Cyclical Musings

The other day I was musing on several topics, and the one that held my mind most firmly was "cycle."  Yes, the word.  Cycle.  What a bizarre word. Say it a few times. Cycle, cycle, cycle.  Rhymes with psycho. Sort of.

Or does it?

Monthy, a cycle spins the moon.
Spinning, a cycle strains your clothes.

Add a seat and sit on a uni-cycle.
Keep the seat, add an engine, double the wheels, and you've got a motor-cycle.

But what if you lose the engine? What if you add another wheel?
You end up with a bi-cycle and a tri-cycle.

What a fickle cycle the cycle is!

Speaking of cycles, what on earth is an icecycle? Right, it's not.  It's an icicle.  A what? Why icicle? There's another strange one. It's not an icesickle. Not an icescythe. It's simply an icicle.  Why not some form of "-actite"?

And Popsicle? What the heck? I think there is an obvious correlation between popsicle and icicle... but why an "s"?  and more importantly, why "pop"?  Was the first popsicle made of soda-pop?  And why is there a correlation between icicle and popsicle? It doesn't make any sense, on the surface. I suppose I used to break icicles off and suck on them... but I was a stupid kid. Whoever invented the popsicle had to have been smarter than me.  Though he may have been selling to people as dumb.

The answers to these questions evaded me during my reverie.  Thank goodness for the interwebz.

I have done some research since I mused these musings, and should anybody ever care: icicle comes from ye Olde English and German for "cold piece of ice." More or less.

Popsicle is a trademarked name, presumably from the combination of Lolly Pop and Icicle.


Still not 100% sure about why unicycle, motorcycle, and cycle in general use the long i whereas bi- and tri- versions go with the short i.  Since language is fluid, and morphs over time based on the usage of those who speak, I can only go with the explanation that English speakers don't like to have two long i sounds in quick succession.

With the exception of aye-aye.  And bye-bye. And twighlight.

Ah heck... there is no satisfying explanation.  Stupid English.


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Quick Video

Not much to say, just wanted to let you know we're still alive.  And here's a short video: