I created this room so I can discuss chat with the user Airymouse.
I think that sounds like a useful comment about "empathy" and "sympathy." I forget now what the relevant question is: was it this one?: english.stackexchange.com/questions/343402/…
Yes that was the post that caught my eye. The post I wanted to chat about was the on the etymology of "sincere." The folk stories that accompany false etymology are often elaborate, fanciful and creative. If I were asked to explain why "sincere" came from a word for wax, I know I could not have invented a story as good as the tale proffered by the poster. John Ciardi deals with some of these stories in his Browsers' Dictionary. According to him,
Georgia Cracker has nothing to do with a whip cracker, asparagus does not have it's root (oops) in sparrow grass, and "to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" has nothing to do with the coefficient of expansion of a brass monkey railing on board a British warship. Without delving into issues of etymology, surely you will grant that this last explanation is farfetched. I saw my favorite story on a bag of pretzels.
There it was explained that the word, pretzel, came from the habit of 14th century European monks to bake these treats as a reward for those who learned their catechism. Alas, I have forgot the twists and turns needed to come up with the explanation of the sound "pretzel."
