Off-topic informational anti-spam anecdotal

From: D. Peschel <dpeschel_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Fri Jul 24 02:01:50 1998

> I looked in my Webster's Collegiate dictionary which contains all the
> obligatory swear words and racial slurs (so you know its compleat) and it
> defines "thorp" (note, no 'e' in this dictionary's spelling) as a village
> or hamlet (archaic).

We have the Oxford English Dictionary online (nyah -- the OED is basically
the ultimate reference on strange English words or word origins, except for
new words or slang). It also defines thorp as a village. Interestingly, the
word "thorp" seems to be descended from a root that also gave us "tribe".
I just thought I'd let you know that. :)

This question has come up quite a few times on USENET (on comp.dcom.telecom,
among other places). I've seen official-looking documents, but that's not to
say I remember them correctly. I'm not even sure I trust them (this may be
one of those questions with no completely good answer).

The comp.dcom.telecom archives have more info. I'm sure. I forget where they
currently live and I'm too lazy to look them up.

-- Derek
Received on Fri Jul 24 1998 - 02:01:50 BST