Explode
LFS
informative. One of the contributors said that Copernicus' reluctance to
publish his theory of the solar system was due to his fear of being
laughed at, and observed that the Latin word Copernicus used to describe
this was "explodendum". The original meaning of "explode" was to be
hissed or booed off the stage. Not a lot of people know that, I bet.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
This person did not know that.
The OED says ({dag} = obsolete):
[ad. L. expl{omac}d{ebreve}re, explaud{ebreve}re to drive out by
clapping, hiss (a player) off the stage, f. ex- out +
plaud{ebreve}re to clap: cf. APPLAUD, PLAUDIT. Cotgr. 1611 has Fr.
exploder in sense 1.
With the non-Lat. senses 4-6 cf. late L. displ{omac}d{ebreve}re
(see DISPLODE) used of the bursting of a bladder. Senses 5 and 6,
now the prevailing senses, are not recognized by Johnson.]
{dag}1.
a. trans. To clap and hoot (a player, play, etc.) off the stage;
hence gen. to drive away with expressions of disapprobation; to
cry down; to banish ignominiously. Also fig. Const. from, out of,
and with double obj. Obs.
{dag}b. To mock at, deride. Obs. rare.
{dag}c. Of a thing: To cause to be hooted (off the stage).
nonce-use.
2. To reject with scorn (an opinion, proposal, custom). Also in
weaker sense: To reject, discard. Obs. exc. in pass., which is still
occas. used with the sense: To be disused, to be rejected as
obsolete (cf. 3).
3. To cause to be rejected; to bring into disrepute; to expose the
hollowness of; to discredit; {dag}to bring into disuse.
Now often associated with sense 6; hence it tends to be restricted
to cases in which the fig. use of that sense would be applicable.
{dag}4.
a. To drive forth (air); to emit.
b. To drive out with violence and sudden noise. Obs.
5.
a. intr. To ‘go off’ with a loud noise. ....
b. transf. and fig.
c. Phys. To break out or burst forth into.
d. Of population: to increase suddenly or rapidly. Cf. EXPLOSION 4b.
6.
a. trans. To cause (a gas, gunpowder, also a magazine, mine, etc.)
to ‘go off’ with a loud noise; to ‘blow up’.
b. transf. and fig.
The earliest quote 1538 for sense 2. The earliest for the "go off with a
loud noise" sense 5 is 1790.
The earliest quote for sense 4a, "To drive forth (air); to emit" is:
1660 BOYLE New. Exp. Phys. Mech. 352 The inspired Air..when 'tis
exploded, carrys them away with it self.
That seems to be intermediate between the original meaning of driving a
player off a stage and the more familiar "bursting".
I suppose that "implode" should mean to bring a perfomer back on stage
to take a bow after a performance.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
John Dean
I did not know that. Now I do and I'm *glad* I tell you, GLAD!
--
John Dean
Oxford
Irwell
Imploded applause.
Pat Durkin
"LFS" <la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote in message
news:8l9tub...@mid.individual.net...
You win!
Thanks for the fascinating tidbit.
Mike Lyle
I was so ignorant of the derivation that I needed to look it up in the
Latin dictionary to confirm. But forgot to.
--
Mike.
abzorba
wrote:
A nice coda to this story (and that doesn't mean you have to stop
posting on this thread, please go on...) is that a oddly similar type
of joke attends the name of the later and more comprehensive name of
the - now widely accepted - theory of the genesis of the Universe
itself. Famous astrophysicist Fred Hoyle was the main formulator and
most vocal adherent of a rival theory, The Steady State Theory. His
theory held that the Universe had no beginning at all and had existed
from eternity. At some talk he gave, he called the theory that the
Universe began at a single point and at single time, the “big bang”
theory. There is some argument now as to whether he was being jocular
or pejorative or something else. But Hoyle was a famous enfant
terrible, with a delicious sense of humour and a satirist and science
fiction writer to boot, and such a neologism would have been
completely in character.
If, at the start, the epithet “big bang” was first used by the
Theory’s detractors, it soon became shorthand used by the Theory’s
adherents, and is now the norm. And so we went from Explodendum to
Big Bang, and both started as jokes.Ccue “Twilight Zone” music: Deee
dee dee dee….)
Myles (Black Cloud – look it up, read it, love it) Paulsen
J. J. Lodder
If usenet had been available then
Fred Hoyle would have been described as a troll.
The more noise he generated the better he iked it.
It is hard to know how serious he was,
for example when claiming that the London Archeoperyx
must be a fake.
Jan