Boots and Booty

The noun boot, meaning “a covering for the foot and lower part of the leg,” has been in the language since the early 14th century. The word existed in medieval Latin and entered English via French.

The popularity of boots as footwear has never diminished, but our use of the word bootand similar forms doesn’t always pertain to the article of apparel.

First let’s look at terms and expressions that do relate to footwear.

bootleg: As a noun, bootleg is recorded in the 17th century with the meaning “the leg of a boot.” Nineteenth century American frontiersmen favored bootlegs as convenient places to carry knives and shooting irons. The term acquired its present associations with the illicit trading of liquor even before Prohibition became the law of the land in 1920; a handful of states outlawed alcoholic beverages earlier. For example, Kansas banned alcohol in 1881. A bootleg could conceal a small bottle of liquor.

In current usage, bootleg denotes anything that is traded or trafficked illicitly: bootleg CDs, bootleg diamonds, bootleg babies, etc. As a verb, bootleg means “to traffic illicitly in liquor or anything else.” The verb bootleg is also an American football term meaning “to carry the ball deceptively.”

bootstrap: as a noun, a bootstrap is a loop attached to the top of a boot to help the wearer pull on the boot. I’ve written about the figurative meanings of bootstrap here.

boot camp: This is a term for U.S. Marine and Navy recruit training. The termboot as slang for recruit may date from the Spanish-American War. U.S. sailors wore leggings called boots and the term transferred to the sailors themselves. By extension, boot camp is now also used for any training camp or program that resembles boot camp by requiring rigorous training. The term can also refer specifically to a facility or program for juvenile offenders who are forced to follow a rigidly structured routine of drill and discipline.

bootlicker: A cringing, favor-seeking toady is called a bootlicker: a person who would do any demeaning thing to please and flatter a person in power. You can find more terms for subservient people here.

jackboot: a type of large, strong cavalry boot popular in the 17th and 18th centuries was called a jackboot; later it was worn by German military and paramilitary units during the Nazi regime. Even before its association with the Nazis, the term had acquired the connotation of military oppression.

boot: As a verb, “to boot” can mean “to kick,” as in “They booted out the old superintendent and hired a new one.” As a verb in the context of computer use, boot derives from bootstrap.

to boot: We still use the expression “to boot” with the meaning “in addition” or “as a bonus”:

The guy’s a chronic complainer and a tightwad to boot.

The most patient and behaved dog in the world (and she’s Irish to boot).

We offer inexpensive prices for our AC and heating units and we will throw in a free thermostat to boot!

The expression “to boot” comes from an obsolete noun boot, meaning “good, profit, advantage.” The related verb boot meant “to make better, to remedy.” You may have encountered the verb boot in Shakespeare:

It shall scarce boot me
To say “Not guilty.” Hermione, A Winter’s Tale, III.ii.24.

booty: As a noun meaning “plunder, gain, profit,” booty comes from an Old French word, butin.

As a noun meaning “a woman’s body (or a part thereof) as a sex object,”booty originated as 1920s black slang, possibly an alteration of another slang word, botty, meaning bottom or buttocks.

Disappointed + Preposition

A reader asks:

Could you write about which preposition should be used after “disappointed” (e.g., in, at, with, by…)? Please explain the instances to use them correctly.

I don’t think it’s possible to lay down a hard and fast rule about which preposition should followdisappointed, but I’ve gathered some headlines and quotations from the Web that illustrate what seems to me to be the most common usage.

His military dad was disappointed in him.

My parents are disappointed in me.

Disappointment is an emotion. The preposition that follows disappointed hints at the intensity of the emotion involved.

“Disappointed in” suggests that a betrayal has taken place. The source of the disappointment is usually a loved and trusted person whose actions are seen by another as a betrayal. The trusted person’s very character is in question. This kind of disappointment shakes a relationship.

In is also used when trust has been placed in an entity or institution from which something else was expected:

New Hope parents, students disappointed in court’s decision
Drivers in Liberia are expressing frustration and disappointment in the Federation of Road Transport Union (FRTUL) for its alleged failure to meet their needs.

