file under: German words that crop up when I try to speak another language. is a wonderful all-purpose word, although the French donc may have taken its place recently.
I think I have. And no, I'm not. I can only do in kit terms, but I'm proud of learning two-against-three, three-against-four and four-against-five polyrhythms.
Hallo! More specific, indeed. Some homonyms like bank have distinct meanings in the English we speak, but in the Oxford English Dictionary there's a long long note on the origins of bank-the-place-where-we-keep-money, which ends 'The word is thus ultimately identical with BENCH and BANK2, and cognate with BANK1.'
Thank you! I noticed when I was on 1,999 and thought "ooh" but didn't pay any attention to my 2,000th - so I'm not sure which it was. I added a couple of thousand-related words as my 1,000th and 1,001st.
“What do you think of the stimulus package that President Obama is ramming through Congress at the moment?” — somewhere on the BBC World Service the other week
Clearing through my father's papers after he died, I found his photo folder. A real one, made of battered shagreen. In it was a picture of his long-dead brother; one of his father as a young man; one of his wife as a 13-year-old girl with her mother and sister. Pictures of the dead. Pictures of people who could not be seen in reality, ever again, kept private in his desk drawer.
skip, you missed the deliberate irony in that headline!
I am slightly miffed that no-one's reported on my bestickering, long ago, an apostropheless St Philip's Place (also Birmingham). You heard it here first. Or last.
borrowed definition: "riding so hard that your pulling on the bars results in your sitting right on the tip of the saddle. Which would have a rivet on it if it were a proper leather one."
Take the figure in Kennedy’s "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country�? and "we must never negotiate out of fear, but we must never fear to negotiate." The classical rhetoricians called it antimetabole, though modern speechwriters prefer to refer to it as the reversible raincoat.
I'd love to see a widget that displayed random words from all your lists, not just the most recent ones. (Also the existing widget doesn't seem to quite work for me)
I'm not sure if there's a word for this, but does anyone know why it's common practice in many TV shows and films to play something from a half-second to a second or two of dialogue before the camera switches to the speaker?
rolig, I think that's how most, if not all autoantonyms work; that's why I'm not a fan of them and don't find them particularly fascinating. Each to their own, though.
Mould, yes! I didn't even know about the second meaning you give; I had thought leaf-mould was mouldered leaves, a perfect example of how we often make imperfect sense of our language. I haven't looked into how cognate that sense may be with the "fungus" one, but it certainly seems distinct from a mould for moulding.
Hallo rolig — I'm not looking for homographs, as many of those differ in pronunciation (like slough and row). Shed might fit though: I'll check!
edit: I think row goes in. I'd forgotten about oars. Shed too!
Dear was an early addition; it does indeed seem to be cognate. I must've been lax in my research back then. Note that there are many other holes and shoddy bits, I'm sure, as I've only looked at the background when I've added/rejected words. There will, eventually, be a proofing process.
Kit & the Widow also do the "two men and a piano" act, but I do like them, so I'm inclined to think that perhaps they're a step up on mere Swannabeism.
Heh, I can do all of these limericks. And "Meppum" is even completely first-principles logical to me. This one though:
An old lady living in Worcester
Had a gift of a handsome young rorcester;
Are they your invention? This one doesn't work in the slightest — doesn't, hasn't ever, and never will, to my knowledge! Shall I find/upload a pronunciation of Worcester for you?
frindley! I didn't want to give you the actual words, so here's a clue (I'm assuming easy - I did consider making it harder by using tonic sol-fa but that could have been cruel and inscrutable!) as to which part of the lyric first stood out to my ear. Link so as not to spoil if you'd rather not know.
A friend's mother identified 20 as cocopele but it doesn't seem quite right, so I think I get to do some extra research.
I'm somewhere in the middle of Philosophy… but I do prefer linguistics to philosophy, so my preference there is motivated :) I have found the introduction to the building of mathematics quite fascinating, though, so I may move on to that one next. I'm engluttoning myself with Lakoff!
Read this book - loved it (actually, that's not strictly true; I did much prefer Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things for its scope and liveliness). All my notes are on paper though - I must transcribe them.
I'd like 4 to be church or priory, though I'm sure it's neither. I should also mention that for 8 I'm stuck on wrestles from vessels or possibly embezzles from vessels ;)
38. Only beginning my investigations into this one — is it (the composer, not the answer) Lauridsen?! I adore his O Magnum Mysterium, to little pieces. That which you linked was wonderful to hear.
Ah, you've added more! 39 is mazurka, which was my first thought in any case, but for extra authenticity I went to have a look at the Chopin book for all of the B♭ ones. Thank goodness for contents pages with the first few bars of melody!
Does looking up Turner's paintings count as cheating? I had to have a listen to the Carnavale too. 21 is Mendelssohn, I can say from my own general knowledge after that.
Incidentally, OED etymology: From Bride Well, i.e. (St.) Bride's Well, a holy well in London, near which Henry VIII had a ‘lodging’, given by Edward VI for a hospital, afterwards converted into a house of correction.
One of my favourite things to do with Tube stations is work out fancy dress costumes for them. High Barnet wins for feasibility. There are lots, alas, which involve accessorised nudity, and which I can't fulfil due to lack of the correct anatomical equipment.
Brazil's dende (dendê) palm is used chiefly for palm oil, but the small coconuts (along with the related piasava and pati nuts) are used to make jewellery, too.
Hmm, Finnish doesn't have the instrumental case, but Hungarian, another Uralic language, does. Finnish tends to prefer the adessive for the same purpose. I'm not sure why the difference between the instrumental and instructive per language family, or indeed what that specific difference might be.
Rather like buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo (I think that's the right number; I parsed it in my head as I went. I've got rather accustomed to that one), as it means something like "searching detectives find searching detectives".
vihdoin (v) first-person singular indicative past form of vihtoa, to whip (specifically with the following)
vihdoin (n) instructive case, i.e. "by means of", form of vihta (a kind of whisk made of birch twigs and used in the sauna to enhance the effect of heat by gently beating oneself with it)
Heh, it is when viewed large on Wordie like that! The sounds are straightforward, it seems to me, but it's getting all the syllables in the right order…
A good few Finnish tongue-twisters seem to play on the fact that orthographically similar or identical words can have different grammatical meanings, like Latin's malo malo malo malo.
Certain loanwords contain unfamiliar constructs, which are used in tongue-twisters. For example, Finnish strutsin perhe (the family of an ostrich) has the consonant cluster "str", whereas such consonant clusters do not occur in native Finnish words. Repeated, this might be pronounced as "strutsin perse" ("ostrich's arse").
Oh crap, I need that service where you hum a song and someone wise tells you what it is, on the other end of a phone line/the internet. I read a couple of lines of this and now have quite a different song embedded into my head.
Oh YES, I'd forgotten I'd read about this. On Language Log or Languagehat, one of those sorts of places. There is a point where ephemera gets too ephemeral, though; I wonder if this book is quite to my taste.
One of the best-known cases of regional and local variations is the song of the chaffinch… Southern French birds in Dapuhiné showed… a spirited version with a stressed ending of the type known as “British Museum” (since it is supposed to resemble these words).
— E.M. Nicholson and Ludwig Koch, Songs of Wild Birds (1936)
See mauve for a description of a similarly bastard colour. I cannot make this word conjure up the colour it really ought, no matter how hard I try.
Puce is a horrible word; this is the colour it (inaccurately!) recalls to me.
I am eagle-eyed and sharp-tongued on any other colour names, including those on the green/blue border which everyone loves to argue about. I got a perfect score on the hue test. Why these two anomalies?! I must have been misinformed by my mother at a very tender age…
Oh good grief, I've just discovered I had a huge mind-blank on how to spell this. Then as soon as I worked it out and thought "oh, it's like leopard!" I promptly forgot how to spell leopard.
I love that list with a good dose of fearful reverence. Not a thing to read when you're at all doubting yourself/your judgement (which I was severely when I discovered it…)
re the original post, it feels very right to me, and I'm sure I've heard it more than once before. I'll have a look round. Think about truing bicycle wheels, though, and arrows which fly straight and true.
Sorry… this was part of the yes/no list which I removed as it was structurally unsound, so to speak! (It's "yes, he/she would". You can see lots of them here if you like.)
Found in R.S.R. Fitter (1952); not quite sure to what it refers, except an utterance of the Bearded Tit. One that sounds like a kiss, rather than being produced while birds do kiss, presumably?
