Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2008 April 19

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[edit] April 19

[edit] how do you pronouce phoenix?

is it for-nix or fee-nix or something else?

The latter is usual - fee-nix. -- JackofOz (talk) 08:20, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] origin of phrase "roll up the sidewalk"

Where did the term "roll up the sidewalks" originate?

Thank you

skateboards?
I wandered around with google a bit and came up with this poem. I;ve never heard of it so I am not sure the attribution is correct

Poem: "Night Poem: U.S.A.," by George Garrett from Days of Our Lives Lie in Fragments (Louisiana State University Press).

Night Poem: U.S.A.

They roll up the sidewalks all over town by 11:30 p.m. Lord, by midnight there's nothing doing, moving. Lone streetlights glare like one-eyed giants, do not dare to dance. Here and there a late place burns pale fire to keep back the beasts of the night. Somebody's sick, you think (like Huck), or, less innocent, project the lewd fantastic, the cheap frail beams of poor Imagination gone awry into those naked rooms. Alas for the cop on the corner who gives you a glass-eyed stare, and for the last car weaving the pavement like a lonesome drunk. Dancers, giants, heroes and dreamers, where are you now? It's a fact— when the heart breaks it doesn't make a sound.

I couldn't find any more information on this poem to verify the author or the book or the date beyond what was said, but maybe this is a lead... 152.3.44.183 (talk) 23:01, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Rolling up the sidewalks at night means that there's nothing to do and nobody goes out. Corvus cornixtalk 23:08, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
Surely it was this George Garrett. I'd be surprised to find a one, true source for this expression. It sounds to me like one of those things somebody said once and it stuck. That poem is in Days of Our Lives Lie in Fragments: New and Old Poems, 1957-1997, published in 1998. I'd also be surprised to learn that the expression was no older than 1957. --Milkbreath (talk) 23:25, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps it should be made explicit that the figure of speech refers to rolling up a carpet as you might do to put it away when it's not needed any more. As explained above, the expression means that nobody goes out at night because there's nothing to do. And therefore the sidewalks aren't needed, and therefore we might as well imagine them being put away like carpets. --Anonymous, 02:15 UTC, April 19, 2008.

Moved from Misc Desk. BrainyBabe (talk) 09:54, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

If the question is who said it first, wouldn't the Humanities Desk be the right destination? --Anon, 10:55 UTC, April 19, 2008.

[edit] Someone vandalised the Wales section

Hey there, I just wanted to tell you that has vandalised the Wales page. You should check it out. Thanks.

'THAT' has? What has?--ChokinBako (talk) 13:00, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
Please don't mock other user's errors, ChokinBako. It is rude and comes across as hostile. To the person who brought up the vandalism of the Wales page, thank you. The vandalism was quickly removed and the page looks good now, to me. Skittle (talk) 15:03, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
Aaaaaargh, more vandalism: there is a horrible picture now on the Wales page! --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 17:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] What's the word for?

I know there is a word for this situation: Your PC or electronic gizmo does not work after trying and messing around. So, you call the technician. When he arrives, the PC or gizmo behaves itself like a good child. I know many can identify with this situation. :-) 59.183.50.187 (talk)

Gremlins ;-) --Prestidigitator (talk) 18:23, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
In computer programming there is the term Heisenbug (a portemanteau of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and bug) which refers to computer bugs which disappear when you look for them or try to track them down. -- 128.104.112.85 (talk) 19:10, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
But the principle extends further: the car that no longer makes a mysterious knocking sound when at the garage, the problem child who behaves sweetly for the behavioural therapist, the eczema that disappears mere days before the long-awaited appointment with the dermatologist.... BrainyBabe (talk) 20:32, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
Could it be Sods law?
Maybe even objects and things act up to get attention? Julia Rossi (talk) 01:18, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

If you want a jokey answer, these are fine. If you want a serious answer, it's an intermittent problem. --Anonymous, 03:45 UTC, April 20/08.

Technically it's intermittent, yes. But we do have this concept floating around of something that consistently acts up until you need to show it to someone else, and I don't know if we have a word for it. kwami (talk) 03:46, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
Intermittent sounds random, but this more like intermittent with a plan. Is there planned intermittence? Julia Rossi (talk) 06:40, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
"Perverse" is a more general word, but is sometimes used in reference to this sort of thing.
Someone once said: "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action." Doesn't answer the question, but it felt appropriate to quote it.
--Anon, 19:05 UTC, April 20/08.
Another slightly OT quote; "The innate animosity of the inanimate". SaundersW (talk) 17:18, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Clutch (sports)

What is the origin of this somewhat annoying term? When and how was it first used?--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 21:23, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Good question. I don't seem to be able to find out where it came from. The parent expression is, of course, "to come through in the clutch". I'd always imagined it referred to wrestling, the "clutch" being some state of deep grabbing that it would be hard to come through in. Maybe it's from falconry, the "clutch" being when the bird takes the game. I dunno. --Milkbreath (talk) 23:09, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
Interesting. What does the OED have to say (I don't have access to one)? Is "clutch" in this sense even in the OED?--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 00:27, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
No, but "clusterfuck" is. Go figure. Yeah, I read both entries (the other one is for eggs), and I searched all on the phrase "in the clutch". No dice, all about cars. I googled, obviously, I tried onelook, and I checked Brewer's. Nada. That article bites, by the way. --Milkbreath (talk) 00:53, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for checking. It is a godawful article, I agree (and of course, it's much funner for me to complain than to do something about it).--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 01:09, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
This suggests that it's derived from WE Henley's Invictus, although they don't give any proof:
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Corvus cornixtalk 21:29, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, that's the best source I've seen. It even references a William Safire column.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 19:23, 25 April 2008 (UTC)