Re: New Word of the Day
Well . . . "has been in the language since the 1400's" is a little bit misleading.The OED treats the word as a "phonetic corruption of corper/crupper," which itself is the name of "A leathern strap buckled to the back of the saddle and passing under the horse's tail, to prevent the saddle from slipping forwards.""Crupper" survives in print at least until 1874, and in combination with other words (ex: "crupper-bone," meaning the coccyx), at least until 1882.I'd call "curple" a word that has more or less "dropped out" of the language, possibly owing to the sheer volume of other words we have that are synonyms for "buttocks," but also owing to the largely discontinued use of the horse as a common means of transportation. Horse owners could enlighten us as to whether saddle-slip prevention technology has progressed to other means as well, perhaps leaving the device, as well as its name, behind. Aside from those seeking archaic rhymes for "purple," (note: "hirple" also works)--aside from them, has anyone ever used the word since the 1787 poem by Burns?
Herring405
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Herring405
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Well . . . "has been in the language since the 1400's" is a little bit misleading.The OED treats the word as a "phonetic corruption of corper/crupper," which itself is the name of "A leathern strap buckled to the back of the saddle and passing under the horse's tail, to prevent the saddle from slipping forwards.""Crupper" survives in print at least until 1874, and in combination with other words (ex: "crupper-bone," meaning the coccyx), at least until 1882.I'd call "curple" a word that has more or less "dropped out" of the language, possibly owing to the sheer volume of other words we have that are synonyms for "buttocks," but also owing to the largely discontinued use of the horse as a common means of transportation. Horse owners could enlighten us as to whether saddle-slip prevention technology has progressed to other means as well, perhaps leaving the device, as well as its name, behind. Aside from those seeking archaic rhymes for "purple," (note: "hirple" also works)--aside from them, has anyone ever used the word since the 1787 poem by Burns?
Herring405
