I came across akimbo and askance today and wondered if they were related, with the opening 'a' signifying something. Apparently not:


Akimbo — to stand "with hands on hips and elbows projecting outwards", from the C15 in kenebowe, "literally: in keen bow, that is, in a sharp curve"
Askance — to look sideways, obliquely, especially with suspicion or doubt; origin obscure.


Other words take an 'a' prefix meaning a negative:





  a- or an- [Greek a- and an- un-, non-] 
  Negative, not (abiotic,
  acaulescent, acephalia, aphasia, asexual, atrophy, anorexia).
  
  But 'a' is also used as a prefix in words that are not negative, for example his knees were all atremble. What is the meaning of 'a-' here? Could it have connections with akimbo and askance?



Question: netstat: n: unknown or uninstrumented protocol
Answer: You can let your Mac "listen" on a network interface:

Type sudo tcpdump -i en0 (followed by your administrator password)