For native English speak buddies

[Osvaldo Cristo]

Rails and stile.

For me as a non-native English speak person the name looks me odd, actually I would expect the opposite if I compared against traditional railway naming I would expect that naming came from. The longest and more direct parts would be "rail" and the smaller transverse parts would be the stiles. It look me more "logical".

Oh, yes, I know natural languages are not strictly "logical" but perhaps there are something behind that naming I missed and I would like to listen you and perhaps I could find some logic at that name also. ;)

Thanks for your feedback.

[Tony Wilkins]

Rails and stile.

For me as a non-native English speak person the name looks me odd, actually I would expect the opposite if I compared against traditional railway naming I would expect that naming came from. The longest and more direct parts would be "rail" and the smaller transverse parts would be the stiles. It look me more "logical".

Oh, yes, I know natural languages are not strictly "logical" but perhaps there are something behind that naming I missed and I would like to listen you and perhaps I could find some logic at that name also. ;)

Thanks for your feedback.
Not sure of the origin but language is so fluid (especially English)that I bet the words referred to something slightly different before.

[James Pallas]

Osvaldo, I think you will find that the terms come from fencing as opposed to railroads. Fence horizontals are referred to as rails. At times a higher than normal fence post was put up to allow a handhold for people to cross the fence without a gate. Sometimes this included some form of steps. Kept gates from being expensive and from being left open. The vertical piece is referred to as the stile.

[Megan Fitzpatrick]

I don't know the etymology, but I've always remembered which is which by this: Stiles are like hemlines – they go up and down (styles/stiles). Silly, but it works!

[Sanford Imhoff]

I've always gone - rails are like rails on a fence - horizontal.

439600

[Mel Fulks]

Osvaldo, the Oxford gives a date of 1668 for "stile " and defines it as a vertical ,usually holding up something else.
No info on origin. A set of steps made for people to go over a fence,while excluding animals is also a "stile".

[Jim Koepke]

Rails and stile.

For me as a non-native English speak person the name looks me odd, actually I would expect the opposite if I compared against traditional railway naming I would expect that naming came from. The longest and more direct parts would be "rail" and the smaller transverse parts would be the stiles. It look me more "logical".

Oh, yes, I know natural languages are not strictly "logical" but perhaps there are something behind that naming I missed and I would like to listen you and perhaps I could find some logic at that name also. ;)

Thanks for your feedback.

Don't feel alone. Until today my understanding of them was also more "logical." That's just my style.

jtk

[Tony Wilkins]

Don't feel alone. Until today my understanding of them was also more "logical." That's just my stile.

jtk
Fixed it for you.

[Mel Fulks]

A word I've wondered about is bolection (moulding). Oxford defines it but says its origin is unknown. I have a theory
about it : architect is talking about using a large moulding for "projection". Helper hears that and tells another guy that
they are going to use a "bolection moulding". And after a few rounds of retelling and laughter the new word and old mould
are married forever.

[James Pallas]

Bole is French word for trim around doors or shutters on the exterior. That may be the origin.

[Mel Fulks]

Thanks, James. Possible,but there are lots of Anglicized French words and they are reported as such in OED. But
they might well have considered that. My guess might also have been considered....but I'm making sure it doesn't
land in the ash heap of history. "ash heap of history"....I made another good entry !

[Mel Fulks]

Stile . Could come from peristyle, row of columns

[Jerome Andrieux]

Stile . Could come from peristyle, row of columns

From French péristyle, from Latin peristylum, from Greek peristylos, peri (~around) and stylos (~pillar).

Stylus, stylet and other pointy things comes from the same greek root "stylos".

On the other hand, French use the word "rabot" for handplanes, maybe taken from "rabbit" (English, or maybe Dutch...) because the blade ressembles rabbit ears.

Language :)

[Jim Matthews]

The roots of English words also include German..



Old English stigel, stile "device for climbing, ladder," related to stigen "to climb," from Proto-Germanic *stig- "to climb" (see stair). An arrangement to allow persons to pass but not sheep and cattle.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stile

[Jim Matthews]

Rails and stile.

For me as a non-native English speak person the name looks me odd, actually I would expect the opposite ...

As a former, poorly trained TOEFL instructor I can say with confidence that English has more exceptions than rules. That's what happens when an isolated population makes things up as they go along.

[Prashun Patel]

It’s not my stile to rail against furniture naming conventions.

[Rob Luter]

Stiles run vertically, rails run horizontally.

[Curt Harms]

Osvaldo, I think you will find that the terms come from fencing as opposed to railroads. Fence horizontals are referred to as rails. At times a higher than normal fence post was put up to allow a handhold for people to cross the fence without a gate. Sometimes this included some form of steps. Kept gates from being expensive and from being left open. The vertical piece is referred to as the stile.

