Tuesday, April 7, 2015

A-to-Z Challenge: F

Today’s word is float, and man, now I really want a root beer float.



Float comes from the Old English flotian, to rest on the surface of water. Before that, it was the Proto Germanic flotan (to float, of course) and Proto Indo European pleud, which means flow. Don’t think that letter change is weird. A lot of p words changed to f, like flea and foul.
                                                                                                         
Oh, and apparently there were a bunch of other related words in Old English, like flota, which meant fleet (for the record, yes, it did give us fleet) and flot, a body of water. They were consolidated into float, or just lost to the ages.

I seriously can’t stop thinking about root beer floats. Man, what am I going to do? Oh, wait! I’m an adult! I’m going to the grocery store to buy root beer and ice cream, suckers!

Sources
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English

15 comments:

  1. LOL - enjoy your root beer float ;) I remember the first time I had a coke float in an American Diner that had opened up in our town - it was awesome. Can't make myself like root beer though.
    Tasha
    Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

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  2. Or stop by an A&W Drive-in, whichever is easier.

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  3. I seem to remember flotilla from the historical novels I used to consume.

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  4. Can you make me a root beer float? ;)

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  5. I haven't had a root beer float in years. Mmmmm.

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  6. But what kind of root beer? Hmm...?

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  7. Didn't know float had such an amazing history. Thanks for sharing that :)

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  8. When I saw the word float, first thing I thought of was root beer floats :) Now I have to get that image out of my mind and substitute it with a boat floating down a river :)

    betty

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  9. Root beer floats…Mmmmm that takes me back. Root beer isn't available in many places here, unfortunately, but now you've put it into my head, I may have to sneak off to the store that sells American candy to get my fix.

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  10. I've never had a root beer float. I hope you enjoyed yours.

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  11. It's been years since I've had one of those.

    Flotian feels Italian.

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  12. I've never had a root beer float. I'd like to try it.

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  13. Root beer might be the thing to help us stay afloat this month.

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  14. This post made me want a root beer float, too. Too bad I'm already in my P.J.'s

    Scribbles From Jenn - Visiting from the A to Z Challenge

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