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Science Memes

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submitted 4 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 21 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

The -ard is basically "fucking" + nominaliser (if necessary):

  • wizard - fucking wise one
  • drunkard - fucking drunk one
  • coward - fucking tail (the initial part is from Old French "coue" tail, itself from Latin "cauda" tail. Who shows the back in a fight? Someone running away!)

The "nominaliser" part is an artefact of the borrowing, the suffix is from French. Romance languages often use adjectives as if they were nouns, but that doesn't quite roll in English. In turn French borrowed it from Frankish, it's apparently cognate of English "hard".

The etymology of "mustard" is disputed. The first part is likely from Latin "mustum" must; it used to be prepared with young wine. The -ard is typically explained as ardens (fiery, hot). So basically "mustum ardens" hot must. ...Capsicum peppers are from the Americas, black pepper and long pepper were expensive, European mediaevalards didn't really have a lot of spicy flavours to work with, so... I guess mustard was spicy for them?

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm going to turn "wizard" back into an insult. Some smart-aleck tries to act bougie: "fuck off, wizard"

[–] Gyroplast@pawb.social 6 points 4 months ago

Pronounce it /ˈwaɪzɝd/ for added effect! Don't go overboard, though, or you may be called a custard.

[–] AlfalFaFail@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Fucktards be making fuck all the way to the parking lot.

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I'm not sure but I think the suffix in this case would yield "fuckard". With "fucktard" being interpreted as "fuck [re]tard". And given "retard" is nowadays interpreted as a slur, I'd discourage it.

[–] AlfalFaFail@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago

Oh man... I can't believe I missed that origin. Yeah... You're absolutely right about that.

[–] allhopelost@piefed.social 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Interestingly now a "queutard" in french slang is someone who uses his queue (=tail, slang for dick) a lot, or wants to at least.