The body of words coined by anatomy

Ages ago, I wrote about body parts that have become verbs: head a committee, arm an alarm and nose in on. This week, on a sleepless night, I thought about certain verbs that have become tied to body parts. (Soon after, I told myself to go to sleep already.)

What’s the thing you do with your neck? You crane your neck when you want to see something far away a little better. I don’t know whether the verb comes from the bird or the heavy machine. I do know it doesn’t come from Stephen Crane, who wrote “Red Badge of Courage.”

Can you flare your nostrils? I think of flaring as fire burning, a storm worsening or tempers heating up. But one definition of flare is “to open or spread outward.” That’s the verb tied to the nose. I also learned that the part of the nose that moves when you flare your nostrils is the ala. The plural is alae.

I have seen people tap their fingers. They actually usually tap the tips of their fingers. Usually, the more impatient the person is, the faster they tap and the louder the sounds. Merriam-Webster defines tap as “to strike lightly, especially with a slight sound.”

I find it interesting that tap has English, French and German roots. Those roots mean “to strike with the flat of the hand … [or a] blow dealt with the paw.”

I guess the tapping has been refined away from paws to simply fingertips. This is progress, I guess.

I once read a book in which the main character rolled his shoulders every three pages or so. I was surprised his shoulders didn’t roll off. The verb to roll has more than a dozen definitions in the American Heritage Dictionary, but I’m not sure whether any of them are actions you’d take with shoulders. Merriam-Webster has a definition that seems OK: to cause to move in a circular manner.

I still don’t like that usage, though. People do square their

shoulders, which indicates they are steeling themselves for a challenge.

People also shrug their shoulders. I think this phrase is redundant, though. What else would you shrug? Your toe?

I can remember only once when my knees buckled. The verb

to buckle doesn’t have to do with metal fasteners.

And among my favorite body-related verbs is to bend, combined with elbow.

To bend an elbow is to drink

alcohol. Can you imagine taking a drink without bending your elbow? Maybe you should hold your head back and pour the drink into your opened mouth. Please don’t try this with red wine. It stains.

The body parts are in so many phrases, too.

The British have a fun phrase: More power to your

elbow. You say that when you want to wish someone well in an endeavor. Let’s hope the endeavor isn’t putting your elbow in your ear. It won’t work.

Maybe a job needs more elbow grease? Ick. I don’t want any kind of grease coming from my elbow.

Fleet of foot means you move nimbly. I am unfleet. Getting your nose out of joint sounds so painful. It’s a phrase meaning someone has hurt your feelings.

SUFFRAGE

Because the nation just celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted the right to vote to some women, I wondered about the origin of suffrage.

The first and second definitions

involve the act of voting, of course. But a third definition is a prayer. The dictionary specified the prayers were those seeking divine help. (I thought all prayers were like that.)

So, next time you vote, feel free to say a little prayer that your candidate wins. By definition, that’s permitted.

NOTORIOUS, INDEED

I tried to find a few pithy quotations about fame. I found many quotations from people I had never heard of, and I’m not sure whether that says more about me than about them.

Fortunately, I intended to

focus on adjectives having to do with fame. A reader emailed me to ask about the word notorious.

You might want to be famous, but you likely don’t want to be notorious. Notorious means you have a reputation for doing bad things.

Still, many people think being notorious is good. A usage note in the American Heritage Dictionary surprised me a little. It said that in a 2011 survey, 26% of the people considered

notorious to be a positive thing. More people, 45%, saw

notoriety as a positive thing. I wouldn’t be in that group.

VERBAL VERSUS ORAL

I never thought about the distinction between verbal and oral until a reader asked about it.

In certain senses, the words are interchangeable.

A verbal agreement doesn’t mean an agreement using only verbs, though that could be amusing:

Go, try, rent, inhabit. Jump, run, pay, deposit.

A verbal agreement is one using words, and it can be written or spoken. Something oral has to do with the mouth. You can have an oral agreement if it’s a spoken one.

Oral also means something you take by mouth, such as medicine. You would never take an allergy pill verbally.

BY THE WAY

I’m coming upon my fouryear anniversary since starting this column in the Democrat-Gazette. I’m taking a short vacation to reward myself. My column will be back Sept. 14.