BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'

05 May 06 - 06:12 PM (#1733613)
Subject: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Bert

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

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05 May 06 - 06:17 PM (#1733619)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: GUEST

Splattering Poots All Wet?

Janie

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05 May 06 - 06:23 PM (#1733624)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: jeffp

I have it on the highest authority.......well, maybe not, that it's Gaelic for fart.

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05 May 06 - 06:23 PM (#1733625)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Rapparee

Superior Person, All Wise???

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05 May 06 - 06:31 PM (#1733628)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Bert

Perhaps this quote from the 'Squaw' thread is also appropriate here.

"Seems that certain behaviours are simply not tolerated, including the use of certain words."

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05 May 06 - 06:46 PM (#1733636)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: catspaw49

Aw geez......Leave it to Bert to make me the subject of a copycat thread.....although I admit I had the same thought and was hoping it would just slip by and not be created........***sigh***..........

Ye, it was Bert who did it.....Also the only man on the planet who seemed to have the ready knowledge right at his fingertips that the plural of penis as this ANCIENT post proves:
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Subject: RE: What brand condoms do Mudcatters prefer.
From: Bert - PM
Date: 18 Jan 99 - 09:55 AM

Frank,

Here's an old thread on the subject American cultural oddities

Catspaw49, the plural is penes.

Bert.
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Spaw

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05 May 06 - 10:13 PM (#1733742)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Little Hawk

It derives from the Lovecraft Mythos of the "Great Old Ones", demigods from some other dimension who used to rule the cosmos, but were cast out or put to sleep, yet may awaken at any time and turn everything totally to shit, to put it metaphorically.

Among those Great Old Ones the scariest seems to have been dread Cthulhu!!!! Cthulhu is totally nasty, merciless, and horrible beyond description. Anything proceeding forth from Cthulhu can be termed the "spawn of Cthulhu". Such spawn generally smell very bad, make hideous noises, and can be counted on to have an unsettling effect on all that they encounter as they lurch about in an inchoate and positively eldritch fashion, spreading havoc, terror, and random inconvenience of an extreme sort.

The word "spawn" then became vulgarized and shortened to "spaw" in the common vernacular.

And there you have it. ;-D

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05 May 06 - 10:16 PM (#1733745)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Amos

Actually, it is from a totallly different root, which is only cognate through the sort of semantic coincidence that gives us "though" and "thought".

The word derives from Olde English; when it was used it was the future pluperfect of the verb "to spew" which meant then pretty much what it means today.

A

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05 May 06 - 10:25 PM (#1733753)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Rapparee

I thought it came from an old SW Ohio answer:

"Who's that over there in the bushes with Maw?"
"Jis' Paw."

Which was pronounced "Ji spaw."

That is to say, "Spaw" in the guy in the bushes with Maw.

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05 May 06 - 10:42 PM (#1733761)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: wysiwyg

Naw, sillies; it's a noise that came out of his butt.

~S~

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05 May 06 - 11:19 PM (#1733783)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Little Hawk

If we all slowly go blind, it will be your fault, gargoyle.

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06 May 06 - 03:00 AM (#1733869)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Gurney

'Catspaw'
[1]A person used by another for personal gain; A pawn.
[2]A rope with hitches to which tackle can be attached.
I've also seen/read it used as a light gust of wind (of the weather kind) which tends To accord with the teasing explanations above.


Ahh. Sorry about my attack of seriousness.   Over now.

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06 May 06 - 11:17 AM (#1734033)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: The Shambles

C'mon we can all have some real fun with this.

Shithead
Prick
Asshole
Wanker

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06 May 06 - 11:28 AM (#1734040)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: freda underhill

we need a word archeologist (a hystoriolinguinist) to delve the pre indo-eurpoean origins of 'spaw.. the roost origins of this word come from a fertility myth - spawn of the Gods, the ancient Egyptian cats of the temples, catspaw..

freda

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06 May 06 - 12:36 PM (#1734086)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Amos

Indo-European root sp´ae, to heave, eject, send out forcibly, also ill wind or bad fortune. Old English spwa. Middle English spawne, from spawnen.

Indo-European cognates include -pet, generally to spread out, from which we derive pederasty.

A

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06 May 06 - 12:40 PM (#1734091)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Bert

I think that it is also significant that a catspaw is an instrument for removing nails.

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06 May 06 - 12:57 PM (#1734104)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: GUEST,leeneia

It comes from the Christmas song:

"Up on the housetop, Reindeer spaw"

Spaw is a verb of Laplandish derivation, which describes the movement reindeer make when digging out moss from under snow.

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07 May 06 - 01:48 AM (#1734386)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Cluin

In French, it's a contraction, usually meaning "right?" or "innit?" or "eh?"

"`Spa?"



(short for "N'est pas?")

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07 May 06 - 02:11 AM (#1734394)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Bert

Or it could be Cheltenham Spa which would be even worse.

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07 May 06 - 06:51 PM (#1734841)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: chazkratz

Actually, I believe it's onomatopoeic, used to identify the sound made when spitting out the chewed end of bad cigars. I get this from a later deleted line from "King of the Road": "Old stogies I have found, short but a-a-a-ck, spaw! spaw! SPAW!

--seed

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07 May 06 - 07:07 PM (#1734850)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Bill D

origins are hard to trace...but there seems to be relevance here..Society for the Protection of Artificial Wildlife

it does happen, though, that one image of a bit of wildlife NAMED Spaw exists...it may even be artificial .

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07 May 06 - 07:13 PM (#1734851)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Little Hawk

Yaughh!!!!!!!!!!   Is that Mr Congeniality at Penn State U.?

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07 May 06 - 11:36 PM (#1735036)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: CarolC

Oh my goodness, Bill!

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08 May 06 - 12:20 AM (#1735072)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: katlaughing

I always thought it was meant to embody his spawtaneity, his joie de vivre so to speak.:-)

Actually it was a lot easier and quicker to write 'spawdarlin' than Catspaw49darlin'!

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08 May 06 - 09:50 AM (#1735319)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: Amos

Seed!

Wow!!


A

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08 May 06 - 10:00 AM (#1735325)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: redsnapper

I thinks it's from the Afrikaans spoor meaning the the track of a wild animal. Hence to spoor: to track an animal by its spoor. Dialectically translated to the pronouniation spaw in Ohio and surrounding regions.

RS

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08 May 06 - 10:53 AM (#1735360)
Subject: RE: BS: Origins of the word 'spaw'
From: catspaw49

WOW.....Seed arrived on this thread too!!! I juast put a note to him on the banjo camp music thread...........Great to see him around isn't it?

A really broad cross section on this thread ain't it?

Spaw

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