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Where did the "K" come from?
Where did the "K" come from? (post #158651)
Jfrostjr on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 09:11
In the post election fever, the WSJ headline read that President Obama had stated that "they had taken a "shellacking".
Now any good woodworker knows that the word and the product is spelled "shellac". So where did the "K" come from? I was about to write a letter to the WSJ informing them of their gross, front page error, when that dreaded red line appeared under the word "shellacing" in my email. There! It did it again. Even on Knots.
Please help me find out where the "K" came from. Next thing we know we will be applying shellack to products. Awful to contemplate.
Frosty
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you shellack an article with shellac (post #158651, reply #1 of 11)
A quick Google yielded that shellack is a verb with only one meaning: to cover with shellac. Shellac is therefore a noun. It also indicated that the usage of shellack is very rare. Kind of like the term gravitas was before the GWB campaign.
The "K" issue (post #158651, reply #2 of 11)
I went to Wikipedia (an indication of my sophistication) and only got the definition of the 'noun'. Thanks for the info. Now we know how to describe our finishing process accurately.
Frosty
Double the consonant before adding -ing (post #158651, reply #5 of 11)
The "C" at the end of "shellac" becomes "ck" because without it adding the -ing would cause the hard "c" sound to become a soft "c" as in "ice" or "icing". "Shellacing" would be read with an "s" sound, right?
The general rule is to double the consonant that comes after short vowel sounds before adding -ing.
For this reason hop becomes "hopping" not "hoping" and shellac becomes "shellacking" not "shellacing" or "shellaccing" because "ci" is always a soft c sound such as in the words city or ice., therefore the "ck." in "shellacking"
The same rule is applied to any verb ending with -ic when adding either -ing or -ed.
picnic: picnicking picnicked
panic : panicking panicked
shellac : shellacking shellacked
Signed,
An English Teacher.
Dear Teacher (post #158651, reply #7 of 11)
Dear Teacher, I should have paid attention in class.
No, really, I did pay attention in class. I had a great teacher and really enjoyed English.
In 1944 I enlisted in the V-12, as a High School junior and was allowed to graduate in three years. I took an accelerated Senior English class in the spring semester. They must have covered those rules the previous fall.
Frosty
This is the sort of issue (post #158651, reply #3 of 11)
This is the sort of issue where you need a real dictionary, not the overly simplified free on-line stuff. Find a full OED and see the real definition and how it evolved. Of course, even without that resource at hand I can know taking a shellacking's definition isn't just to apply shellac, it's about the same as taking a pasting. As much as I find much of the WSJ biased and inaccurate, I doubt they messed up on word usage.
Test your finish on scrap, FIRST, or risk having to scrap your finish.
"K" (post #158651, reply #4 of 11)
The same thing happens to "picnic", which becomes "picnicking" and "picnicked", and other words of that ilk, like "panic", which I do everytime I have to stain pine, like now! They do that to maintain the pronunciation lest it becomes said as "panissing", "shellassing", and stuff like that. And who are WE to not follow the teachings of THEY!
"They" (post #158651, reply #6 of 11)
Excellent points. I never made any claims to being a Wordsmith - and that appears to be for good reason.
Frosty
smithing (post #158651, reply #8 of 11)
Remember when you were walking down that hall at school, the year before you got glasses, Frosty? There were two similar-looking signs on the wall: <--Wordsmithing and Woodsmithing -->.
I think you took the right (as in correct) turn. ;-)
Correct turn (post #158651, reply #9 of 11)
Ralph,
You got it right. I fell in love with woodworking in Grammar School - perhaps 5th grade. Mr. Straaka taught us to lay our planes on the side - always! Not the bottom. I still follow that credo.
Frosty
Plane on its side (post #158651, reply #10 of 11)
Hey Frosty
That gave me a chuckle. It wasn't someone named Straaka, but whoever it was, he taught me the same thing. Now, a gizzillon years later, I still lay my planes on there sides, even though I retract the iron above the sole plate.
Frosty, In my case it was (post #158651, reply #11 of 11)
Frosty,
In my case it was the 8th grade, and the shop teacher was Mr Wood. No, really, that was his name. He hailed from S Carolina, and his first name was Marion (after the Swamp Fox), but his friends called him Tom. He talked just like Foghorn Leghorn in the cartoons. If he caught someone placing a plane on its sole, he'd give a lecture that began: "Son... (all his lectures began with "Son.."), Wheah were YOU when the lahghts (lights) went out? In the DAHRK???"
Ray