The Great Tit sings this too; “High-pitched song, often rendered ‘teacher, teacher’, has been likened to sharpening of a saw and pumping of a bicycle tyre”. (R.S.R. Fitter, 1952)
Surprised to find that the turtle-dove has an etymology all of its own: it's named for the turr turrr sound it makes, and the very word turtle refers primarily to the dove, coming from the echoic Latin turtur.
This is consuming my afternoon, I'll have you know. Nevertheless, I'm compelled to continue (although having got out one of my older bird books I realise I can't possibly be exhaustive, and moreover, shouldn't). R. & A. Fitter in 1981 describe:
the Canada Goose's call as “a loud double-trumpeting ker-konk”
the way to distinguish a Woodpigeon (or Ring Dove) from a Collared Dove being that one coo-coo-coo, coo-coos while the other more persistently gives a coo-cooo-cuh. The Turtle Dove gives “a soothing” turr turrr
(another bonus: the Hedgesparrow or Dunnock is described as having “a rather flat little warble”)
Great Tit: “Best-known call a loud teacher teacher, also one like a saw being sharpened.”
Birds are able to distinguish details in the utterances of their own kind better than we can. A Garden Warbler in good voice can be mistaken for a mediocre Blackcap but the birds themselves are not deceived. … However, most call-notes are distinctive to out ears and even moe so to the birds. The Chaffinch's pink, the Goldfinch's soft switt-witt-witt-witt and the Bullfinch's quiet, piping contact call reveal unmistakably the identity of the birds; so with the caw of the Rook, the snarl of the Carrion Crow, the harsh chatter of the Magpie and the Jay's raucous scream…
The calls uttered by a number of species of small birds when a hawk or falcon flies over are so similar that they constitute a general warning — a thin, high whistle… This seeet note is difficult to locate and therefore does not betray the position of the caller…
The Oropendola… males act as sentinels and sound a loud cack-cack-cack when a raptor appears…
The male usually ‘makes the going’ but either sex of the Great Tit may invite copulation, giving a high-pitched zeedle-zeedle-zeedle-zee… Among Herring Gulls the female usually takes the initiative in pair-formation, walking round the male with her neck drawn in and occasionally giving a melodious kleeoo as she tosses her head… The Greater Honeyguide is exceptional. He perches on a favourite tree and reiterates his loud whit-purr and vic-tor calls every minute or so for about eight hours day after day…
Often our first intimation that a party of Long-tailed Tits is around is hearing their conversation consisting of variouscalls — tupp tsirrup and a high-pitched zee-zee-zee…
In Trinidad a tyrantbird, the Kiskadee, enquired with exasperating regularity for hours on end outside my window in French: ‘Qu'est-ce qu'il dit?’—‘What is he saying?’…
And you've set me off into trying to remember, as I do every now and then, what I was once told our woodpigeons say. I think it might be go home now, Betty.
Obama has three separate vowel sounds compared to McCain's one.
Very mistaken. Fine on Obama, but McCain has one vowel in each syllable (note the much-forgotten-in-English schwa), plus the diphthong in -ai- must count for something.
And look on the front page, VanishedOne - it looks awful! (I did try all the different encodings I could find. Weirdly, I think those links all led to the yen at one point, then they led nowhere. I may have been imagining it.)
Oh, apologies! I can't remember my rationale, but something I found quite a while ago did suggest to me that it can be used aptly in Swedish for that wonderful, drenched-light weather condition of enough rain and sun together at once. Naturally I can't find the merest suggestion of this now.
Peninsula in the Scottish highlands. Ardnamurchan Point is a landmark in the recitative of the Shipping Forecast, featuring as a boundary of an inshore coastal area. The Point is often cited as the most westerly point of the British mainland, though Corrachadh Mòr is a little more so.
Damn. Where's the list of "orphan" words only really used in fixed constructions? (to and fro; take umbrage — that one I don't quite agree with but it's a fair enough example for now)
A curious linguistic term relating to words which, sharing an etymological root, have entered a language by two different routes. Some examples: fire/pyre, warden/guardian, secure/sure.
FINALLY, Clive Teale's suggestion that a conference of "polinymous" scientists - those with names of towns - should take place in the Lincolnshire village of Mavis Enderby (23 August) has prompted James Brown to inform us that a local wit has enlivened the signpost that says "To Mavis Enderby and Old Bolingbroke" by adding the words "the gift of a son".
A term in landscape architecture used to describe a path that isn’t designed but rather is worn casually away by people finding the shortest distance between two points.
— Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (via uselog)
On a bicycle, an extra chain ring — that is, next to the cranks and the pedals — with a lesser number of teeth than the others: “typically in the 24-28 tooth range”, says the very useful Sheldon Brown. Its purpose is for going up hills in granny gear (q.v.).
I think that given the era and nature of the technology I might habitually use artifact to refer to JPEG arti/efacting, the same way conscientious BrE speakers use programme for most cases, including TV, but program for a computer program; also disc for round, flat things (including CDs, since they fairly resemble that previously more familiar object, the vinyl record), but disk for hard disk and floppy disk, where the platters themselves are hidden.
Dutch loop-framed bicycle, often with a basket, no gears and a back-pedal brake — and dynamo lights! I thought that calling them “granny bikes” was a peculiarly and purely British habit, after similar constructions such as granny flat, granny gear, granny bag and perhaps granny square, but was delighted to find it translated directly.
Opoe describes a particularly aged grandmother, or old woman, a little like babushka (or indeed granny); oma is more akin to “gran” or “nan”, and you can call the same bicycle an omafiets too. A fiets (pl. fietsen) is a bike.
Ooooh. The memory-sticking ones for me are “enviroment” (age 11, but I think I'd barely used it before being told) and “oppurtunity” (somewhere in my teens, which was much more embarrassing).
The words I'm including are ones which sound like they've been carefully invented in a drawing-room by someone proud of (inevitably) his classical education — with a little scope for those new fripperies which have been named more colloquially, but still with a particular Victorian fancy (e.g. dundrearies).
Excuse me? I was trying to type phantasmagorically. I can understand your average T9 dictionary not containing that word, but this one is meant to be what exactly?
“anyway”! — when coming back to your point after something of a ramble, or to introduce a summary. To cut a long story short; in a nutshell; in short, in brief.
go off…To start into sudden action; to break into a fit of laughter, extravagance of language, irrelevant or unintelligible discourse, etc. (emphasis mine)
« à vos souhaits » for someone you vouvoie (see vouvoyer). Equivalent to the English “bless you” after a sneeze. There's a sequence:
First sneeze — à tes souhaits ! (lit.) to your wishes!
Second sneeze — à tes amours ! to your loves! (to which the sneezer can respond que les tiennes durent toujours — les vôtres for a vous — may yours last forever!)
Third sneeze — à tes aïeux ! to your ancestors!
Fourth sneeze — crève ! die (choke)!
Or:
—à tes souhaits belle plante ! bless you, beautiful woman!
Comments by sarra
Show previous 200 comments...
sarra commented on the word also
file under: German words that crop up when I try to speak another language. is a wonderful all-purpose word, although the French donc may have taken its place recently.
June 14, 2009
sarra commented on the word stunden
file under: German words that crop up when I try to speak another language. Means "hours".
June 14, 2009
sarra commented on the word anderthalb
file under: German words that crop up when I try to speak another language. Means "one and a half".
June 14, 2009
sarra commented on the word 'fuck me!' said the duchess, more in hope than in anger
Must be said with the correct inflection: 'Fuck me!' meaning 'Gosh, what a surprise!'.
June 10, 2009
sarra commented on the word das sind für mich böhmische dörfer
German equivalent of the Czech 'to je pro mne španělská vesnice', or 'I'm sorry, I haven't a clue'. Lit. 'they're Bohemian villages to me'.
June 10, 2009
sarra commented on the word to je pro mne španělská vesnice
'I'm sorry, I haven't a clue' in Czech. Lit. 'it's just a Spanish village to me'.
June 10, 2009
sarra commented on the word alhamdulillah
'Thanks be to God!'
Response to a sneeze in Arabic.
June 8, 2009
sarra commented on the word velona
The response to a sneeze in Madagascar. Means 'alive!'.
June 8, 2009
sarra commented on the word chicken-yawn
Chicken-yawn comes before cock-crow. It's that early, you see.
June 5, 2009
sarra commented on the word rebelote
discussion sur 'rebelot(t)e'
May 31, 2009
sarra commented on the word x-sampa
God yes. Hurrah for you!
