Happy New Year Charles, That would have a precedent, as in the English use of "love" for zero as a score in tennis (a game that was first recorded as played in 1255, but in the indoor court that we in the US call "court tennis", the English call "royal tennis" - and the French "jeu de paume" - Shakespeare mentioned tennis balls in Henry V). "Love" from "l'ouef", the game was played at the time that the court language in England was French.
But I like my derivation better. English had become English long before the city format of the chamber pot toss. But that is the fun of speculations. Best, Jon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Browne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Jon Murphy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Vance Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "lute list" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 5:02 AM Subject: RE: Instrument Sounding > Dear Jon, > I think the word 'loo' is a corruption of 'l'eau' from the expression > 'gardez l'eau' as the contents of the chamber-pot were thrown into the > street! > Happy New Year! > Charles > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jon Murphy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 28 December 2004 09:18 > To: Vance Wood; lute list > Subject: Re: Instrument Sounding > > > Vance, > > I'm with you, I just mentioned the banjo finger picks as I know of them > (tried 'em, hate 'em). But I wonder at what you say of the lute - I thought > (from previous messages when I first joined the list) that lute players not > only didn't use fingernails but also wanted soft flesh on their fingers. The > instruments I know to "require" fingernails are classical guitar and wire > strung harp. I don't play classical guitar, but I do play an equivalent to > the wire harp and find my rather hardened fingertips are fine for that, yet > not too hard for lute or nylon strung harp. I guess that one can't have > perfection if one plays different instruments, but the best compromise is > probably no fingernails. > > BTW, you spell the "loo" as "lew", not that I mean to pick nits. It just > gives me the opportunity to bounce a thought off our UK brethren on the > list. I have a theory on the origin of the word. The English word of some > time back for the "john" is W.C. (water closet). Nineteenth C. England was > noted for euphemisms and nicknames. England (with the Prussians) defeated > Napoleon at Waterloo. Only a small step to convert water closet into > Waterloo as a nickname, and then abbreviate it to "loo". Not lute related > (unless you leave out the "t"), but I love words as well as music. > > Best, Jon > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > >
