In the darkness of time

Not standing-hook, but bridge-hook, i.e. stirrup.

Knowing how to use a word is different from understanding its meaning; because his origins and his history are inscribed there. For example, quite a few people think that "stupid" is the opposite of "gorgeous" and therefore sexist, when in fact the word is related to "dawn." The ancient Greeks and Romans were often so spectacularly wrong with their etymological derivations that classical philologists only want them to be understood as associative explanations guided by phonetic similarity.

For several years now there has been no escape from the expression “on site”. But the place in front of which something is located “on site” is the place.

We recognize our ignorance more easily when it comes to idioms that otherwise contain words that are no longer in use. An example that might come to mind off the top of my head is “off the cuff.” As the common misspelling “Stehgreif” attests, many people think of reaching for something while standing. But what was the meaning behind it? Life may have been hard in previous centuries, but it wasn't so hard that you had to settle down before you could take action. Rather, “Stegreif” is an old name for the stirrup – a hoop with a bridge. Grimm's dictionary explains the phrase in the following charming way: "just as the cheerful rider quickly does something, even if he is already in the saddle and without getting off."

It becomes annoying when such a misunderstood phrase is used in an inflationary way. For several years now there has been no escape from the expression “on site”. But the place in front of which something is located “on site” is the place. In miners' language, this is the name given to the end of the tunnel, i.e. the place where ore is mined or a tunnel is dug. If unmontane people absolutely think that they have to use this phrase in an act of cultural appropriation that is far too rarely scandalized, they should at least know that they are not speaking literally about the place, but that “the place” serves them as a metaphor for “the place where the event takes place”.