qobar

TankHughes commented on the word qobar

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html January 2018

"Q. In the early 1930s, my grandmother won a citywide crossword puzzle contest in New York City, earning the $1,000 prize at a time when money was tight. The winning word was qobar, a word that no longer appears in even unabridged dictionaries. Once a word is a word, isn’t it always a word?

A. Yes. But so far, there has never been a dictionary that listed all the words. There are too many words! One of the standards that lexicographers use when deciding which words to delete to make way for new ones is whether a word is actually used very often in a meaningful way. At least one online dictionary, Wordnik, has a goal of listing all the words available. Qobar isn’t listed there yet—maybe you should send it!"

January 2, 2018

qms commented on the word qobar

Oh, very good, Tank! Your posting does not provide a definition but my googling turned up this at Wiktionary:

qobar

English

Noun

qobar (plural not attested)

1. A dry fog of the upper Nile. quotations

o 1800, Report of the Board of Regents (volume 44, page 237)

In Ethiopia, where it is called qobar, this haze is of extraordinary density and hides all the features of the landscape beyond the distance of a mile, and conceals stars of the third magnitude even in the zenith.

o 2010, Charles Barnett, Iscariot (page 265)

Pietro Gandolfo, inside the old sedan, rumbled by, hidden by the dunes and the early morning qobar, dry fog of the Nile. He fidgeted nervously. He had no idea what to expect ahead.

It is a pleasure to come across an authentically obscure word rather than madeupicals like “shoemit = vomit in your shoes.”

January 2, 2018

TankHughes commented on the word qobar

You're the best, qms.

January 2, 2018