May 25, 2009
sarra commented on the word ouagadougou
un nom tel superb!
May 23, 2009
sarra commented on the list language-of-drums
Spoke too soon… four against five is tricky.
May 23, 2009
sarra commented on the list language-of-drums
I think I have. And no, I'm not. I can only do in kit terms, but I'm proud of learning two-against-three, three-against-four and four-against-five polyrhythms.
May 23, 2009
sarra commented on the word talea
also related to isorhythms
May 22, 2009
sarra commented on the list deprefixed-words
'fixed' words, innit? ;)
May 4, 2009
sarra commented on the word heteronormative
I like the word, and I do use it. Hallo too, rolig!
May 4, 2009
sarra commented on the list etymological-curiosities
Hallo! More specific, indeed. Some homonyms like bank have distinct meanings in the English we speak, but in the Oxford English Dictionary there's a long long note on the origins of bank-the-place-where-we-keep-money, which ends 'The word is thus ultimately identical with BENCH and BANK2, and cognate with BANK1.'
May 3, 2009
sarra commented on the word furlongs per fortnight
whimsical measure of speed
April 18, 2009
sarra commented on the word lire quelque chose à tête reposée
(Fr.) to read something at one's leisure, lit. with rested head
April 18, 2009
sarra commented on the list quaint-pronunciation
mundi tuesdi wensdi thursdi freyedi satdi sundi. But I was actually thinking of 'wed'nsday', whether -day or -di.
April 16, 2009
sarra commented on the word pardi
note to self
April 14, 2009
sarra commented on the user Telofy
Love your 'also on'. Gave me a smiling pleased giggle.
April 11, 2009
sarra commented on the user Telofy
Thank you! I noticed when I was on 1,999 and thought "ooh" but didn't pay any attention to my 2,000th - so I'm not sure which it was. I added a couple of thousand-related words as my 1,000th and 1,001st.
Ah, hold on, I can work it out… justiciable! The thousandth was millenary. (Followed by mother of thousands)
April 11, 2009
sarra commented on the word pentachoron
ow ow my brain ow.
April 10, 2009
sarra commented on the word god's green earth
I'm no Christian, but why/what/how on God's green earth…? is too good a phrase to miss out on.
April 5, 2009
sarra commented on the word arwygyll
OED: 'obs. derivative form of EARWIG; cf. OE. eárwicasga and mod. Suffolk dial. arrawiggle, and see WIGGLE v.'
Just brilliant.
March 27, 2009
sarra commented on the word sabo
Not sure how accurate this is, but a preliminary reference: http://www.organicearrings.com/Materials_Info___Sources.html
March 17, 2009
sarra commented on the word sono
Not sure how accurate this is, but a preliminary reference: http://www.organicearrings.com/Materials_Info___Sources.html
March 17, 2009
sarra commented on the word omega stategy
er stRategy?
March 12, 2009
sarra commented on the word bobbins
"rubbish"
March 4, 2009
sarra commented on the word buffing
"to buff is to remove graffiti"
March 4, 2009
sarra commented on the word bird
When we were at 6th form we used to refer to our boyfriends as our birds. (from a talkboard — surprised and pleased me)
March 3, 2009
sarra commented on the word snow-blind
I've not seen it used in this way before, but it's just perfect:
I want a Netbook and having been looking at different ones for a few days, but am now snow-blind from all the reviews.
(also snowblind)
February 27, 2009
sarra commented on the word ramming
See stimulus package. Yes.
February 27, 2009
sarra commented on the word stimulus package
“What do you think of the stimulus package that President Obama is ramming through Congress at the moment?” — somewhere on the BBC World Service the other week
February 27, 2009
sarra commented on the word bugs
A lot of the Wordie links on the RSS feed seem to be to lists which don't exist? e.g.:
beavers build dams -> http://wordie.org/lists/198837
where do you go to my lovely -> http://wordie.org/lists/129220
unbirdly -> http://wordie.org/lists/198568
etc.
February 19, 2009
sarra commented on the word shagreen
Clearing through my father's papers after he died, I found his photo folder. A real one, made of battered shagreen. In it was a picture of his long-dead brother; one of his father as a young man; one of his wife as a 13-year-old girl with her mother and sister. Pictures of the dead. Pictures of people who could not be seen in reality, ever again, kept private in his desk drawer.
Michael Bywater in the Independent
February 13, 2009
sarra commented on the word tantalize
Click the little "OE" icon above and be enlightened!
February 4, 2009
sarra commented on the word ärans och hjältarnas språk
Swedish, "the language of honour and of heroes". Comes from an Esaias Tegnérs poem of 1817 & is used nowadays with a smile of slight irony, I think.
February 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word apostrophe
skip, you missed the deliberate irony in that headline!
I am slightly miffed that no-one's reported on my bestickering, long ago, an apostropheless St Philip's Place (also Birmingham). You heard it here first. Or last.
February 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word on the rivet
borrowed definition: "riding so hard that your pulling on the bars results in your sitting right on the tip of the saddle. Which would have a rivet on it if it were a proper leather one."
January 27, 2009
sarra commented on the word perineum
o_O
January 25, 2009
sarra commented on the word minulla on nuha
kiitos bilby!
January 24, 2009
sarra commented on the word reversible raincoat
Take the figure in Kennedy’s "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country�? and "we must never negotiate out of fear, but we must never fear to negotiate." The classical rhetoricians called it antimetabole, though modern speechwriters prefer to refer to it as the reversible raincoat.
Geoff Nunberg at Language Log
January 24, 2009
sarra commented on the word ik ben verkouden
I am becolden. *snuiven, kuchen*
January 24, 2009
sarra commented on the word flunssa
THE FLU
January 24, 2009
sarra commented on the word minulla on nuha
i have a cold. :(
(You can also say "minussa on nuha", lit. "in me there is a cold")
January 24, 2009
sarra commented on the user bilby
January 24, 2009
sarra commented on the word entrez
The word as used in response to a knock on the door is actually in the imperative mood. (Ooh, Matron!)
January 22, 2009
sarra commented on the word immolate
Yep.
January 21, 2009
sarra commented on the word features
I'd love to see a widget that displayed random words from all your lists, not just the most recent ones. (Also the existing widget doesn't seem to quite work for me)
January 21, 2009
sarra commented on the list lost-for-word
I'm not sure if there's a word for this, but does anyone know why it's common practice in many TV shows and films to play something from a half-second to a second or two of dialogue before the camera switches to the speaker?
January 18, 2009
sarra commented on the list etymological-curiosities
Oh, and spelt! I'll be checking through these when I've time.
NB. 'triplet' is used to describe a treble doublet, but I understand your meaning, of course.
January 18, 2009
sarra commented on the word wichtig
important
January 14, 2009
sarra commented on the word gern geschehen
You're welcome. I think.
January 14, 2009
sarra commented on the word nöf nöf
Oink oink!
January 9, 2009
sarra commented on the word boops
Awwww!
January 7, 2009
sarra commented on the word amputree
Aye, pollarding in particular weirds me out.
January 7, 2009
sarra commented on the word pyrite
Tis pyrite indeed. No pirate joke intended.
January 7, 2009
sarra commented on the word bearwood
This is a mile from my house!
January 7, 2009
sarra commented on the word carpe diem
Carpa diei? (possible nominative of carpa, which is given in OED as "late Latin" for carp; genitive of dies)
January 7, 2009
sarra commented on the list etymological-curiosities
Didn't know the narrative poem meaning, but lay lie is distinct from lay non-clerical, so that's something I'd genuinely so far missed for this list.
Can't see why I rejected lie. Must've been sleepy.
January 5, 2009
sarra commented on the word firstbornware
haha!
January 5, 2009
sarra commented on the list etymological-curiosities
'cleave' is already in, rolig :) Yes to host, and of course junk.
January 5, 2009
sarra commented on the word dairyman
Milkman in England. Don't know if the connotations carry too…
January 5, 2009
sarra commented on the word hair cosy
!
Mine goes in the compost bucket.
January 5, 2009
sarra commented on the user hedgerows
! A username I use sometimes. Hello, hedgerows!
January 5, 2009
sarra commented on the word hara hachi bu
I can't work out how one would do this, though.
January 5, 2009
sarra commented on the user Telofy
4,000 words! Happy thousand!
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the word earner
Auuuugh. It makes vastly more sense to assume that WordNet has made a typo. Don't fret, telofy!
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the list effles-and-fluffles
You beat me, I just found it!
