WEBVTT

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Mysteries of vernacular:

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Odd,

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different from what is usual or expected.

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Though the modern word odd has many meanings,

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mathematical or not,

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they can all be traced back

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to the Indo-European root uzdho,

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meaning pointing upwards.

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Inspired by the idea

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of a vertical-pointed object,

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speakers of Old Norse modified this root

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into a new word, oddi,

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which was used to refer to a triangle,

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the simplest pointed object

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geometrically speaking.

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A triangle with a long point,

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like an arrow head

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or a piece of land jutting out into the sea,

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was recognized to have two paired angles

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and a third that stood alone.

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And over time, oddi began to refer

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to something that wasn't matched or paired.

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In Old Norse, oddi also came to mean

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any number indivisible by two.

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And odda mathr, the odd man,

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was used to describe the unpaired man

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whose vote could break a tie.

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Though the English never called a triangle odd,

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they did borrow the odd number

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and the odd man.

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And finally, in the 16th century,

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the notion of the odd man out

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gave rise to our modern meaning peculiar.