Question: What is the official term for the ring finger?
Answer: Since the turn of the millennium the finger next to the pinkie has been called the "ring finger" (from Old English "hring finger"), and even today this designation remains the one most widely used. The phrase is sometimes used to refer specifically to the third finger of the left hand, on which engagement and wedding rings are traditionally placed, but it very often refers to the third finger of either hand. (Incidentally, some consider the ring finger to be the fourth finger, counting the thumb as the first; most English-speakers, however, regard it as the third finger, the first being the index finger.)
The ring finger acquired a few other names over the past several hundred years, most of which fell into disuse before the close of the 18th century. The first of these, "leech finger" (Old English "laece finger"), appears in writing as early as "ring finger." This term and the many others that followed it - "leechman finger," "medical finger," "medicinal finger," "physic finger," and "physician finger" - derive from the notion that the third finger is connected directly to the heart by a single vein and is thus endowed with the power to heal.
During the first half of the 17th century the term "annular finger" came into use. This anglicized form comes from the Latin designation "digitus annularis," which means "ring finger." At present, the terms for the ring finger most frequently found in medical texts are "digitus anularis" (now with only one "n"), "digitus quartus" (Latin for "fourth finger"), and "digitus IV." The last two of these terms count the thumb as the first digit of the hand and refer to either the ring finger or the fourth toe.
In spite of the many specialized terms that have arisen over the years, "ring finger" still holds fast as the most widely used and readily understood term for the finger next to the pinkie.
(Speaking of the pinkie, the little finger has long been called the "auricular finger," a term derived from the Latin phrase "digitus auricularis," which literally means "ear finger." It was apparently agreed upon long ago that the pinkie's distinguishing feature was its ability to enter the aural cavity!)
Question: I am quite sure that I have heard the word "gaslight" used as a verb meaning "to drive someone crazy," but I have asked a number of my friends and colleagues about this word and no one seems to know what I'm talking about. Are you familiar with this odd use of the word "gaslight," and if so, can you tell me anything about its history?
Answer: In 1938 a Victorian-era thriller titled "Angel Street" opened in London. It was the story of a man who attempts to drive his young wife mad by causing her to doubt her own grip on reality. One of his favorite tricks is to dim the house gaslights and then pretend not to notice any difference in illumination. When the play was filmed in 1944 as "Gaslight" it starred Charles Boyer as the evil husband and Ingrid Bergman as the distraught wife. The film version apparently prompted a vogue for using "gaslight" as a verb meaning "to drive someone insane." Today, however, this word is one that few people are likely to recognize.
Question: I've been wondering about the phrase "jumping Jehoshaphat." Can you tell me who or what Jehoshaphat is?
Answer: "Jehoshaphat" is the name of several men from the Old Testament. The best-known of them is the Jehoshaphat who was king of Judah. He brought Judah into an alliance with the northern kingdom of Israel in the ninth century B.C. Jehoshaphat's son married the daughter of the infamous Jezebel, whose name also lives on in English in the sense "a morally unrestrained woman."
The name "Jehoshaphat" began to be used as an interjection first by itself and later in combination with "jumping" in the mid-19th century. The "jumping" apparently is simply alliterative and does not come from any strange proclivity for jumping on the part of Jehoshaphat.