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the list effles-and-fluffles
Where are you getting these (I'm thinking of the non-English ones) from?
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the word transparent
rolig, I think that's how most, if not all autoantonyms work; that's why I'm not a fan of them and don't find them particularly fascinating. Each to their own, though.
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the word folk etymology
Contrary to misconceptions, folk etymology should not be used to describe an urban legend behind a word or phrase's origin. Ouch! That's me told.
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the list etymological-curiosities
Mould, yes! I didn't even know about the second meaning you give; I had thought leaf-mould was mouldered leaves, a perfect example of how we often make imperfect sense of our language. I haven't looked into how cognate that sense may be with the "fungus" one, but it certainly seems distinct from a mould for moulding.
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the list etymological-curiosities
Hallo rolig — I'm not looking for homographs, as many of those differ in pronunciation (like slough and row). Shed might fit though: I'll check!
edit: I think row goes in. I'd forgotten about oars. Shed too!
Dear was an early addition; it does indeed seem to be cognate. I must've been lax in my research back then. Note that there are many other holes and shoddy bits, I'm sure, as I've only looked at the background when I've added/rejected words. There will, eventually, be a proofing process.
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the word bh
BH seems to be the Danish word for bra, though I can't see why. Certainly doesn't stand for boulder holder…
Ah! Brystholder!
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the list refereemotional
I just within the last 15 minutes read that! On the BBC, though.
January 3, 2009
sarra commented on the word genitive
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=965#comment-16569
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word chode
…wondering if kewpid meant it quite like that.
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the list weirdly-pronounced-british-family-or-place-names
*sticks tongue out at c_b*
Marylebone, and…
A dashing young fellow named Cockburn
Was attempting to travel to Holborn.
He asked with a cough
If he please could get ough
When he found himself en route to Oban…
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the list weirdly-pronounced-british-family-or-place-names
Leominster, Cirencester (not any longer, I don't think)
Also the more mundane Bicester and Alcester.
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the list weirdly-pronounced-british-family-or-place-names
But why would you? ;)
Oh, by the way, I've just remembered Brewood. Rhymes with what beer has had done to it. Or what's hatched from a mother hen's eggs.
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word homoseme
Psst, you've missed a closing italic tag!
Thanks for that, though, it shows I was barking up the wrong tree :) I seem to be reading masses about cognitive grammar at the moment.
I'm after a word for these (don't look too closely, it needs me to give it a proofread…)
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word il pleut des grenouilles
There's also a rhyme (like the English it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring) il pleut, il mouille, c'est la fête à la grenouille.
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word flanders and swannabe
Yes!
Kit & the Widow also do the "two men and a piano" act, but I do like them, so I'm inclined to think that perhaps they're a step up on mere Swannabeism.
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word worcester
Don't be fooled by even the phonetic spelling given, either. Worcester(shire) pronounced on Forvo
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word magdalen
Or indeed maudlin :)
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the list weirdly-pronounced-british-family-or-place-names
Heh, I can do all of these limericks. And "Meppum" is even completely first-principles logical to me. This one though:
An old lady living in Worcester
Had a gift of a handsome young rorcester;
Are they your invention? This one doesn't work in the slightest — doesn't, hasn't ever, and never will, to my knowledge! Shall I find/upload a pronunciation of Worcester for you?
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word homoseme
Whence this? I'm wondering if I might need it.
January 2, 2009
sarra commented on the word past tense
It's a fun challenge to think of others, now, rolig. I don't think wicked counts ;)
Just found a curious article on the OED blog!
January 1, 2009
sarra commented on the word gardening
Sorry to be all Web 2.0, but I'm annoyed I can't create garde.ning.com!
January 1, 2009
sarra commented on the word is this my finger or your finger
I don't believe in this one!
January 1, 2009
sarra commented on the word geokinesis
Heh. By "new acquisitions" I don't mean I've woken up with this power.
Or do I…?
distant rumble
January 1, 2009
sarra commented on the word with whom do i have the pleasure of speaking with
SKDGHSKH.
January 1, 2009
sarra commented on the word john williams is the man
YES!
January 1, 2009
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
frindley! I didn't want to give you the actual words, so here's a clue (I'm assuming easy - I did consider making it harder by using tonic sol-fa but that could have been cruel and inscrutable!) as to which part of the lyric first stood out to my ear. Link so as not to spoil if you'd rather not know.
A friend's mother identified 20 as cocopele but it doesn't seem quite right, so I think I get to do some extra research.
December 30, 2008
sarra commented on the word co-opt
I meant is it that particular misuse, or a different one!
December 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word autoplay
You could go a slightly different route and use FlashMute, as I do.
December 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word cauliflory
heh! Wonderful.
December 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word brose
see athole brose for a bit of discussion
December 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word athole brose
The etymology of brose is lovely and arcane, and ambrosia has nothing to do with it, which I find actually quite pleasing. :)
December 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word co-opt
Ooooh, I have genuinely never heard this word confused with co-op; is that the misuse which vexes you so, or something else?
December 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word araby
Heh. For me it's The Sheik of Araby. I do love the word though; Said has it spot on.
December 28, 2008
sarra commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by
I'm somewhere in the middle of Philosophy… but I do prefer linguistics to philosophy, so my preference there is motivated :) I have found the introduction to the building of mathematics quite fascinating, though, so I may move on to that one next. I'm engluttoning myself with Lakoff!
December 28, 2008
sarra commented on the list metaphors-we-live-by
Read this book - loved it (actually, that's not strictly true; I did much prefer Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things for its scope and liveliness). All my notes are on paper though - I must transcribe them.
December 28, 2008
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
Augh! rolig, I got questions 37 and 38 mixed up. The answer to 37 is Rilke. The piece is Dirait-on by Morten Lauridsen, from Les Chansons des Roses.
December 27, 2008
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
I'd like 4 to be church or priory, though I'm sure it's neither. I should also mention that for 8 I'm stuck on wrestles from vessels or possibly embezzles from vessels ;)
December 27, 2008
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
38. Only beginning my investigations into this one — is it (the composer, not the answer) Lauridsen?! I adore his O Magnum Mysterium, to little pieces. That which you linked was wonderful to hear.
edit: It is — wonderful. following confusion edited out… I got very mixed up, see above
December 27, 2008
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
Ah, you've added more! 39 is mazurka, which was my first thought in any case, but for extra authenticity I went to have a look at the Chopin book for all of the B♭ ones. Thank goodness for contents pages with the first few bars of melody!
December 27, 2008
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
but which is, of course, entirely collect
Hee! Was this on purpose?
December 27, 2008
sarra commented on the word beidh tu ag taisteal san otharcharr
Is that the Irish equivalent of the pub/football chant you're going home in a faaaa-ckin' aaaambulance then?
December 27, 2008
sarra commented on the word social lubricant
Hehehe!
December 27, 2008
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
Does looking up Turner's paintings count as cheating? I had to have a listen to the Carnavale too. 21 is Mendelssohn, I can say from my own general knowledge after that.
December 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word bridewell
Indeed.
Incidentally, OED etymology: From Bride Well, i.e. (St.) Bride's Well, a holy well in London, near which Henry VIII had a ‘lodging’, given by Edward VI for a hospital, afterwards converted into a house of correction.
December 26, 2008
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
9 was my first thought, too! Thanks to that terrible "You can't say 'I is'" — "Miss, but what about 'I is the ninth letter of the alphabet'?"
December 26, 2008
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-7-special-saturnalia-edition
16. kangaroo
27. not 3?
Could we see the pictures any bigger or is their size part of the challenge?
December 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word charwoman
Whoops, I appear to have listed both this and charlady!
December 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word arctic lorry
Indeed. And the artic chill only occurs within a refrigerated lorry…
December 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word plashy
Ahhhh. I've only just got that.
December 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word rêver
(Fr.) To dream.
December 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word nom de plume
Excuse the lolcat, but this one is lovely!
December 24, 2008
sarra commented on the list supralist
Nope - the contents of lists are words, and only ever words. (Until John adds a feature to let it be otherwise, if he so fancies.)
December 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word wordie list of the year 2008
Could we have a Zoological List Of The Year? Purely for the acronym. Other Z-word submissions considered.
December 24, 2008
sarra commented on the list supralist
'fraid not, unfortunately.
December 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word gibbous
Exactly — I'm very puzzled by Wells' use of it here. A full moon is a full moon.
OED: "c. Astr. Said of the moon or a planet when the illuminated portion exceeds a semicircle, but is less than a circle."
