How are things given names. Why is a car called a car for example?
2006-08-22 03:16:41 · 7 answers · asked by Les-Paul 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
Before there were cars there were 'horse-drawn carriages'. When the new vehicle was invented they became known as 'horseless carriages', and then just 'cars'.
Most things aren't given names, people just come up with something to call them and the name takes off if people can understand it.
New words are being invented all the time. A hundred years ago nobody knew what a 'computer' or a 'brave little dutch boy' was - either because we didn't have such things, or just because we didn't talk about them. If you need to talk about something you make up a word; if people understand you, that is the new word for it ('email spam' is a good example).
2006-08-22 03:30:52 · answer #1 · answered by insincere 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fascinating topic. I have recently discovered that Wikipedia online is a great resource for investigating etymology.
2006-08-22 03:24:18 · answer #2 · answered by johninmelb 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Motor Carriage. Contracted to car.
2006-08-22 03:24:56 · answer #3 · answered by charlie6091 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Languages developed through time and words are driven from many sources and maybe developed from other languages
2006-08-22 03:25:57 · answer #4 · answered by Amadeus 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are christend with the Mark of the Beast (The Roman Cross) - LOL
2006-08-22 03:25:07 · answer #5 · answered by John Trent 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no idea. you must be soooooo bored. get a life. must be really boring being a reprographics engineer! I believe you saw the band Scandal a few months ago - I thought they were crap!!!
2006-08-22 03:26:15 · answer #6 · answered by fred 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is one of the most interesting questions i've seen on here. Unfortunately, I can't answer it!
2006-08-22 03:25:28 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