Phil.Scovell@f810.n104.z1.fidonet.org (Phil Scovell) (06/22/91)
Index Number: 16354
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
Willie,
Didn't the word "blink" come from the blinkers, isn't that what they call
them, which are placed on horses in order to keep them from looking anywhere
but straight ahead? Yes, that is correct...I just stopped and looked it up
in the dictionary and it says that blinkers are blinders. The dictionary
also had some other interesting things to say about the word blink itself.
Phil.
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!104!810!Phil.Scovell
Internet: Phil.Scovell@f810.n104.z1.fidonet.orgmgflax@phoenix.princeton.edu (Marshall G. Flax) (06/28/91)
Index Number: 16462 In article <16354@handicap.news> Phil.Scovell@f810.n104.z1.fidonet.org writes: >Index Number: 16354 > >Didn't the word "blink" come from the blinkers, isn't that what they call >them, which are placed on horses in order to keep them from looking anywhere >but straight ahead? Yes, that is correct...I just stopped and looked it up >in the dictionary and it says that blinkers are blinders. The dictionary >also had some other interesting things to say about the word blink itself. As far as I can tell (Webster's 7th Collegiate Dictionary) our word "blinder" (those things put around horse's heads) was cited as first being used in 1809 and derives from the word "blinker" which means the same thing and was first cited in 1636. But the dictionary says that "blink" is as old as the 14th century, so it is possible that it was used as a perjorative term for blind people even *before* it was applied to horses. Any people in alt.usage.english have any comments? marshall -- /****************************************************************************/ /* Marshall Gene Flax '89 (609)258-6739 mgflax@phoenix.Princeton.EDU */ /* c/o Jack Gelfand|Psychology Dept|Princeton University|Princeton NJ 08544 */ /****************************************************************************/