Re: The Gender Genie [OT: very]

["Patricia M. Godfrey" priscamg@xxxxxxxx]

David Auerbach wrote:
> And, what is the etymology of 'canard' in that sense?
Literally, of course, canard is "duck"--the bird, wild and domestic.
The term was also applied to broadsheets, usually of a somewhat
scandalous nature, that circulated among the "lower orders." It's also
applied to a false note from a musical instrument, particularly the
clarinette (not sure if that's the same as English clarinet). In fact,
the Grand Larousse Encyclopédique (10vol., 1960) doesn't even record
the colloquial sense. The OED offers two possible explanations: 1)
from the expression "to half-sell a duck" (cf. our "selling the
Brooklyn Bridge"), a tale meant to cozen or deceive; or 2) from a
story that was widely circulated and believed purporting to
demonstrate the voracity of ducks.
> And don't believe anything
> (non-skeptical) you read about the "semantic web".
No fear. Balderdash is balderdash.

--
Patricia M. Godfrey
PriscaMG@xxxxxxxx