December 23, 2008
sarra commented on the list london-underground-stations
One of my favourite things to do with Tube stations is work out fancy dress costumes for them. High Barnet wins for feasibility. There are lots, alas, which involve accessorised nudity, and which I can't fulfil due to lack of the correct anatomical equipment.
December 23, 2008
sarra commented on the user BrainyBabe
Welcome, BB. And what a welcome!
December 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word anonymous intmacy
a very nice concept! But could do with its missing "i"…
December 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word dende
Brazil's dende (dendê) palm is used chiefly for palm oil, but the small coconuts (along with the related piasava and pati nuts) are used to make jewellery, too.
December 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word pippiculture
Ohh, this is describing those who hold Pippi Longstocking as an idol? Seriously.
December 22, 2008
sarra commented on the user corylusavellana
YOU'RE A CHAP. Are you a chap? I adore the tweedy wonder that is the magazine.
December 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word whale pee
See here!
December 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word deprifixation
Sentences like "Nora's a norexic" are out.
Not for me, though, as the "a"s are schwas. Quite different!
December 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word reburnished
Poet Laureate Andrew Motion on Something Understood, 21st December 2008. I admit I rolled my eyes a little!
December 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word irony
December 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word pervious
Does impervious thus mean totally innocent?
December 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word vihdoin vihdoin vihdoin
Hmm, Finnish doesn't have the instrumental case, but Hungarian, another Uralic language, does. Finnish tends to prefer the adessive for the same purpose. I'm not sure why the difference between the instrumental and instructive per language family, or indeed what that specific difference might be.
December 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word als een potvis in een pispot pist, heb je een pispot vol met potvis pis
Come on! It's a worldly observation!
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät
Rather like buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo (I think that's the right number; I parsed it in my head as I went. I've got rather accustomed to that one), as it means something like "searching detectives find searching detectives".
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word kas vain! sanoi kasvain ja kasvoi vain
Now look! the plant said, and grew.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word jos lakkaa satamasta, haen lakkaa satamasta
When it stops raining, I will get the lacquer (or cloudberry?) from the port.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word kävelin illalla sillalla
I walked in the evening on the bridge.
Made even lovelier by the Finnish lingering over double consonants.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word vihdoin vihdoin vihdoin
At last, I slapped myself with a birch-switch.
vihdoin (adv) finally
vihdoin (v) first-person singular indicative past form of vihtoa, to whip (specifically with the following)
vihdoin (n) instructive case, i.e. "by means of", form of vihta (a kind of whisk made of birch twigs and used in the sauna to enhance the effect of heat by gently beating oneself with it)
(acknowledgement to Wiktionary)
I may have got the word-order wrong. No, seriously!
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word yksikseskös itkeskelet, itsekseskös yskiskelet
Heh, it is when viewed large on Wordie like that! The sounds are straightforward, it seems to me, but it's getting all the syllables in the right order…
A good few Finnish tongue-twisters seem to play on the fact that orthographically similar or identical words can have different grammatical meanings, like Latin's malo malo malo malo.
e.g.: Vihdoin vihdoin vihdoin, Jos lakkaa satamasta, haen lakkaa satamasta, Kas vain! sanoi kasvain ja kasvoi vain, Etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät (that one's not so surprising, like Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach — and less a tongue-twister than a brain-bender)
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word yksikseskös itkeskelet, itsekseskös yskiskelet
Yksikseskös itkeskelet, itsekseskös yskiskelet?
Are you crying all alone, are you coughing by yourself?
(Apparently this is a question to the drunk. Think tired and emotional.)
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word strutsin perhe
—WikipediaDecember 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word esel essen nesseln nicht; nesseln essen esel nicht
Donkeys don't eat nettles; nettles don't eat donkeys.
A fair arrangement.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word de kat krabt de krullen van de trap
The cat scratches the curls of the stairs.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word als een potvis in een pispot pist, heb je een pispot vol met potvis pis
When a sperm whale pisses in a piss-pot, you get a piss-pot full of sperm whale piss.
Practical folk, those Dutch.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word de koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets
The coachman cleans the stagecoach with stagecoach-cleaner!
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word liesje leerde lotje lopen langs de lange lindelaan
Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange Lindelaan
Maar toen Lotje niet wou lopen toen liet Liesje Lotje staan
Liesje taught Lotje to walk along the long Linde Lane
But when Lotje didn't want to walk, Lisje left Lotje standing there…
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word unsung toast
No, no, you sing (not singe) the toast by… well, toasting it with song. This morning's could be saluted with the Vitalite advert song, for example.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word æsc
Such a wonderful arrangement of letters. Like a short section of golden chain.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word walloton
Is it a peloton of Walloons?
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word pant-hoot
No! I never met one! It would certainly have helped.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word ii n'ya aucun de hors-texte
il n'y a pas de hors-texte ("aucun" is "any")
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word mardy
also appears in the construction mardy-arse(d) (not to be confused with mardi gras)
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the list dialect-and-oikolect
Go on, bil, tag the most intriguing ones with “comments please” and I'll have a look.
December 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word unsung toast
Can I have some sung toast, please?
December 15, 2008
sarra commented on the word pant-hoot
Heh! I knew, in fact. I owned this when I was small. School book fairs were an invaluable thing.
December 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word dog's letter
No, P is the pirate letter - it's their favourite.
Why?
It's like R - but it's only got one leg.
December 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word madrigals v freshness
Bah. I have not the slightest idea what this is intended to represent.
December 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word babu
Oh! Also the name of a red panda which was briefly famous a few years ago.
December 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word babu
In one of its derogatory senses, excessively ornate English from an Indian book-learner — or the speaker himself.
In another, related sense, refers to those engaged in excessively self-absorbed bureaucracy — see here.
Also has its uses as a perfectly polite term.
बाब�? ?
December 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word colly
The Twelve Days of Christmas: four colly birds (=blackbirds), not calling birds.
December 12, 2008
sarra commented on the list radio-quirks
Hmm?
December 6, 2008
sarra commented on the word thermos
Metafilter wondered too: Question on generic terminology
Wikipedia has an article on the genericized trademark
And the word might be antonomasia.
December 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word emotional contagion
♥
December 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word beavers build dams
Google Book Search explanation (for the intrepid)
December 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word tagua
OED: The ivory-palm, Phytelephas macrocarpa, which produces the ivory-nut or corozo-nut; also in Comb., as tagua-nut, -palm, -plant.
Produces "vegetable ivory". (I can't help but think of Andrew Marvell: My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow)
December 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word women, fire and dangerous things
Ah, fine. I already did my swooning over on turquoise :)
December 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word where do you go to my lovely
I know… I was following Ms/Mr A, though!
December 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word where do you go to my lovely
I've just listened to the Sarstedt song for the first time. Oh, how lovely, how French. Despite not being such!
Unfortunately, this is the one arcadia and I had in mind…
"oa-oa-we-oh!"
December 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word turquoise
I am swooning that you mentioned Berlin and Kay.
December 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word if you want me to, i will
Hah, for shame! It was Say A Little Prayer For You!
December 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word if you want me to, i will
Oh crap, I need that service where you hum a song and someone wise tells you what it is, on the other end of a phone line/the internet. I read a couple of lines of this and now have quite a different song embedded into my head.
December 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word parkvall's limits of language
Oh YES, I'd forgotten I'd read about this. On Language Log or Languagehat, one of those sorts of places. There is a point where ephemera gets too ephemeral, though; I wonder if this book is quite to my taste.
December 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word where do you go to my lovely
Hah, my memory of it is quite the same.
Is that the same song, though, plethora?
December 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word unbirdly
“While at the bird sanctuary I was set upon by a creature which gave a quite unbirdly scream”, for example :)
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the list wtht-vwls
Bugger, plethora. Me neither!
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word louinge kyndnesse
From the Coverdale Bible (1535); Wikipedia
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word tumblr
Exctly.
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word euro
€€€€€€€€€
(altgr+4)
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word nonce-word
That's the one I spotted, too… then I had to give up.
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word dingo
Made me smile too.
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word nonce-word
*has a look*
Good grief, the OED full text results for "nonce-wd" are an utter joy. I recommend a look yourselves.
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word frell
"fuck" substitute in Farscape. *shrugs factually*
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word tumblr
I still bristle against this word, but I succumbed. John, something to add to the "Also on" list on profiles?
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word origami
!
December 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word bh�?rat gaṇar�?jya
भारत गणराज�?य (Hindi), the Republic of India.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list well-known-places-youve-never-heard-of
Just spotted that!
