tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post3224748826003377459..comments2024-03-26T11:07:03.496-04:00Comments on Ed Notes Online: True Confessions: Anthony Weiner's Weiner is My Congressmaned notes onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15018047869059226777noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-49349440594024060422011-06-09T20:57:19.634-04:002011-06-09T20:57:19.634-04:00Probably should be Weiner's wiener. The male o...Probably should be Weiner's <i>wiener</i>. The male organ probably got its nickname from its perceived resemblance to the thin sausage attributed to the city of Vienna. The city is <i>Wien</i> in German, with <i>wiener</i> being the adjective and <i>Wiener</i> the adjectival noun -- denoting most commonly a resident of the city, but, at least in its lower case form here in the U.S., also the sausage -- or the masculine brains pointed to by the ties that some males wear -- for reasons never fully understood by me until you pointed it out, following your female colleagues. <br /><br />The tie, or <i>kravat</i> may have originated not far from Vienna, in what is now the nation-state of Croatia -- hence the common European name for it. I had thought that it was supposed to simulate the male organ (in exaggerated form) but now note also that it also has a directional purpose.<br /><br />See also <i>Frankfurter</i>, <i>Hamburger</i> and <i>Berliner</i>.<br /><br />There is also the word <i>Wein</i> in German, which means "wine". It is unclear to me whether the Congressman's paternal ancestor took his surname from the city, or from the profession of wine-making. Probably the former, with the spelling distorted as it passed into American English via Yiddish.Arjunnoreply@blogger.com