Yay, it's word derivation time!

As usual, I've taken the following from "The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson. Here are two derivation stories to brighten your day: 

Catchword.  Catchwords are expressions caught up and repeated for effect. Because catchwords are often used by political parties, the term has become a contemptuous one, applied to insincere, misleading statements. Catchword, however, has an honorable history. Books were once printed with the word that began the first line on the next page directly under the last line of the preceding page. Such words, designed to catch the reader's attention and make him turn to the next page, were called catchwords. Then the term began to be applied to the last word, or cue, in an actor's speech, and finally to any expression that catches the attention.

To give short shrift to someone. To treat someone curtly, swiftly, and unsympathetically. Short shrift was originally, in the 16th century, the few minutes given a condemned man to make his confession to a priest before he was executed, shrift meaning "a confession".

Isn't that last one evil? Short shrift will have added weight the next time I use the phrase.

Speaking of word and phrase origins

The information below comes from "The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson. Here are two word/phrase origins that I enjoyed learning.

The "naked truth". According to an old Roman fable, when Truth went swimming in a river, Falsehood stole Truth's clothes -- and Truth went naked rather than put on the clothes that Falsehood had left behind. The story makes the naked truth sound rather virtuous, which gives the phrase added meaning for me.

One of my ultra-favorite word origins concerns the word "nasty", a term which has been in use since at least the 15th century. It comes from the Aryan "niz'd" for "bird's nest". Both "nasty" and "nest" probably worked their way into our language through this route. According to this theory, early Teutons noticed that birds fouled their nests and called anything foul and stinking nesty or nasty. Now, doesn't this information make the word "nasty" much nastier for you? The postscript to this entry in the encyclopedia says, "The O.E.D. notes that 'the original force of the word has been greatly . . . toned down." Indeed. Nasty!

I find that knowing the deeper meaning of words and phrases gives them added life. It's more fun to refer to the naked truth when you know what you're saying. The same goes for nasty. I'll bet that the next time you use the word, it will seem even nastier.

Foot loose and fancy free

This phrase always troubled me, even after I consulted the original text. Shakespeare used the term "fancy free" in A Midsummer Night's Dream. It doesn't mean anything to me. I know how we use it today and what we mean by it, but as a word construction, it collapses. Fancy free? I get nothing from this.

I think if I was foot loose I would definitely not be fancy free. I'd be way fancy. Just saying. But perhaps Shakespeare didn't mean fancy free to be a phrase like duty-free. In other words, "free" wasn't used as a disqualifier, in which case fancy is an adjective describing "free". I guess it means the free is fancy. Or something. Or maybe it means free as only the fancy set could be. That would make sense in this early era (and perhaps today, come to think of it).

But Shakespeare has always eluded me. Although I can read just about anything, I can't read any of his works. I've tried but I become very impatient. I know this is heresy but that's the way it is. I've read just about everyone else and can enjoy a good, boring book as well as the next guy. But Shakespeare? No.

Anyone have a better grasp of what he meant by the phrase? I didn't find anything helpful on the net.