Neatorama

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• Words That Changed Their Meanings
• Potato Gatling Gun
• 3D Graffiti by Sander van Heukelom
• Mysterious Tales of Traveling Dogs
• Hitler’s Stealth Plane Re-Created
• The Surreal Appeal of the Falkirk Wheel
• Spaghetti Cake
• The A to Z of Awesomeness
• 5 Strangest Products Pitched by Billy Mays
• Blue Angels Cockpit Cam
• Billy Mays Has Died
• “Swan Flu” and Other Commonly Misspelled Search Terms of the Month
• Prostitute Traded Sex for … Frito-Lay Chips!
• Meet Pabst, The World’s Ugliest Dog
• Time Wastes Too Fast
• 13-story Building Topples
• Michael Jackson Tribute

Words That Changed Their Meanings Posted: 29 Jun 2009 03:20 AM PDT The following is an article from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Golden Plunger Awards By most estimates, the English language includes about one million words, yet native speakers regularly use only about 5,000. And they don't always get the ones they do use correct. Like all languages, English is constantly changing - new words are added, old words are phased out, and new word combinations are formed all the time. But the following examples of language changes cause trouble for people who like to use their words correctly because these words and phrases have pretty much lost their original meanings. Beg The Question If an event or happening raises a question for someone it's almost certain he or she will say, "This begs the question ..." But it doesn't. Begging the question is a verbal trick speakers use to avoid a question, not bring one up. The original definition of begging the question meant to assume that what is being questioned had already been proven to be true, so the answer sidestepped the thing in question. Say you were asked a question that just required a simple yes or no answer. But instead of saying yes, you answer with a statement that assumes the thing in question is already true. That's begging the question. For example, if the question is, "Senator, will this new crime bill be effective?" and he or she answers with a statement that doesn't answer it - "I've been fighting crime my entire career, and this crime bill is the latest example of that" - then the speaker has begged the question. It's a common practice in formal debate, and it's especially prevalent in politics. In the example above, the speaker is acting as though the crime bill is definitely effective, even though he or she never answered the basic question with a yes or no. Assuming the question is true is not evidence that it is. From that, beg the question evolved in the language to mean that the statement invites another obvious question. Anytime you run verbal circles around the question without answering it can be called begging the question in this sense (although strict grammarians frown upon it; they like to keep the original meaning). Decimate It's hard to believe that such a simple word hides such a horrific history. The original definition of "decimate" was "to kill one in ten." The brutal practice was used by the Roman army beginning around the 5th century B.C. and was implemented as a way to inspire fear and loyalty. Lots were drawn, and one out of every 10 soldiers would be killed - by their own comrades. If one member of a squad acted up, anybody could pay the ultimate price. Captured armies often fell victim to this practice as well. Today, "decimate" has lost that meaning, but some grammarians still like to preserve it ... at least in the sense of "to reduce by 10 percent." The "dec" prefix means "ten" - it's the same Latin root that gives us decade, for example. So to use "decimate" to mean just "destroy" contradicts the meaning of that prefix. (Note: Language snobs really get up in arms when someone says "totally decimate." Totally reduce by ten? We don't get it, either.) Could Care Less This is an easy mistake to make. The correct phrase, of course, is "couldn't care less" - as in, "I don't care at all, so it wouldn't be possible for me to care any less about this." But over the years, that's morphed into a new phrase (with the same meaning), and even though the Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage criticized the change in 1975, saying it was "an ignorant