Someone asked me why spare ribs were so called. They are not 'spare' because they are extra, or thin, or any other meaning of the English word spare, but the name is a modern version of the original 'spear-rib', a cut of meat once roasted on spears. The word comes from the Middle German ribbespêr. The OED also has the entry ribspare, a rarer form of the same thing, with citations from the 1630s to the 1930s.
There was a very influential feminist magazine in the 1970s/80s called Spare Rib. The name was a pun on Eve being created from a rib of Adam, as told in Genesis 2 (this is the King James version):
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Hello Susan.
This is a question as opposed to a comment, so I won't be offended if you move it. I am having a discussion with a Barbadian friend and we were discussing soup.
I asked her what was in it, to which she replied "It has in ham, carrots...." etc. I would have said "it has ham carrots...etc in it."
Her construct is definitely Barbadian. Is it also common in British English?
Thanks
Posted by: john | December 11, 2012 at 07:29 PM
Not at all common in any BrE I'm familiar with, john, although "It has in it: ham, carrots ..." etc is possible for me.
Posted by: Picky | December 12, 2012 at 08:07 AM
I second Picky, John. I'd want 'it' after 'it has in'. Thanks, both.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | December 12, 2012 at 12:44 PM