and you all thought Apache meant...

[Marc Slemko <ma...@worldgate.com>]

A Patchy Server.

Or that it had something to do with Indians.

I like this meaning better:

  2 (&schwa.'paeS, ||apaS) Also apache.  Fr., f. prec.  A ruffian of a type
infesting Paris; also gen. a man of ruffianly behaviour.
  1902 Westm. Gaz. 22 Oct 8/1 The leader of the band of roughs in Paris known
as the `Apaches'. 1909 Times 9 Feb. 4/4 Those apaches with which Brussels is
haunted. 1920 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 June 363/2 Something a little more Bacchic
than the calculated extravagances of the drawing-room apache would
occasionally relieve the atmosphere. 1933 G. ORWELL Down & Out iii. 20 He wore
side whiskers, which are the mark either of an apache or an intellectual.
  b attrib.; apache dance, a violent dance in which the partners are dressed as
apaches; so apache dancer.
  1914 G. W. YOUNG From Trenches i. 12 The apache element..was soon brought
into order. 1918 H. G. WELLS Joan & Peter xi. 443 Huntley wanted to teach Joan
an Apache dance. 1922 JOYCE Ulysses 469 In workman's corduroy overalls..and
apache cap. 1928 Punch 30 May 602 Friend (referring to `Apache' hat).  I like
that one, dear.  You see, it's noticeable without being really fierce. 1945 H.
L. MENCKEN Amer. Lang. Suppl. I. 186 During the [1914-18] war or soon
afterward apache-dancers began to appear in the United States. 1962 J. D.
SALINGER Franny & Zooey 57 It isn't enough to treat her with the doting
brutality of an apache dancer towards his partner.

Stolen from the OED.

(yes, I'm ignoring the fact that it means nothing more than a cool name...)

Re: and you all thought Apache meant...

[Ben Laurie <be...@algroup.co.uk>]

Marc Slemko wrote:
> 
> A Patchy Server.
> 
> Or that it had something to do with Indians.
> 
> I like this meaning better:

Hmmm... just checked Chambers:

Apache &schwa;-pa'chi, n. [Red Indian stuff elided]: (apache,
&schwa;-pash') a lawless ruffian or hooligan in Paris or elsewhere
[Perh. Zuni apachu, enemy].

Cheers,

Ben.

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