I'd figured out the origin of "rail" but had no clue about "stile". Thanks.

[mike stenson]

As a former, poorly trained TOEFL instructor I can say with confidence that English has more exceptions than rules. That's what happens when an isolated population makes things up as they go along.

It's also what happens when you have a (largely) germanic language that has SERIOUS influences from pretty much every other language in the region ;)

[Jim Koepke]

It's also what happens when you have a (largely) germanic language that has SERIOUS influences from pretty much every other language in the region ;)

And it can be a real hoot to have a conversation with people from different parts of the country.

Even from the same areas but in different trades can be difficult. My wife worked in a framing shop where what woodworkers call a marking gauge is called a scribe.

jtk

[Rafael Herrera]

How about rabbet vs. rebate? Is there an anti-French sentiment in there?

[mike stenson]

How about rabbet vs. rebate? Is there an anti-French sentiment in there?

No, it's likely just that the vowel sounds changed. At least from what I could find when I last looked into it.

[Tony Wilkins]

No, it's likely just that the vowel sounds changed. At least from what I could find when I last looked into it.
There was a thing called the ‘great vowel shift’ in late Medieval England. Following the plagues, workers were in demand so mobility increased dramatically and language, that had been very insulated, was now much more melded.

[Jim Koepke]

How about rabbet vs. rebate? Is there an anti-French sentiment in there?

Maybe it somehow got mixed up with Rabou…

running & ducking,

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

It’s not my stile to rail against furniture naming conventions.

Do your children groan whenever you decide to speak in public?

Mind dread any gathering of parents, in the presence of their friends.

[steven c newman]

Side Tile?....said real fast....s'tile.....

[Tony Wilkins]

How about rabbet vs. rebate? Is there an anti-French sentiment in there?
Absolutely not. I have nothing against surrender frogs, now pardon moi while I eat my freedom fries. JK

[Eric Rathhaus]

Not so isolated, which is why there are so many synonyms. Germanic brought in by the raids and invasion of the Anglo Saxons; Latin brought in by monks and priests; French brought in by the Normans with their conquest . . . Unlike most of nations on the Continent, the English have never had an "Academy" to put the kibosh on any changes and to keep everything neat and tidy. This linguistic free-for-all makes English great!

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I've always gone - rails are like rails on a fence - horizontal.

439600

Aha! It makes sense now.

Thank you for all your answers!

[mike stenson]

Not so isolated, which is why there are so many synonyms. Germanic brought in by the raids and invasion of the Anglo Saxons; Latin brought in by monks and priests; French brought in by the Normans with their conquest . . . Unlike most of nations on the Continent, the English have never had an "Academy" to put the kibosh on any changes and to keep everything neat and tidy. This linguistic free-for-all makes English great!

Most of the island was the Danelaw for a while, so there's also old Norse (Ok, so northern germanic in origin as well, and pretty close to old English). Although most notable in those areas, as you have a lot of Norse place names.

yes, it's no wonder English is so very messed up ;) Especially when comparing to something like Portuguese, which is about as close to Latin as still exists (at least from what I understand).

[Jim Koepke]

Then there is the influence on American spoken English… We have a lot of Chinese, Spanish, Native American and other words that have been infused into our everyday language.

Some school kids giggle when they learn what Grand Teton National park means in French.


named by either French-Canadian or Iroquois members of an expedition led by Donald McKenzie of the North West Company.

Some of the same school kids cringe when the learn about Mount Diablo in school.


In 1805 soldiers tried to capture Indians in a marsh north of Concord and, when the Indians completely disappeared into an eerie thicket in the night, the soldiers named the area “Monte Diablo” (thicket of the devil).


The name Monte del Diablo ('Mount of the Devil') appears on the "Plano topográfico de la Misión de San José" about 1824, where there was an Indian settlement at the approximate site of the present town of Concord

jtk

[James Pallas]

I used to keep a list of words that I found puzzling, now there’s one for you. I still laugh to myself when I remember them. Who would have thought to name that insect a bee, what’s that got to do with it. Still chuckle when I see a bee.

[Jim Koepke]

Here is another word from an unlikely source:


A relic of the large US presence in Japan in the years following World War II, the word honcho comes from the Japanese word hanchō meaning “leader of the squad, section, group.” We are uncertain of the exact route by which honcho found its way into American military argot in the mid-1950s, though it is known that the Japanese applied hanchō to British or Australian officers in charge of work parties in prisoner-of-war camps. By the 1960s, the word had become part of colloquial American jargon.

If one really wants to ponder such things look at one word used in the quote above, argot:


argot | ˈärɡō, ˈärɡət |
noun
the jargon or slang of a particular group or class: teenage argot.

the argot of the theater: jargon, slang, idiom, cant, parlance, vernacular, patois; dialect, speech, language; informal lingo.

jtk