The Missing H

After a break to campaign for a local Library Board of Trustees seat (which I did not win... lost by 180 votes to the Town Custodian... oh! the pain of it!) I'm back.

For some reason, the derivation of peculiar word-working terms has stuck in my head. While (or whilst, if you are British) reading a book on the history of the English Language, I came across Cannel, a version of Channel. My friendly Online Etymology Dictionary says of Channel:

c.1300, "bed of running water," from O.Fr. chanel, from L. canalis "groove, channel, waterpipe"

Of course I jumped to the conclusion that the notorious In-Cannel and Out-Cannel gouges (sometimes even spelled with one N) should really be called In-Channel or even In-Chanel gouges. At least this would be true if the French had their way. What happened to the H? Were did the extra N come from?

Clearly, this momentous discovery requires a special page devoted to the Weird Words of Word-Working.

Do you have any Weird Words of Wood-Working that come to mind? Send them in and the first 100 entries will receive a free pass to the Toolemera Blog, good on Weekends only.

Till next
Gary