JOSS is our Idol: - Printed matter

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July 07 2007

JOSS is our Idol: In the famous Partridge "A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English", the word JOSS is Anglo-Chinese pidgin English for "Idol".
What did his parents know when they named him.

If you take it way to far, Joss comes from the Portuguese word DEOS meaning deity/God. wow

demon magnet | Printed matter | 17:54 CET | 7 comments total | tags:

Of course, his parents actually named him Joseph. :D

Craig Oxbrow | July 07, 18:02 CET

Thank you Craig Oxbrow.

death is my gift | July 07, 18:06 CET

I saw Joss Stone the other day. She was introduced as Josh Stone. Oh, how I chortled.

gossi | July 07, 20:01 CET

Well, according to the printed sources:

1-he chose the name himself after he got tired of being "Joe."
2-he knew the Chinese word already and he liked the idea of it as his name.

My personal notion:
3-he's seen some old books or movies with the archaic abbreviation "Jos." for "Joseph" (kinda like "Wm." for "William",) sounded it out in his head, and liked the sound of it, but added the other "s" so people wouldn't pronounce it "Joce" or "Joze." Which doesn't mean he didn't know about the #2 reason because to me, playing armchair depth psychologist here, that fits his life-attitude *grin.

DaddyCatALSO | July 07, 20:15 CET

Actually God in Portuguese is Deus.
And as we're on correcting the switch of "o"s and "u"s.
Paulo is written Paulo with an "u" not wit an "o", which happend only rather rarely.

Numfar PTB | July 07, 22:56 CET

Actually, I read that "Joss" is Chinese for "Lucky" or "Luck"

MySerenity | July 07, 23:30 CET

Actually, I read that "Joss" is Chinese for "Lucky" or "Luck"

The Idol thing is actually quite correct. I got that google toolbar thingie that translate words when you pass the mouse cursor on it. As I'm posting from my mom's computer (had to send my laptop for maintenance) and she got her OS in chinese and all most things configured in Chinese. Passing the mouse on JOSS, it shows Chinese words that matches with Idol.

But as a matter a fact, it´s Idol in the an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed and also for any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion (Definitions from Dictionary.com).

For whoever got a plug-in for reading chinese characters here are the words that come out for Joss:

Joss:偶像; 神像; 佛像;
(The thirds definition in special does make you wonder about the following line from Serenity:
Mal: Dead Buddha, plase send me a pony, and a palstic rocket, and --

Numfar PTB | July 08, 00:20 CET

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