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word alankomaat
The Netherlands.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word ruotsi
Sweden.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word itävalta
Austria.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word yhdistynyt kuningaskunta
The UK.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word yhdysvallat
Finnish for the USA!
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word euskadi
Basque country.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word kalaallit nunaat
Greenland, named by its speakers (of Kalaallisut, the official language). Lit. Land of the Greenlanders (slightly recursively as notated here!)
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word british museum
— E.M. Nicholson and Ludwig Koch, Songs of Wild Birds (1936)
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list well-known-places-youve-never-heard-of
I would disagree with Österreich and Lëtzebuerg personally, though.
Alba did throw me utterly, some months ago when I first encountered it.
Ulster is one for me. Kernow and Eire not quite so.
Oh! And Euskadi, I should think, just about counts. And Kalaallit Nunaat.
I'm reading a book at the moment, bil, which reminded me that Macassar did exist (and so spelt, too, although he also says cocoanut and bees'-wax)
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list well-known-places-youve-never-heard-of
Finnish does well: Ruotsi, Alankomaat, Itävalta, and best of all Yhdistynyt kuningaskunta and Yhdysvallat!
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word british museum
Yes, Pro! I'll find the citation.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word hazel
and a brown-amber-greenish eye colour
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word skjør
Bjahahahaha.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word meticulous
So boisterosity? fastidiosity? gregariosity? studiosity? nervosity? obnoxiosity? piteosity? stupendosity? tenuosity? (aptly) ridiculosity?
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list the-macabre-dough
I did look through this list quickly…
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word who-cooks-for-you; who-cooks-for-you-all
I noticed as soon as I listed it, but I couldn't bear to leave this listing unadopted into such a family :)
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word déjà vu
cf.
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word oedden
Goddamn!
December 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word स�?नेहभोजन
It reads as snehabhojan, but that isn't helping me at all!
December 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word british museum
! I never knew there was a British Museum underground station, let alone a closed one.
December 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word who-cooks-for-you; who-cooks-for-you-all
Don't worry, hold on…
December 1, 2008
sarra commented on the list adoption-agency
The words; I didn't read the comments this time :)
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word puce
See mauve for a description of a similarly bastard colour. I cannot make this word conjure up the colour it really ought, no matter how hard I try.
Puce is a horrible word; this is the colour it (inaccurately!) recalls to me.
I am eagle-eyed and sharp-tongued on any other colour names, including those on the green/blue border which everyone loves to argue about. I got a perfect score on the hue test. Why these two anomalies?! I must have been misinformed by my mother at a very tender age…
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word mauve
Mauve is a bastard word to me. Doesn't fit the colour at all. See also puce.
Actually, it seems there's just enough variation in the colour world to satisfy me: this is mauve!
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word norange
Found it! Discussion of metanalysis on nibling. Note that English itself has never used “norange” (I don't think I was clear enough over there)
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word norange
Not orange.
Homage (and apologies) to ampersandwich.
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word oranger
Hahaha!
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the list adoption-agency
This has become a fascinating story.
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word lend me an ear
send me an ear!
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word y2gay
Argh! Worlds collide!
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word save for
I've a few "words" like these; I might set them against each other in a list.
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word bowlderise
Misspelling indeed; see bowdlerise/bowdlerize
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word hoor
Interesting: http://discovering-islam.blogspot.com/2007/12/hoor.html
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the list what-s-the-word-for-that
*does it*
November 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word sluff
slough?
November 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word babywearing
Rack bag, saddlebag, handlebar bag, backpack!
I meant these as alternatives for the one baby, but gosh, you could be laden down with them if you take these all.
November 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word jeopardize
I like my eggs salt and peopard.
Can you get leper'd leopards?
November 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word jeopardize
Oh good grief, I've just discovered I had a huge mind-blank on how to spell this. Then as soon as I worked it out and thought "oh, it's like leopard!" I promptly forgot how to spell leopard.
November 25, 2008
sarra commented on the word babywearing
Baby panniers! Please tell me these exist.
November 25, 2008
sarra commented on the word dead meat on toast
historical dead meat on toast? dead history meat on toast? dead meat on history toast? dead meat on historical toast?
November 25, 2008
sarra commented on the word cognitive bias
I love that list with a good dose of fearful reverence. Not a thing to read when you're at all doubting yourself/your judgement (which I was severely when I discovered it…)
November 25, 2008
sarra commented on the word ha'penny'll
Come on, bil!
November 25, 2008
sarra commented on the list peculiarities-of-our-own-languages
No reason why not. Are there any words in there for concepts other than the T-V distinction?
I asked a Spanish colleague about yeismo and cecear, and alas, there's no such term for the varying pronunciation of v as b/f.
November 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word spurrier
Only if currier means more curious, too!
November 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word spurrier
Dead hares.
(And nests, other harriers and guano.)
November 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word missed
That reminds me of a moment in a Rachel Stamp live album that used to really tickle me:
<kkkhhhhhhhhhh… PTAH>
…
I just gobbed on myself! How fucking punk rock is that — I just gobbed on myself!
November 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word keep true
Oh damn, damn, damn, damn. I can't find a single citation, so I'm worried I'm going down the route of false etymology and other related follies.
November 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word keep true
re the original post, it feels very right to me, and I'm sure I've heard it more than once before. I'll have a look round. Think about truing bicycle wheels, though, and arrows which fly straight and true.
November 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word byddai
Sorry… this was part of the yes/no list which I removed as it was structurally unsound, so to speak! (It's "yes, he/she would". You can see lots of them here if you like.)
November 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word binary
01000001 01110101 01100111 01101000 00101110 00101110 00101110
November 15, 2008
sarra commented on the word uncleft
Reminds me a little bit of this: xkcd – but less so once I read the rationale for it.
November 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word auk
Awwwwww. My heart is warmed, skip.
November 14, 2008
sarra commented on the list wallah
I can tell you I would LOVE to be a holler-wallah.
WHAT? I MEAN, I WOULD LOVE TO… (sorry)
November 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word u felattd
:D
November 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word auk
Reminds me I need to link the sound file back to the RSPB whence it was pilfered. Coff! (No-one had listed little auk…)
November 14, 2008
sarra commented on the list wallah
Ah! OED says /'wɒlə/. So dollar, collar, scholar, squalor (!)
November 14, 2008
sarra commented on the list wallah
I was thinking about these last night… which would rhyme: a galah-wallah or a dollar-wallah?
November 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word auk
I have a new-found love for the little auk (Alle alle). I present to you a tribute (ongoing).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word what is your emoticon smoking
:-!
:-?
Self-explanatory.
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word heavy metal umlaut
hëävÿ mëtäl ümläüt!
synonymous concept: gratuitous umlaut metal band
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word pfiff
Gosh, it really is!
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word sostmieu
Bargander; Bar-goose; Bergander; Burrow-Duck; Sheldrake; Shell-duck. Yes, in short.
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word twite
Is not patterned after shite…
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word sostmieu
Whistling flight-note of the Sheld-duck, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word sólskríkja
Old Norse for the snow-bunting.
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word kissing note
Found in R.S.R. Fitter (1952); not quite sure to what it refers, except an utterance of the Bearded Tit. One that sounds like a kiss, rather than being produced while birds do kiss, presumably?
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word unbunting-like
Found in R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word keerghr
Call of the Carrion-crow, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word dahg
Flight-note of the Little Bustard, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word plue-plue-plue
Song of the Green Woodpecker, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word quilp
Or ‘quirlp’; flight-note of the Bee-eater, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word feetafeet, feetafeetit
Song of the Swallow, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word deil, deil, deil, deil, tak ye
Song of the Yellowhammer as interpreted by a Scottish ear, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952). See also a little bit of bread and no cheese.
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word teacher, teacher, teacher
The Great Tit sings this too; “High-pitched song, often rendered ‘teacher, teacher’, has been likened to sharpening of a saw and pumping of a bicycle tyre”. (R.S.R. Fitter, 1952)
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word tirrilillit
Flight-note of the Serin, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word pfiff
Call of the Red-Breasted Flycatcher, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word tsee-tsee-tsütsühühühühühü
Song of the Blue Tit, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word cedar-cedar-cedar-cedar-sissu-pee
Song of the Goldcrest, according to R.S.R. Fitter (1952).
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the user oroboros
Thank you! Having done all those citations I'll be gentle with what I add ;)
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the list poetic-butterfly-names
Oh, yes!