debasement of language," "could care less" seems to be around to stay. Language historian say "couldn't care less" was originally a British phrase that became popular in the Untied States in the 1950s. "Could care less" appeared about a decade later. No one knows exactly why the incorrect form came into being, since it doesn't make sense. But the phrase has stuck, and a lot of grammarians care very much that it's not being used correctly. (Regular people, of course, couldn't care less.) Card Sharp No, that's not a misspelling. Sure it sounds weird to the ear, but people who know the term's history and meaning prefer the original. "Card sharp" first appeared in the 1880s and meant a card player who tricked or scammed others. "Card shark" appeared much later, in the 1940s. Many people assume that the mix-up simply comes from speakers who either thought "shark" sounded better or misheard the word originally. But that may not be the case. Linguists have traced the history of both "sharp" and "shark" to their original usages, and though it doesn't appear that either word derived from the other, there are a lot of similarities in meaning. "Shark" comes from a 17th-century German word schurke, which meant "someone who cheats." "Sharping" came about around the same time and meant "swindling or cheating." The words "loan shark" and "sharp practice" come from these words as well. So technically, "card shark" could be correct. But because "card sharp" appeared first, many linguists want to preserve it. Whether they'll succeed is anyone's guess, but it's a sharp point of contention for many. Spit and Image If you think you're the spitting image of your parents, you're forgiven. People have been messing this one up for decades. "Spit and image" was the original term, used from about 1825 on. The Oxford English Dictionary defined it as "the very spit of, the exact image, likeness, or counterpart of." "Spitting image" came about some 80 years later and was followed by a few other variations, including "spitten image" and "splitting image" (neither of which really caught on). In this case, "spitting image" has overtaken the use of "spit and image" for most English speakers. But when you're spitting out this phrase, take a moment to remember its original use and think about the image you're trying to project. Ironic Few words cause as much confusion or are used incorrectly as often as "ironic." Not that it's hard to understand why - the definition is not simple: "a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning ... the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning." What? In 1996, Alanis Morissette wrote an entire song titled "Ironic," which consistently used the word incorrectly. And even the people who are supposed to know what it means get it wrong. The American Heritage Dictionary gave the word "irony" to its distinguished panel of experts (the ones who help ensure the accuracy of all the words the dictionary defines) and asked them if either of the following sentences used the word correctly: 1. "In 1969, Susie moved from Ithaca to California, where she met her husband-to-be, who, ironically, also came from upstate New York." Seventy-eight percent of the panel's members agreed that this was an incorrect use of the word. 2. "Ironically, even as the government was fulminating against American policy, American jeans and videocassettes were the hottest items in the stalls of the market." In contrast, though, 73 percent agreed that this sentence used it properly. How "ironic" came to be defined as "coincidence" is anybody's guess, but for our purposes, we like to refer to the following quote from the 1994 film Reality Bites. When Ethan Hawke's character is asked to define "ironic," he says, "It's when the actual meaning is the complete opposite of the literal meaning." Thank goodness for Hollywood. The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Golden Plunger Awards Forget the Oscars and the Grammys - the awards committee at the Bathroom Readers' Institute is handing out its own honors... the highly coveted Golden Plungers. We've scoured the globe to bring you the people, places, and events most worthy of throne-room recognition. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