“Disappointed by” lacks the sense of betrayal conveyed by “disappointed in”; with by the emotion seems to be more one of surprise:

Kim Simplis Barrow says she’s disappointed by church’s position

“Disappointed with” seems to have the broadest application. We’re disappointed with products or with how things are done:

”I am deeply disappointed with how WorkSafe conducted this investigation,” Clark told reporters.

iPhone users are disappointed with the iOS 7.1 software update that’s draining their batteries

Julien Disappointed With Bruins’ Effort In Winnipeg

Chase disappointed with outcome of 2014 Legislative sessions

Preposition use is changing rapidly. For example, nonstandard “excited for” is challenging standard “excited about” in the speech of younger speakers. If the established uses of “disappointed in” and “disappointed by” are displaced, it will be by “disappointed with,” as in this comment by Drake Bennett:

Being disappointed with a person feels different from being disappointed with an outcome, and demands a different response.

By the Same Token

The word token is used with several meanings.

From an Old English verb meaning “to show,” in the broadest sense a token is “something that serves to indicate a fact; a sign or a symbol.” The sign could be miraculous or merely evidence of something:

 

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. –Genesis, 9:13, KJV

God granted these holy men [the 100 fed miraculously by Elisha] a gracious token that the famine had lifted

The retiring employee received a watch as a token of the company’s appreciation.

As a physical object, a token may be a metal or plastic disk that serves to show that money has been paid for transportation or admission (e.g., a bus token). Board games like Monopoly include tokens used in play.

The expression “by the same token” means “for the same reason” or “in the same way.” Here are two correct examples of its use:

there was little evidence to substantiate the gossip and, by the same token, there was little to disprove it –example, OxfordDictionaries

because his mind is flexible it responds quickly … to what is before it, and by the same token it can call up from within a host of appropriate ideas example, Merriam-Webster

As is happening to many venerable expressions in this age of limited reading of traditional literature, “by the same token” is being altered by speakers who aren’t quite sure how to use it:

However at the same token, this same conversation could apply to couples who go through that process together…

In the same token, it cannot disregard basic issues of translation theory.

Does my body include the oxygen I am about to inhale and, on the same token, should I include the air I am about to exhale?

Not only is the preposition by being incorrectly replaced by at, in or on, the meaning is being lost:

I don’t dislike dogs (or other animals), but by the same token, I don’t want them in my house.

Here the meaning seems to be “on the other hand.”

With a documentation date of 1463, “by the same token” has had a good run in English. Could be that the expression–for some speakers at least–has reached retirement age.

In Whom Do We Trust?

A reader asks,

Could you please explain the difference between “I trust in him” and “I trust him”. 

The grammatical difference between “I trust in him” and “I trust him” is the difference between a transitive and intransitive verb:

I trust him. The verb is transitive because it has a direct object, “him.”

I trust in him. The verb is intransitive; it has no object. The prepositional phrase “in him” tells where the trust is placed.

The transitive form of the verb comes up most often in a Google search:

You just can’t trust Google Maps
You can’t always trust your eyes
You Can Trust a Skinny Cook
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

The intransitive use of trust followed by in implies a belief in the goodness and reliability of the person or thing being trusted:

In God We Trust (slogan on U.S. coinage)

We must trust in basic British decency to beat the racist BNP

Don’t make the mistake of trusting in technology to solve all educational problems.

Intransitive trust can also be followed by the preposition to:

The sailors trusted to the winds and the current to bring them to shore.
We must trust to our own wits to survive.
Only a fool would trust to him to save the day.

With to the sense seems to be “rely upon” rather than “believe in.”

As a noun, trust is frequently followed by an in phrase. Here too, the in implies an expectation of goodness:

Restoring trust in the European parliament
How much trust and confidence do you have in our federal government?
Trust in the Internet is crumbling

To get back to the reader’s question about “I trust in him” and “I trust him, ” I’d have to say that for some speakers there’s probably no difference, but for others, trusting in someone or something may suggest more of an emotional investment.