How did people come up with names for things...
 

Rhubarb? Who came up with Rhubarb??? I mean... did they just look at and go... hmmmm that looks like a rhubarb! Pumpkin.... corn... peas... how? Who comes up with these names?!?!?!?!

Lol, i wonder this too
when i was little, i thought that someone saw like, a Tree, thought of the name, then went to the police station, and said, "i have called this a tree"
aahahhaah

RHUUUUUUUUUU-BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARB.

I don't know.

Who discovered the plant probably.

But how do you name it? How do you see something and going "that is Rhubarb!" Hoooow?

god did.

OMG I used to think this as well, I just didn't get how it would work otherwise at all!

But then I did Latin and started learning that words have roots from other words and stuff, so now I get it a bit more. Still a really weird thought!

Ha ha that's so cute..but why the police station? :D

loool i dont know
i thought the police were in charge of everything..
i recall telling one to arrest a kid who dropped a sweet wrapper...

Say the word "elbow" to yourself over and over, preferably slooowly. Then ask yourself who came up with THAT.

I did this and it made me giggle.

I have often contemplated the question who on earth came up with the term "hairdryer." It's just too obvious. :P

I mean, if people can name an orange an orange, and a hairdryer a hairdryer, who on earth came up with GARGOYLE? ...It sounds like gargle.

Maybe the rhubarb named itself. Then it told someone "Hey I'm a rhubarb." Then the name stuck.

MAybe a magical fairy came and told em waht to say ..

Thats actually how gargoyles got their name; from the sound they make when water passes through them.

serious?

*feels thick*

Ooh i've always wondered.

Radiator. Radiate- or. I guess thats kinda of obvious.

Well I feel stupid :P

but even if the words came from the roots of others. ho decided they should go together and who decided those words before that?

and who the hell came up with the word merge.. it sounds like a sound not a word.. do you know what i mean? lol

"How did people come up with names for things...?"

An interesting question from someone who named themselves Jessiwuzzle!

hehehe! There was a cartoon when I was younger called the Wuzzles and in grade 8 my best friend started calling me wuzzle... and it's stuck! *nods*

Interesting question Jessica.

"c.1390, from O.Fr. rubarbe, from M.L. rheubarbarum, from Gk. rha barbaronrha "foreign rhubarb", from rha "rhubarb" (associated with Rha, ancient Scythian name of the River Volga) + barbaron, neut. of barbaros "foreign." Grown in China and Tibet, it was imported into ancient Europe by way of Russia. Spelling altered in M.L. by association with rheum. European native species so called from 1650." (etymonline.com)

So it sounds like it's named after where it comes from.

Shakespeare.

He made up words & stuff. Or something?
:P
xx

orange?!!
Was the fruit named after the colour? In which case why is a lemon not called a yellow?
Or was the colour named after the fruit? So why isnt spinach called green?

I've often wonder about stuff like that.

I think 'trousers' is a weird word.

Trousers IS a weird word.

So is "tables."

It's probably something to do with latin?

but how did they come up with that?!

There is such a thing as old english you know...

everytime i say the word table i always think why the hell is it called that, it's such a weird word.

very interesting question i'll be suprised if anyone ever comes up with an answer for it.

i think that someone just randomly came up with a word of the top of their head then it just stuck, the word either became popular and everyone stuck with it or it was unpopular, it didn't catch on so it was renamed.
I dunno :confused:

yes. and i studied, old english and middle english at uni. big whoop! it doesn't say how they came up with names for things!!!! Who looked at a sword and said "wow, that looks like a sword. that is what i shall call it" O.o

but... sword? cordial? :P ahhh humans are a strange species :P

cloud? pen? fence? building?
and what about verbs and adjectives and other kinds of words?
like who thought of the words "run" or "fetch" or "put"
or "simple" or "big" or "late"

now im starting to question every word I say lol.
and who thought of the spelling of all the words?
like why does stop have one "p" but stopping has two?
and all the other crazy spellings.
like "column" what's up with the silent "n" ?

kay, i'll stop rambling with curiosity now... :P

Who thought "y'know, 'nife' just doesn't do this thing justice... it needs a k. Yeah, thats it, 'knife' is just RIGHT."

Who the flying f*ck decided that?

Plus it's not just the English language that comes up with words. Look at the word karaoke, that was invented by the Chinese/Japanese.

Rhubarb could have been invented by the Dutch for all we know!

My favorite is Fork and Spoon. Like random? Who was like I'm going to name this a Fork.

Or spatula, poodle, reptile, gravy, melon, crayon, etc.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if red was called green and green was called red, it would completely change everything we knew!

Say "fork and knife" outloud. ;)