#1185 W I Names

I sometimes wonder why we have the names for things we do. Like the other day. This story comes on the radio about two boxers. Not boxers as in the type of underwear that isn’t brief, but boxers as in the type of people who duke it out for large sums of money.
You can be a Duke and own lands or you can duke it out and land blows. These two boxers were coming to blows about not coming to blows. They weren’t having a match because they couldn’t agree on the size of the prize money. Except they used the boxing term for it.
And I had to think. Isn’t it cool that the most brutal and macho sport in the world involves men fighting over a “purse”? Isn’t it about time we thought up another name for it?
And speaking of names, I learned a new one the other day. That hard tip you have on your shoelace so it can fit through the shoelace holes in your shoe and so it doesn’t unravel? It has a name. (By the way, if something unravels does that mean we raveled it in the first place?) Anyhow, the name of the hard tip is aglet. A-g-l-e-t-
I suppose it makes sense. It fits through an eyelet so I get the “let” part. But why ag? Is there an agricultural origin? Shoelaces once dipped in pig lard for easy stringing? Perhaps it was invented by someone named Ag. Or Agatha Christie maybe...
Finally, the comedic world is all atwitter right now over Apple’s choice of names for its new slate device. If you’re living under a rock, the term is iPad. It makes a certain amount of sense. iPod was revolutionary, they hope iPad will be the same. But naturally, comedic types can’t ignore the feminine connotations of the word.
Although really, late night comedians—what would anyone would do with an iPad with wings?
Still, it’s conceivable Apple will come out with a stripped-down iPad. They did it with iPhone and the iTouch.
So will the marketing people hype it up by putting iPad Light days on the calendar?
America, ya gotta love it.