‘At Auschwitz you tell yourself, “I think too much” to resist: “I am too civilised.” But to me the civilised man who thinks too much is inseparable from the survivor.’
In 1986, Philip Roth interviewed Primo Levi about his life and times.
'The Song of Achilles'
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Madeline Miller retells the "Iliad" from the point of view of Achilles' inseparable companion, Patroclus.
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Industry estimates storm, flooding did as much as $10 billion in damage.
AMD CEO Downplays Hard-Drive Shortage
A day after Intel cut its revenue outlook due to the Thailand flooding, AMD's CEO says the resulting hard-drive shortage won't affect the quarter.
inseparable
(ĭn-sĕp'ər-ə-bəl, -sĕp'rə-)
adj.
- Impossible to separate or part: inseparable pieces of rock.
- Very closely associated; constant: inseparable companions.
inseparable in·sep'a·ra·ble n.
inseparably in·sep'a·ra·bly adv.
A barn raising is an event during which a community comes together to assemble a barn for one or more of its households, particularly in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America. In the past, a barn was often the first, largest, and most costly structure built by a family who settled in a new area. Barns were essential structures for storage of hay and keeping of horses and cattle, which in those days were an inseparable part of farming. The tradition of "barn raising" continues, more or less unchanged, in some Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities, particularly in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and some rural parts of Canada. The practice continues outside of these religious communities, albeit less frequently than in the 19th century, in the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Joined at the hip
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Meaning
Inextricably linked; inseparable.
Origin
The evocative expression 'joined at the hip' derives from the situation of conjoined twins.
Chang and Eng Bunker (1811–1874) were a celebrated pair of conjoined twins and, being from Siam (as Thialand was then called), they are the source of the expression Siamese twins. The pair were internationally known in their day and their celebrity has led many to assume that the term 'joined at the hip' also originated with them. This seems unlikely as the Bunker brothers were joined at the sternum, not the hip.
The figurative use of the phrase is American and dates from as recently as the 1960s. The earliest printed record of it that I can find is from the Californian newspaper the Pasadena Star-News, March 1963:
"The two organizations [Caltech and the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce] were so closely knit ... they were practically joined at the hip."
While it is clear that the expression derives from conjoined twins, we don't really know whether they were real or imagined and, if real, who they were. A pair of contenders from England are The Biddenden Maids.
In the English village of Biddenden, Kent, an annual dole of food and drink is made to the poor every Easter. Accounts vary on how long this has been going on but claims are made that it began after the death of conjoined twin sisters, who were born in Biddenden in 1100. Records show that the annual distribution is known to have taken place since at least 1605 and that, since at least 1775, the dole has included Biddenden cakes. These are hard biscuits that contain an image of twins, joined at the hip and shoulder.
As with many old English folk traditions, it is impossible to separate fact from folklore and almost every aspect of the Biddenden Maids story is a source of dispute. Nevertheless, they are a pair of well-known twins who were 'joined at the hip'. Whether they were well-known in Pasadena in 1963 is a moot point. All the early figurative uses of the phrase are American and whoever coined it may just have been making a general, non-specific reference to conjoined twins. Sadly, until more evidence emerges, this is one of those phrases where we have to say, 'we just don't know'.
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