Strange Spelling Bee Words - 6 February 2012

<p>Why do spelling bees include such bizarre, obsolete words like cymotrichous? And why is New York called the Big Apple? Also, the stinky folk medicine tradition called an asifidity bag. Worn around the neck like an amulet, these smelly bags supposedly keep away cold and flu. Also, the surprising number of common English phrases that come directly from the King James Bible. Plus, three sheets to the wind, the term white elephant, in like Flynn, Australian slang, and what to call foam sleeve for an ice-cold can of beer or soda.<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />What's the common thread that connects the phrases pour out your heart, from time to time, fell flat on his face, the skin of my teeth, and the root of the matter? They all come from, or were popularized by, the King James Bible, published in 1611. The Manifold Greatness (http://www.manifoldgreatness.org/) exhibit is now traveling to libraries and schools nationwide, demonstrating, among other things, this translation's profound impact on the English language. <br /><br />A wedding photographer says she happens to run into lots of people who are three sheets to the wind, and wonders why that term came to mean "falling-down drunk." It's from nautical terminology. On a seagoing vessel, the term sheets refers to "the lines or ropes that hold the sails in place." If one, two, or even three sheets get loose and start flapping in the wind, the boat will swerve and wobble as much as someone who's overimbibed.<br /><br />In Australia, if someone's socky, they're "lacking in spirit or self confidence." If someone's toey, they're "nervous," "aroused," or "frisky."<br /><br />The words respiration and inspiration have the same Latin root, spirare, which means "to breathe." The word "conspire" has the same Latin etymological root. But what does conspiring have to do with breathing? The source of this term is notion that people who conspire are thinking in harmony, so close that they even breathe together.<br /><br />The so-called Wicked Bible is a 1631 version of the