Etymologies

[stoutfellow]

Another reason to read Stephenson is that he's a nice source of odd little facts. I have now learned, thanks to The Confusion (confirmed via Webster's Third New International), that the word "fence", in all of its meanings, is a shortened form of "defence", and that the word "yacht" is derived ultimately from the Low German word "jachtschiff", meaning "hunting ship". I think I like both of those.