Potato Gatling Gun Posted: 29 Jun 2009 02:10 AM PDT As Kip "Kipkay" Kedersha of Make Magazine said in the clip, everyone has seen a potato gun … but what about a potato gatling gun? The DeRose family decided to build a rapid-fire revolving potato cannon for a weekend project. The Zeray Gazette has the video clip of the potato gatling gun in action (spuds away!): Link [embedded YouTube clip] | The Potato Gatling Gun Official Website

3D Graffiti by Sander van Heukelom Posted: 29 Jun 2009 02:09 AM PDT Sander van Heukelom combines typographic design, graffiti and sculpting into unique pieces of 3D graffiti (He uses styrofoam, plexiglass, synthetic resin and wood). This one above, Quod dubitas, ne feceris - Latin for "when you doubt, do not act" - is probably a concept most graffiti artists do not recognize. Check out the rest of Sander’s artwork here: Link [Flash] - via Rue The Day!

Mysterious Tales of Traveling Dogs Posted: 29 Jun 2009 02:08 AM PDT If you get separated from your cat, that’s the end of that. But not dogs, no siree. Some dogs will hunt you down for miles through desert, across state lines, over the ocean, and even across a war zone! Miss Cellania wrote a fantastic article about 8 Mysterious Tales of Traveling Dogs over at our pal mental_floss - take for instance, the story of Nubs: Major Brian Dennis adopted an abused mixed-breed dog in Anbar Province, Iraq. He named the dog Nubs because his ears had been cut off. Dennis nursed Nubs back to health over four months, but then he was ordered to move his squadron 70 miles away. Two days later, Nubs rejoined Dennis! The dog had tracked him down despite subfreezing temperatures and rough terrain. But the major received orders to get rid of the dog within four days or he would be shot. Dennis started an email campaign to save Nubs that raised $3,500 within a couple of days, and battled bureaucratic difficulties to get the dog out of Iraq across the Jordanian border. Nubs was flown to the US the next week, where he was met by friends and a veterinarian in Chicago, then by a dog trainer at his final destination in San Diego. Major Dennis was reunited with Nubs after his tour was up a month later. Link

Hitler’s Stealth Plane Re-Created Posted: 29 Jun 2009 12:15 AM PDT The Nazi Horten 2-29 fighter plane looked like something from a Star Wars prequel: an all-wing jet capable of speeds up to 600 mph, made mostly of wood. Designer Walter Horten had lost hundreds of Luftwaffe colleagues during the Battle of Britain in 1940, and he was keen to avenge their deaths by developing a plane that would be pretty much invisible to Britain’s radar system. He and his brother built and flew the prototype Ho 2-29 just before Christmas 1944, but the war ended before the plane could enter mass production. The only remaining Horten 2-29 is kept hidden from public view at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility outside Washington, DC. Did the plane truly have stealth capability against WWII radar? A team from Northrup Grumman built and tested a full-scale replica to find out. Photo by Linda Reynolds/Flying Wing Films Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.

The Surreal Appeal of the Falkirk Wheel Posted: 29 Jun 2009 12:14 AM PDT The people of Falkirk, Scotland needed to connect two waterways, but there was one big problem.  The difference in height between the two measures about the same as an eight story building.  The solution?  A pretty amazing rotating boat lift, the only one of its type in the world: The Scottish capital city, Edinburgh and its second city, Glasgow, had no water based connection for seventy years. It wasn't until almost the dawn of the new century that this situation was reconsidered and the idea of the Falkirk Wheel was taken seriously and put in to action. Now the wheel, as well as a connector between the two cities, is a remarkable and awe-inspiring tourist destination in its own right. However, if it wasn't for the prodigious gambling habits of the British people this amazing structure would never have been built. Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.

Spaghetti Cake Posted: 28 Jun 2009 08:18 PM PDT Ciao Chow Linda served her family spaghetti and meatballs for dessert. It’s a cake: A banana cake covered with frosting shaped like spaghetti noodles and topped with chocolate truffle “meatballs” in a strawberry sauce. Recipe and instructions are included with the post. Link -via mental_floss Previously at Neatorama: spaghetti ice cream.

The A to Z of Awesomeness Posted: 28 Jun 2009 06:33 PM PDT Cartoonist Neill Cameron is spending a month creating and presenting an A to Z list of things that are truly awesome, bringing together pop culture icons such as Hello Kitty, Optimus Prime, and Ironman. Link via Popped Culture Previously on Neatorama: The Periodic Table of Awesoments