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word turtle dove
Surprised to find that the turtle-dove has an etymology all of its own: it's named for the turr turrr sound it makes, and the very word turtle refers primarily to the dove, coming from the echoic Latin turtur.
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the list bird-songs
This is consuming my afternoon, I'll have you know. Nevertheless, I'm compelled to continue (although having got out one of my older bird books I realise I can't possibly be exhaustive, and moreover, shouldn't). R. & A. Fitter in 1981 describe:
the Canada Goose's call as “a loud double-trumpeting ker-konk”
the Wigeon's as whee-oo, while the buzzard pee-oos
the Garganey drake's spring call as having “been likened to a single match rattling in a match-box”
the Quail (as below) as singing wet-mi-lips or quic-ic-ic
the Partridge as keeving or heev-iting
my phonemic favourite, the Golden Plover — tlui
the Curlew singing cooorwee cooorwee and quee quee quee
the Sandwich Tern kirricks while the Roseate Tern aach aachs
the way to distinguish a Woodpigeon (or Ring Dove) from a Collared Dove being that one coo-coo-coo, coo-coos while the other more persistently gives a coo-cooo-cuh. The Turtle Dove gives “a soothing” turr turrr
(another bonus: the Hedgesparrow or Dunnock is described as having “a rather flat little warble”)
Great Tit: “Best-known call a loud teacher teacher, also one like a saw being sharpened.”
the Marsh tit “has characteristic pitchüü and chicka bee bee bee calls”
the Yellowhammer is “well known for its monotonous, high-pitched song, usually rendered as a little bit of bread and no cheese”
November 13, 2008
sarra commented on the list bird-songs
— Edward A. Armstrong, Discovering Bird Song, Shire Publications Ltd. 1975.
There's a delightful, idiosyncratic arbitrariness to all of these — except the “phrase” ones which have become culturally embedded. I love them all.
November 12, 2008
sarra commented on the word teitittely
teitittelytee!
Say “Haluaisin annoksen teetä” and I might bring you one, bilby.
This is the Finnish word for addressing someone as te, formal, rather than sinä, informal (sinuttelu). The verbs are sinutella and teititellä.
November 12, 2008
sarra commented on the word snooze button
The snooze on my phone is six minutes, I think.
And you've set me off into trying to remember, as I do every now and then, what I was once told our woodpigeons say. I think it might be go home now, Betty.
November 12, 2008
sarra commented on the word hexaflexagon
Possibly the hexahexaflexagon, actually. I didn't know until now that they weren't an idle invention of his.
November 12, 2008
sarra commented on the word hexaflexagon
Hahaha. I learnt this from Johnny Ball!
November 12, 2008
sarra commented on the user bilby
Oh! My name! I only just now transplanted it into Google. This is me too, I think: שָׂרָה
November 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word barack obama
Ah, that'll be fine!
November 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word president-elect
I checked before listing!
November 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word barack obama
From that link:
Obama has three separate vowel sounds compared to McCain's one.
Very mistaken. Fine on Obama, but McCain has one vowel in each syllable (note the much-forgotten-in-English schwa), plus the diphthong in -ai- must count for something.
November 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word tree-
I find it quicker — no searching or waiting for menus to open. But you could always create a shortcut to it!
November 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word tree-
the Windows Character Map (annoyingly buried three submenus down from Start)
It is an irritation, yes. That's why I use Run > charmap!
And to add to frindley's guide: – –; — —
November 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word ocarina
I like the broccoli ocarina (broccarina?) — cf. YouTube.
I do have a completed make-it-yourself one in lovely orange cardboard. And can play jigs on it.
November 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word tree-
I am so puzzled by this conversation — I feel like I'm trying to see in half-light.
November 10, 2008
sarra commented on the user kamtsatka
Oh, hyvää paivää! I am learning :)
November 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word féowertýne niht
fourteen nights; that of which fortnight is a contraction
November 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word fortnight
? bilby?
November 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word urban knitting
Though I have knitted a bike-light cosy; is that urban enough…?
November 7, 2008
sarra commented on the list temporary-storage
I very much like it as it is :)
November 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word erythematous
Popped into my head last night, although the -at- was missing.
November 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word urban knitting
I have wanted to knit lamp-post cosies before. But I don't think it would be as truly excellent as that example.
November 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word saint-louis-du-ha! ha!
Ditto. Also the mention of Westward Ho!
November 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word president-elect
♥
Honestly, at the moment, this word gives me a warm glow.
November 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word internet secretary
I hate this new turn of xkcd! Gah. Bring back the clever miniatures!
November 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word holler
I grew up with your mother's version, too, rolig.
November 4, 2008
sarra commented on the user bilby
big ":)"
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the user bilby
!
Is that something of your own you've just posted? It felt unseemly to ask this on that page.
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word eomer
*waves at reesetee*
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word cup of tea
See under nice hot and would you like a.
Also cf. builders' tea, in my case.
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word warm
And bread. And welcome.
see freezing for context
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word warm
cup of tea (more nice hot really)
blanket
cat
aga
radiator
embrace
I feel better now.
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word freezing
Bless you!
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word freezing
yes I am
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word kitharis
Hmm, there's a cithara as well. And then of course all the way to guitar, though I'm not looking up the etymology of all of these!
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word u v v v w v uu v vv
I love passing Bvsh Hovse in London. Compels me to enunciate it every time.
Bonus quotation from that link: Over many years all the BBC's foreign language services gradually invaded Bush House, penetrating each wing in turn.
!
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word allosome
Tyah!
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word prolly
uuuughgngnnnhhhgggghhhhh
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word crescendo v climax
al niente, in fact. So if you wanted to denote the destination, niente would do.
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word crescendo v climax
Ha ha. Climax is an end-point, though, while the crescendo is the process of getting there. Not really a vs.
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word imber
Oh, yes — I've read tours/guides of this place.
November 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word communist manipesto
*wry grin*
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list wide-open-spaces
“ ”
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word j’ai mal aux cheveux
Love it!
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word terror vs horror
Splendid illustrations.
To be crude, they look a little bit like OMG vs WTF.
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word charlie's dead
And ton magasin est ouvert for the same, Asa, I was told years ago. I have a feeling this one mightn't be very reliable.
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list wordie-paradox
Before anyone looking at the recent words list thinks something else has gone wrong… I'm sheepishly testing a new list, which you may be able to spot.
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list wordie-paradox
Aye. I see this:
Though I've just realised that will look the same to you :) %c3%a8?
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word Å
Thånks ;)
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list wordie-paradox
And look on the front page, VanishedOne - it looks awful! (I did try all the different encodings I could find. Weirdly, I think those links all led to the yen at one point, then they led nowhere. I may have been imagining it.)
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word solregn
Oh, apologies! I can't remember my rationale, but something I found quite a while ago did suggest to me that it can be used aptly in Swedish for that wonderful, drenched-light weather condition of enough rain and sun together at once. Naturally I can't find the merest suggestion of this now.
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word Å
Augh! I cannot link to the lowercase version of this; å (å, å, å). The link and page title is fine, but the character is the yen sign ¥. ?!
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word Ø
(See ø)
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word ø
"Island" in Dansk. No, really.
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word features
Fair!
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word dunlending
Seriously? This looks like the nameplate of a retired librarian's house to me.
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word features
Yes. I'm not sure what happens if there exist two lists with the same title.
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the list cockney-alphabet
God, a version of this drove me batty when I found it in an old poetry book years ago. I never got through it!
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word wynken, blynken and nod
Wonderfully, I've just been browsing abebooks' BookSleuth forum, where this is asked after. (Already an answered query, though!)
November 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word ardnamurchan
Peninsula in the Scottish highlands. Ardnamurchan Point is a landmark in the recitative of the Shipping Forecast, featuring as a boundary of an inshore coastal area. The Point is often cited as the most westerly point of the British mainland, though Corrachadh Mòr is a little more so.
November 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word vialis
Dahahaha. Second to clitic, is that. As you know!
November 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word vialis
It's a close call, isn't it?
November 1, 2008
sarra commented on the list amber-words
I submit fro, and beck.
November 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word fro
Thank you!
♥
November 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word vialis
Another term for the prolative case.
November 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word fro
Damn. Where's the list of "orphan" words only really used in fixed constructions? (to and fro; take umbrage — that one I don't quite agree with but it's a fair enough example for now)
While I'm here, though… here's a charming 'fro.
