Frazz by Jef Mallett for June 05, 2012
June 04, 2012
June 06, 2012
Transcript:
Caulfield: A gerund is a minor mission you're sent on by someone named Gerald. Mrs. Olsen: Caulfield! Frazz: That couldn't have been worth the trouble. Caulfield: I got a minor scolding.
The Russian word for “nonsense,” erunda (stress on the last letter), comes from the word “gerund.” The old Russian language did not have the idea of a verbal noun (like “scolding,” above). So when foreigners came to Russia from the West centuries ago, the natives thought they were speaking nonsense. They then Russified the Latin root-word, making it erunda. Thank you, I’ll be here all week.