Words of the Day

great white sea-bird

1670s, probably from Spanish or Portuguese albatros, alteration of alcatraz "large, web-footed sea-bird; cormorant," originally "pelican" (16c.). This name is perhaps from Arabic al-ghattas "sea eagle" [Barnhart]; or from Portuguese alcatruz "the bucket of a water wheel" [OED], from Arabic al-qadus "machine for drawing water, jar" (which is from Greek kados "jar"). If the second, the name would be a reference to the pelican's pouch (compare Arabic saqqa "pelican," literally "water carrier").

The spelling was influenced by Latin albus "white."  (cf. albino). The name was extended by 17c. English sailors to a larger sea-bird (order Tubinares), which are not found in the North Atlantic. [In English the word also formerly was extended to the frigate-bird.] These albatrosses follow ships for days without resting and were held in superstitious awe by sailors. The figurative sense of "burden" (1936) is from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) about a sailor who shoots an albatross and then is forced to wear its corpse as an indication that he alone, not the crew, offended against the bird.

construction: BE + after + V-ing: perfective aspect

Found in Irish English; originates from Irish.

Examples:

- We kept thinking she was after dying on us (i.e. We thought she had died on us) French - Broken Harbour

- I only wanted to know what's after happening (i.e. -what has happened) (ibid)

- some fella’s after buying up the three houses at the top of the Place (i.e. has bought the three houses) French - Faithful Place

- now everyone’s after getting all worried about property prices (i.e. now everyone has gotten all worried) (ibid)

- I’m only after narrowing it down this afternoon (French - The Likeness)

- And you're after coming all the way from England to find out who done it? (French - In the Woods)

In African American English: done + past tense = perfective meaning

- “I’m grown, li’l girl,” she says. “Don’t ask me what I do. Anyway, I come home and that heffa done covered my catfish in some damn cornflakes and baked it!” (Angie Thomas - The Hate U Give)

- Daddy drives off. “Done lost y’all minds,” he says. “People rioting, damn near calling the National Guard around here, and y’all wanna play ball" (ibid)

- “I done faced a whole lot worse than some so-called King. Ain’t nothing he can do but kill me, and if that's how I gotta go for speaking the truth, that's how I gotta go." (ibid).

- The artwork. The prior year the equity partners at Scully & Pershing had
gone to war over a designer’s proposal to spend $2 million on some baffling
avant-garde paintings to be hung in the firm’s main foyer. The designer was
ultimately fired, the paintings forgotten, and the money split into
bonuses. (Grisham - Grey Mountain)

- The Berlin that Schrödinger left bore little resemblance to the city
he loved. Less than a year earlier the German capital had been full of
life—artistic, scientific, political. Its avant-garde theater and operettas
attracted international attention. It welcomed people of all faiths and
viewpoints. (Halpern - Einstein)