(by Matt, with whom I have no connection bar the serendipitous one of a Google Image search)
November 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word dagenham
I only found this (idiomatically) today :)
Language Log post
November 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word poof
Brilliantly, WordNet doesn't append its definition to this one; instead, it appears in pooves (!!)
October 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word pooves
LOVE. LOVE LOVE LOVE. LOOOOOOOVE.
Makes me grin and giggle and chuckle. I love it.
(Facetious plural of poof.)
October 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word doublet
A curious linguistic term relating to words which, sharing an etymological root, have entered a language by two different routes. Some examples: fire/pyre, warden/guardian, secure/sure.
Wikipedia link
I've not yet run back over them, but some of the rejections from my etymological curiosities list are, I think, doublets.
October 25, 2008
sarra commented on the list why-can-t-people-pronounce-these-properly
Oh god, literry. Someone on the radio today announced a "literry quiz".
October 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word arras
*stretches out back-to-front*
October 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word toerag
Damn it, wonder if this was one of my orphans.
October 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word hole in the wall
Cash machine. Trademarked (in its restricted usage as an ATM label, one would assume) by Barclays Bank!
October 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word cash machine
Also hole in the wall.
October 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word arras
Look familiar, c_b…?
October 11, 2008
sarra commented on the list why-can-t-people-pronounce-these-properly
secertary :(
cyumoonity :( :(
October 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word acetaminophen
a.k.a. paracetamol. A surprisingly harmonious word.
September 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word polinymous
From issue 2675 of New Scientist magazine, 24 September 2008, page 76
September 25, 2008
sarra commented on the word desire paths
cool, Darqueau!
September 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word desire paths
There are two next to one of my bus routes that, I'd imagine, predate the blissfully futile THIS IS NOT A PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY signs next to each :)
September 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word desire paths
— Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (via uselog)
September 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word bangs
BrE: fringe
September 20, 2008
sarra commented on the word coeval
Another specific person!
September 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word mamachari
ママ�?ャリ
September 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word ママ�?ャリ
mamachari
September 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word granny ring
On a bicycle, an extra chain ring — that is, next to the cranks and the pedals — with a lesser number of teeth than the others: “typically in the 24-28 tooth range”, says the very useful Sheldon Brown. Its purpose is for going up hills in granny gear (q.v.).
August 20, 2008
sarra commented on the word breveté
(Fr.) Patented. See under words you find on your bicycle components next to FABRIQUE EN FRANCE
August 20, 2008
sarra commented on the list asces-to-asces-funk-to-funky
Inævitable, you say? ;)
August 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word äijiä
Gorgeous. Looks like a candelabra. I suppose iijii would be a bit closer to that.
August 19, 2008
sarra commented on the list words-sung-by-belle-and-sebastian
Spooky. Didn't know you could do that.
August 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word clou
Also short for biclou.
August 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word mudguard
Fender in AmE; spatbord (!!) in Dutch!
August 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word what shall we do with the drunken sailor
No suggestion of a best answer, though, is there? :)
August 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word artefact
I think that given the era and nature of the technology I might habitually use artifact to refer to JPEG arti/efacting, the same way conscientious BrE speakers use programme for most cases, including TV, but program for a computer program; also disc for round, flat things (including CDs, since they fairly resemble that previously more familiar object, the vinyl record), but disk for hard disk and floppy disk, where the platters themselves are hidden.
August 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word shall i put the kettle on
“No, it won't suit you.”
groan
August 18, 2008
sarra commented on the list eternal-questions
Oh god, sorry. I can't help following palooka's lead. I may have to purge some…
August 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word en danseuse
(Fr.) faire du vélo en danseuse: riding a bike standing up (lit. like a ballerina)
August 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word opoefiets
Dutch loop-framed bicycle, often with a basket, no gears and a back-pedal brake — and dynamo lights! I thought that calling them “granny bikes” was a peculiarly and purely British habit, after similar constructions such as granny flat, granny gear, granny bag and perhaps granny square, but was delighted to find it translated directly.
Opoe describes a particularly aged grandmother, or old woman, a little like babushka (or indeed granny); oma is more akin to “gran” or “nan”, and you can call the same bicycle an omafiets too. A fiets (pl. fietsen) is a bike.
/'o�?pufits/ (I think!)
August 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word tmesis
Come on. Tfuckingmesis.
August 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word milk round
The milkman in his milk float does the milk round.
Alternatively, a term describing employers "delivering" job opportunities to university soon-to-be-graduates.
August 11, 2008
sarra commented on the list words-i-assumed-i-had-not-been-misspelling-until-greeted-somewhere-by-the-fact-of-my-wrongness
Oh, and “flourescent” for me too!
August 9, 2008
sarra commented on the list words-i-assumed-i-had-not-been-misspelling-until-greeted-somewhere-by-the-fact-of-my-wrongness
Ooooh. The memory-sticking ones for me are “enviroment” (age 11, but I think I'd barely used it before being told) and “oppurtunity” (somewhere in my teens, which was much more embarrassing).
August 9, 2008
sarra commented on the list invented-by-bored-victorians
The words I'm including are ones which sound like they've been carefully invented in a drawing-room by someone proud of (inevitably) his classical education — with a little scope for those new fripperies which have been named more colloquially, but still with a particular Victorian fancy (e.g. dundrearies).
How could I miss antimacassar, though! 1852.
August 6, 2008
sarra commented on the word socket
Oh gosh! I haven't heard that for ages. It does annoy me that it's written with American stress though (ADdress not adDRESS).
socket makes me a little bit queasy. Learning about dry socket only intensified that feeling, so I'm not sure quite where it came from.
August 6, 2008
sarra commented on the list at-least-two-apostrophes-or-your-money-back
Oh dear. Not a suggested addition, but a sign outside a sports centre near me advertises five'a'side!
July 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word elegaic
elegiac, rather
July 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word wheal
I prefer weal.
May 31, 2008
sarra commented on the word disbenefit
aaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
May 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word shantcsncin
Excuse me? I was trying to type phantasmagorically. I can understand your average T9 dictionary not containing that word, but this one is meant to be what exactly?
May 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word jesus rays
I should also point out I'm in no way evangelizing!
May 16, 2008
sarra commented on the list ultrapow
Some of these make me feel a bit wistful. I love the totally implausible power of sci-fi sometimes.
May 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word jesus rays
Jesus wants you for a sunbeam!
May 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word folie a' deux
folie à deux
May 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word na
(Fr.) So there! (childish)
May 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word ouf
“phew”
May 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word bref
“anyway”! — when coming back to your point after something of a ramble, or to introduce a summary. To cut a long story short; in a nutshell; in short, in brief.
Lit. brief.
May 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word bath
(Fr. colloq.) Great, smashing.
May 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word off
Ah, here. This one (among many, many others):
go off … To start into sudden action; to break into a fit of laughter, extravagance of language, irrelevant or unintelligible discourse, etc. (emphasis mine)
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word artichoke
Miss Ar-Ti-Cho-Kee!
(Or you may prefer the Ukulele Orchestra's version.)
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word off
Ohhhhh. Now I'm stumped as to how to explain/justify “go off” in that sense. But I have had a wonderful time considering all possible meanings of off.
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word hatsjoe
Are you feeling quite alright…?
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word morgen mooi weer
“fine weather tomorrow”! To be said to someone who's sneezed three times in a row.
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word atchoum
How to sneeze in French. As for what to say afterwards, see à tes souhaits.
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word hatsjoe
How to sneeze in Dutch.
hatsjoe! “Gezondheid!”
hatsjoe hatsjoe HATSJOE? See morgen mooi weer!
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word à tes souhaits
« à vos souhaits » for someone you vouvoie (see vouvoyer). Equivalent to the English “bless you” after a sneeze. There's a sequence:
First sneeze — à tes souhaits ! (lit.) to your wishes!
Second sneeze — à tes amours ! to your loves! (to which the sneezer can respond que les tiennes durent toujours — les vôtres for a vous — may yours last forever!)
Third sneeze — à tes aïeux ! to your ancestors!
Fourth sneeze — crève ! die (choke)!
Or:
—à tes souhaits belle plante ! bless you, beautiful woman!
—merci fleur charmante ! thank you, delightful flower!
—y'a pas de quoi vieille branche ! don't mention it, old chap!
or
—ta gueule pot de fleur ! shut your gob, flowerpot! (?!)
so many more! http://www.expressio.fr/expressions/a-vos-souhaits.php
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word tutoyer
To address someone as tu: someone younger than you, or whom you know well.
Compare vouvoyer.
May 14, 2008
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