5 Strangest Products Pitched by Billy Mays Posted: 28 Jun 2009 12:28 PM PDT Everybody knows that Billy Mays is TV pitchman for OxiClean ("powered by the air we breathe!) and Kaboom ("tough on grime, easy on you") ... but wait, there's more! Did you know that the loud, bearded uber-salesman also pitched strange products like the Grater Plater and the Hercules Hook? (There's also the Green Now, a spray paint to paint your dead lawn green, but I couldn't find the video for it.) In memory of Billy Mays, the king of infomercial, here are 5 of the strangest product he ever pitched: The Grater Plater [YouTube Clip] What do you get when you combine a cheese grater and a plate? The plate that grates, of course, here's The Grater Plater. (The name alone is golden: Grater. Plater. Grater plater. Gotta love it!) The Gopher [YouTube Clip] While my wife likes OxiClean, The Gopher is actually my favorite item Billy Mays had ever pitched (in the words of another late-night infomercial, "I'm not only a blogger, I'm also an infomercial customer!"). It just works well - many years later, I still use mine to grab things too high to reach (saves me from getting the step stool out). Tool Band-It [YouTube Clip] The Tool Band-It is another in Billy May's long line of making a product out of two existing ones. This time, it's magnet + armband, to give you a magnetic arm band. Genius! The AwesomeAuger [YouTube Clip] I distrust a $20 drill, but the idea behind the AwesomeAuger is pretty solid (I have a similar device - the drill bit alone cost me $20. It works well for boring holes in hard ground for small plants). The only thing that works better is The Garden Weasel's Garden Claw. Hercules Hook [YouTube Clip] The Hercules Hook is in a class by itself: here, Billy Mays used his infomercial prowess to sell you a bent pin for hanging stuff on your wall. I myself am a nail-and-hammer kind of guy, but the Hercules Hook does work well (if you don't damage the drywall while you're pushing it in) though I wouldn't use it to hang shelves or anything like that ... Billy Mays, RIP.

Blue Angels Cockpit Cam Posted: 28 Jun 2009 12:17 PM PDT [YouTube - Link] I have always had a fascination with planes and fighter jets ever since my Dad used to take the family and I to the Dubai Airshow when I was really young where we got to watch some of the craziest and most talented pilots showing off their stuff. I remember once seeing the Blue Angels on display and they blew me away! Still to this day their stuff is top notch and gives me thrills to see them fly. Lucky for us we get to see the view from one of their cockpits as they perform some hair raising maneuvers. I trust I won’t be the only one who gets goosebumps and a few butterflies in their stomachs as you get to see how amazingly close they get to each other and how in tune they are to each others positions. Mind you it’s almost 10 minutes of video! * Also, if you are prone to motion sickness be careful watching this! Thank you SydneyClaire for reminding me to put a motion sickness warning! ** This is raw footage so the sound will be a little loud so please take care to drop the level just a bit after hitting play! Don’t want to hurt your ears!

Billy Mays Has Died Posted: 28 Jun 2009 11:21 AM PDT First it was David Carradine, then Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Now, infomercial king Billy Mays is dead. Celebrities are dying left and right! The 50-year-old known for his shouting OxiClean ads was pronounced dead at 7:45 a.m. The Hillborough County medical examiner will perform an autopsy, Tampa police Lt. Brian Dugan said. Mays was on the US Airways flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Tampa on Saturday that had a hard landing at Tampa International Airport when the plane’s front tire blew out. There were no reported injuries on Flight 1241, US Airways told CNN. According to a local Tampa TV station, Mays said: "All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head." No words whether the a bump in the head, which caused the death of actress Natasha Richardson a couple of months ago, is also responsible for Billy May’s death. CNN has the news: Link Previously on Neatorama: 5 Shocking Celebrity Deaths

“Swan Flu” and Other Commonly Misspelled Search Terms of the Month Posted: 28 Jun 2009 11:20 AM PDT All of you Neatoramanauts know that we love tpyos here at Neatorama, but even we know how to spell Susan Boyle, MySpace and Swine Flu - those are just three of the most commonly misspelled (or perhaps mistyped) searches in Yahoo! Vera H-C Chan of Yahoo! Buzz’ The Buzz Log has the list: Recent Orthographic Abuses of the English Language on Yahoo!, Past 30 Days * Swan Flu (for Swine Flu) * Susan Boil (for "Britain’s Got Talent" contender Susan Boyle) * Brack Obama (for U.S. President Barack Obama) * Sonia Sotomeyer (for Supreme Court justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor) * Rachel Ray (for Food Network host Rachael Ray) * Paperview boxing (for cable programming pay-per-view boxing) * Amtrack (for train system Amtrak) * Wallmart (for retailer Wal-Mart) * Farrah Faucet (for actress Farrah Fawcett) * Rod Steward (for singer Rod Stewart) * Arlene Specter (for Senator Arlen Specter) * “Dancing With the Starts” (for ABC reality competition Dancing With the Stars) * Bea Author” (for the late comedian Bea Arthur) * Brittany Spears (for singer Britney Spears) * Chris Allen (for “American Idol” winner Kris Allen) * Configure worm (for computer virus Conficker worm) * Mysapce (for MySpace) Link - via USA Today Previously on Neatorama: Swine Flu: Bacon’s Revenge

