Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 21:22:43 -0400

From: Fred Shapiro fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU

Subject: Re: Etymology of _Hoosier_



On Thu, 16 Oct 1997, Dennis R. Preston wrote:



There is also some caution to be taken in lessons learned from medicine and

other areas (which we all pray are dominated by hard science) where folk

facts have tuned out to be right on.



I would be curious to learn of examples of folk-etymologies that have

turned out to be "right on." I have long believed that the more colorful

an etymological story is, the less likely it is to have anything to do

with the truth. If one automatically dismissed all colorful etymological

stories as hogwash, one would rarely be in error.





----------------------------------------------