So the other day we were discussing our best "thinking" places and how I like to think in the shower but i can't because i have to focus, or else i'll mess up my routine and put the wrong stuff in my hair, for example. This doesn't really have much to do with how I came to this thought but remember that? that was fun.
Ok, so this morning i was making a shopping list and wrote down "shampoo." Interesting word. I don't pretend to understand English... i mean, ha ha. I can't explain why things are the way they are in English. It's a crazy language. (I DO, for the most part, understand it. This reminds me of the time when my sister Ashley asked me a yes/no question and i nodded my head automatically and she said, "yeah?" and then I suddenly realized what she asked me and i said, "oh! no. I mean no!" And then we laughed and i explained, "nodding just means i understood the question." It's still a favorite joke and hey look, another example of me zoning out at inappropriate times.)
Anyway, shampoo. What? why? Why the hey am i putting in my hair something that contains the word POO? And what does "sham" mean? I mean, i know it's a word, but what does it have to do with anything? if i try to make sense of this word, i would say, "it's a product for your hair that's not really poo, it's just pretending to be!" So i guess that's a little comforting. But if i want that, why do I want a poo-imitation product instead of the real thing? These are the questions I ask myself.
5 comments:
HA HA! I am just imagining you pretending to understand English. :)
If you really want to know, here's what the OED has to say about it:
Shampoo, n. 1762, to massage, from Anglo-Indian shampoo, from Hindi champo, imperative of champna "to press, knead the muscles," perhaps from Skt. capayati "pounds, kneads." Meaning "wash the hair" first recorded 1860; extended 1954 to carpets, upholstery, etc. The noun meaning "soap for shampooing" first recorded 1866.
I'm all for just calling it "hair wash", "hair soap", "hair cleanser", or "bubbles on my head".
CONDITIONER, to me, makes perfect sense, but I have to agree with Jen..... can't we just eliminate the words that don't make sense rather than taking them from 4 different languages?
yeah! except.. now i'm having visions of 1984 (the book) flash in my brain, which creeped me silly. They eliminated all the unneccessary adjectives, so if something was good, they'd call it good. If it was really good they'd say, plus good. Really really good = double plus good.
And, remember when conditioner was cream rinse? or are they different? what's the difference there?? i'll never know.
There was actually a guy in Belgium who was a hair stylist and asked us to call him "Shampoo" with a really thick French accent. It was pretty funny!
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