for their
clumsy
silly definition. Who _needs_ a definition of a 'mouth'.
"Dental" is used phonologically to mean 'dental sound', in articulatory
(versus acoustic) phonetic, and so is 'labial'.
Is 'lip' the kisser?
Is nose the smeller?
Is the 'orifice' (two of them) in the nose part of the nose, or part of
the ABSENCE of a nose?
The nipples would have a function in the pre-menopausal woman, but not in
males or post-menopausal women. That doesn't mean we should stop calling
them 'nipples' ('pezon' in Spanish).
nails -- what are they for? The scratchers?
ears -- the hearers?
hand? the toucher?
belly -- the food-container?
etc. etc.
So, no mention of 'pig' here -- this is serious specific query in search
for illuminations, no frivolous quips and sidetracks. And use different
languages than your own. It has bored me for years to be the only one here
playing with a language other than his own (and now Trogge). Most anglos have
never contributed anything to other languages, and when I quote from the OED
they insult me! (cheers).
Cheers,
JL Speranza
The River Plate
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