Name: English Tutor Nick P Word Origins (52) Loophole
Uploaded: 2019-06-25T15:23:06.000Z
Duration: 3 min 31 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hi  this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 52. The word origin today is

Basic passive voice

loophole. Okay. Let's take a look at the note. Nowadays loophole is mostly used to

Adverbs of degree

mean something in a contract or a law that is not completely clear or has been

left out and can sometimes be used as a way of avoiding or evading the law,  the

rule or condition of like a contract or or of a law. It can also literally mean a

hole in a loop or the hole in a loop. So remember this little thing like this is

like a loop if you've ever gone to an amusement park. You've gone on a roller

coaster. Some really exciting rollercoasters may go around a loop. So

that's kind of what we mean by a loop. So kind of t ends up having an oval shape

where two things hang. Where two things go and then it connects over again. Like

almost like a lasso. That a cowboy uses. This kind of a loop. So what's in

the center of that is a loop hole.  Okay. Let's get to the origin point now.

The origin of the word loophole goes back to medieval times. You know,  the

Middle Ages.  it refers to the narrow slit openings in the walls that archers

could shoot arrows through to fight off attackers to a castle. So if you ever

seen in the old movies like around Robin Hood's time.  Robin Hood during that

period you know,  somebody's trying to defend a castle. But you often seen these

little narrow openings there that,  that the people shot arrows through to fight

off attackers. So those were actually referred to as loopholes. That's where

the word actually comes from. Okay. The loop part probably originated from the

German or middle Dutch word " Lupen "which meant to watch or peer. So even when they

weren't being attacked normally if  the king was there and the queen or the

castle ... Sometimes everybody lived in that whole area. The whole

community it may be several hundred people. There might be somebody whose

job was to be a guard or a lookout. They would be looking

through those and of course . If actors came that would be a good place to shoot arrows

through. It was very hard for the attackers to fight back and get at like

another arrow or something in into that hole. Because that hole was a bit narrow.

And sometimes it was even a little bit on an angle too. So it was easy to shoot at the

attackers but it wasn't so easy for them to shoot back into the hole. So that's

why they worked very well. Which meant to watch for a period. Thus the word loophole

basically,  it means that a guard or lookout could watch for attackers

because they're,  they're looking through that. All right. It's good to note this too.

If all if all failed or if everything else failed,  small children may have been

able to escape through loopholes too. And that might go back to the idea about a

contract. It's a way of escaping. It is that small little hole that you can escape

through the contract. There was something missing that you could just get out of

it from. So maybe that was the connection to eventually have the meaning about you

know, laws or contracts. You find a loophole in the law or you find a

loophole in the contract. So you can get around it . You can avoid it . You could

evade it in some way. Okay. Anyway I hope you got it. I hope it's clear. I hope it was

informative. Thank you for your time. Bye- bye.