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When I was at college, my English teachers used to say that the word attendance was derived from at ten dance. In schools the children used to dance at Ten AM in the British Rule and slowly it took the form attendance.
Is there any base for this tale that the word attendance really derived from at ten dance?
This story is prevalent in India.The English teachers who taught me this way were good scholars. I do not know How they believed and spread the story. I suspected the tale but it is very widespread. Some myths have spread into India very mysteriously which have to be debunked on sites like this; this question is intended to dispel widespread misinformation.
successive suspension
Posted 2019-10-14T18:07:33.683
Reputation: 3 051
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And what did these teachers tell you about attend, attendant, and attendee? The fact that these other words exist should be a clue that the silly etymology your teachers suggested is not correct. It does sound like a good way to remember the meaning of the word attendance. It reminds me of this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6029361-the-weighty-word-book
– Juhasz – 2019-10-14T18:45:30.4272Could the teachers have been joking? I mean there's a similar case where the word "assume" is decrypted as "making an ASS out of U and ME", and a lot of people repeat this as a cautionary tale without pointing out the obvious fact that this is nonsense. Same here: the teachers may have assumed that the absurdity of such an explanation is too obvious. – IMil – 2019-10-15T02:51:15.377
If there really was a school dance each morning at 10am, I think the more natural way to name it would be "the dance at ten" rather than "the at ten dance". – joeytwiddle – 2019-10-15T03:40:02.330
@joeytwiddle: It seems highly unlikely, given the British mentality during that era, that schools would actually have children dance, at any time. Maybe a question for the history site? – jamesqf – 2019-10-15T04:10:35.377
1The question in the title is different than the question in the body text. This often confuses people who read answers that starts with an explicit yes/no, and has already done it here too. – JiK – 2019-10-15T08:10:16.600
@jamesqf - "given the British mentality during that era, that schools would actually have children dance" What era? In the 1950s, I was at an ordinary London "infants' school" (ages 5 to 7) and every morning we went into the school hall for "Music and Movement". The big school radio was turned on, for a BBC Schools programme of that name. A lady with a piano would say things like "Children, I want you all to be a tree!", or "Now run around the room like the wind!", or "Make yourself very small like a seed... now grow and grow like a lovely flower!", and play a tune for each activity. – Michael Harvey – 2019-10-23T19:34:44.973
@ Michael Harvey.So the story might be true.The English teachers who taught me were Christians and are well acquainted with the British, – successive suspension – 2019-10-23T19:40:02.477
@Michael Harvey: The question says "in the British Rule" and "slowly it took the form". Since India became independent in 1947, what the British were doing in the 1950s is hardly relevant. Given the "slowly" claim, I think you'd have to look back at least to the practices of the 19th century. Even when "Music and Movement" became a thing, I would expect different grades to have theirs scheduled throughout the day, rather than a universal 10 AM. – jamesqf – 2019-10-25T03:48:20.700
The 'Music and Movement programmes started in 1935. – Michael Harvey – 2019-10-25T04:02:18.717