Groins and butts

“Groins” and “butts”—two words which refer to physical anatomy but are not acceptable in polite company. However, when referring to features of seascape and landscape, they may be used in conversations outside of gatherings of junior high schoolers. In other words, they do not always have to be the butt of Miss Manners’ disapproval.

I first discovered the acceptability of “groin” during our second sojourn to Folly Beach South Carolina. During the first sojourn, I passed a sign when walking down the alley to the beach almost every day. I never read the sign because I knew it was a sign telling me what I should not do on the beach, so I ignored it. During our second visit, some spirit possessed me to actually read the sign:

I had no idea that there were groins on the beach that might do me harm. I had seen numerous surfers and sunbathers, but I never felt threatened by their groins. Clearly, a type of groin existed that I did not know about. So I did the logical thing. I continued my walk on the beach, duly warned, and a few days later when I remembered the nefarious groins on the beach, I looked up the word, groin. I discovered that not only is a groin an anatomical feature, but also it is a feature of architecture. Certainly, it makes sense that vaults can have groins (see “Furnace” and “fornicate”: vulgar activities, for the relationship between vaults and fornication). However, the definition which applied to the beach refers to “a small jetty extending from a shore to protect a beach against erosion or to trap shifting sands.” Ironically, the beach groin could do me harm while saving the beach. Once we figured out what the sign warned us about, Richard took some pictures of groins – NOT human ones--on Folly Beach.

Anthony Trollope’s The Warden, opens with a situation involving a man named John Hiram who had “certain meadows and closes [an enclosed place, especially land surrounding or beside a cathedral or other building] near the town, still called Hiram’s Butts.” Soon thereafter, the work refers to “tenants living on the butts and patches.” I found it intriguing that a man could have a geographical area named after his “rear pelvic area.” The American Heritage Dictionary on-line defines “butt” in geographical terms as “an embankment or hollow used as a blind by hunters of wildfowl.” It identifies “butt” as an informal usage of “buttocks.” For all my relatives and friends who hunt ducks, geese, and such, the next time you head out to your wildfowl blind, you can tell whomever is around that you are carrying your bohunkus to your butt to do a little hunting!

I did a Google search using several different combinations of “butt” and “geography” in order to include a picture. However, the majority of hits involved instructions on how to take good butt selfies or celebrities who have posted pictures of their butts. I am not including those links here. You are on your own, if you are interested. :-)

The next time you attend a gathering that needs a little excitement, you may throw around the words “groin” and “butt,” knowing that you can defend yourself against accusations of juvenile humor.

Imminently Immanent or Immanently Eminent

Whenever I sit down to read a book, I make sure I have a sharpened pencil at hand. Over the years, I have developed the noble habit of correcting any errors I find for the benefit of the next reader. Recently, I ran across the word “immanent.” Immediately, I concluded that I had found a misspelling of either “imminent” or “eminent.” However, before I reached for my pencil, I reached for my dictionary, where to my surprise, I found that “immanent” is a word, which the on-line American Heritage Dictionary (AHD), defines as “existing or remaining within; inherent.”

The quality of “inherent” is important to understanding the concept of “immanent.” For example, I could not properly say, “I am immanent today,” in order to convey that I stayed indoors all day in my pajamas, drinking champagne and eating strawberries dipped in chocolate. (Actually, the word to describe that activity would be “decadent”!) A Google search reveals that the concept of “immanence” frequently refers to philosophical attitudes, specifically relating to religion and God. In my case, I can say I have an immanent belief in Shakespeare.

Not surprisingly, “immanent” comes from a Latin word meaning “to remain within.” Digging deeper into the history of the word, I found that “immanent” is a sibling of the words “mansion,” “manor,” “ménage,” and “permanent.” However, even though these words are related, we find some contradictions in meanings. While “immanent” involves intangible relationships, the other words involve tangible places or dwellings, although Elvis recorded a song, “In My Father’s House (Are Many Mansions),” combining the “immanent” nature of God with a mansion in heaven.

I also found that “immanent” is a cousin of “imminent” and “eminent”, through the Indo-European root, “men-“  However, with regards to “immanent,” “men-“ means “to remain,” but with regards to “imminent” and “eminent,” it means“ to “project, jut, threaten.” So while the words are related, the meanings of “immanent” and “imminent” and “eminent” go in opposite directions, from sticking out to staying in—a family feud of words, of sorts.

In closing, I want to relate a story of consulting the dictionary first from my junior high school years. When I was in 9^th grade algebra class, my teacher, Miss Tanner, wrote the word “horizontal” on the chalk board. My immediate reaction was she had spelled it wrong because the word sounded to me like “horizonnal.” Wisely, after class I went straight to my English classroom to look up the word. Indeed, Miss Tanner had spelled “horizontal” correctly. I went on that year to win the class spelling bee by knowing the difference between “stationary” and “stationery.” Now, when I have to say the word “horizontal,” I make sure to enunciate the “t” sound.

LAGNIAPPE: Since I used the word “immediate” a few times in this blog entry, I wondered if it might be related to all of the “im-“ words tossed about in this blog. It is not. “Immediate” comes from the prefix “im-“ meaning “not,” and the base “mediate” meaning “in the middle.” Put together, these parts of words mean “not in the middle,” or more specifically “occurring at once,” “near the present time,” or “close at hand.”