The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #135442   Message #3135774
Posted By: josepp
15-Apr-11 - 11:37 AM
Thread Name: BS: Philology
Subject: RE: BS: Philology
I was looking up the meaning of "prevaricate." It means "bow-legged." Here's how:

We often use the word as a synonym for "lie." Actually, it means to deviate from the truth. Like when your kids get in a fight over something and each starts off with the same account and subtly veers off from there to make the other look totally guilty.

It comes from the Latin "praevaricari" or "to act in collusion." But its roots are "prae" or "to" and "varicare" or "straddle." To straddle.

Varicare descends from "varus" which is "bow-legged."

So if you're bow-legged, you're a lying son of a bitch.