Prostitute Traded Sex for … Frito-Lay Chips! Posted: 28 Jun 2009 11:18 AM PDT The economy is so bad that even prostitutes are desperate! Oklahoma City resident Lahuma Sue Smith, 36, pled no contest to prostitution charges that she traded sex for … a box of Frito-Lay chips: According to the police report, undercover officers noticed Smith "trying to catch a date” by flashing her headlights at SE 33 and Robinson. Officers said they followed Smith’s car and found her with her blouse open and found a man in the passenger seat pulling his pants up. The man told police he was having marital problems and knew he could pick up a prostitute there. Smith told police the man told her he was looking for company but he didn’t have any money, so she agreed to be paid with a $30 case of Frito-Lay chips he had in the back of his car. Link

Meet Pabst, The World’s Ugliest Dog Posted: 28 Jun 2009 11:17 AM PDT The World’s Ugliest dog contest has been decided … and the result ain’t pretty! Congrats to Pabst, a boxer-mix shelter dog who won the 21st annual World’s Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. From the official website: As the crowd chanted “Pabst, Pabst,” the celebrity judges deliberated between the so-named boxer-mix shelter dog and Rascal, a former world champion Chinese Crested to determine who would be the 2009 World’s Ugliest Dog Champion tonight at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. First timer Miles Egstad from Citrus Heights, California was stunned at Pabst’s win. “ I don’t think he’s that ugly!” he said of his boxer mix whose under bite was his most compelling physical feature. His sweet personality made him an audience favorite. The Chinese Crested breed has dominated the contest for more than seven years and in this year’s contest represented more than 50% of the 2009 entries in the pedigree class. But Pabst, who was given his name because he had a “ bitter beer face”, according to his owner quickly won the crowd and the judges soon followed. Egstad, 25, first saw the contest on television and his friends urged him to enter his dog. Link (Photo: Grace Chon / Shine Pet Photos) Video clip of the event: [YouTube Clip]

Time Wastes Too Fast Posted: 28 Jun 2009 08:48 AM PDT Author and illustrator Maira Kalman took a trip to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson and was moved to write a travelogue. But this is no ordinary travelogue. Kalman writes about Jefferson’s life and philosophy as well as his home, with whimsical pictures that drawn you in to her experience. Link -via Everlasting Blort

13-story Building Topples Posted: 28 Jun 2009 08:46 AM PDT You don’t want to be around when a high-rise apartment building falls over! The unfinished 13-story building in Shanghai toppled Saturday morning and killed a 28-year-old worker. “It was just like an earthquake,” witness Zhang Supong told China Daily. Construction of the building has been halted pending an investigation of the collapse, including reports that cracks had appeared Friday on a flood prevention bank near the apartment building, Xinhua reported. Link to story. Link to pictures. -via J-Walk Blog

Michael Jackson Tribute Posted: 28 Jun 2009 06:02 AM PDT (YouTube link) The dancing inmates of Cebu prison in the Philippines (featured previously at Neatorama) presented a choreographed tribute to Michael Jackson yesterday. 1,500 inmates participated. The best is the middle part, where you’ll see dancing nuns and prisoners doing the Thriller dance to “I’ll Be There”. -via Buzzfeed

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