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!
LECTURER: In English, a double negative conveys a positive meaning. In certain other languages, it merely intensifies the negative meaning. However, there is no language where a double positive signifies a negative.
It's not in the roots of uncle, Asativum; nuncle is just a variant, though you're (partly) on the right track as to how it came about: I'm not sure the history of apple contains anything directly akin to napple, but orange has n- roots which persist today (Spanish naranja for instance). The process you describe is metanalysis.
you've got sci fi; how about sat nav? (Weirdly its Google status is still as two words. I thought it'd've been condensed by now.) I woke up with this one.
disrespect, there's no doubt. Though it is of course rich with other possibilities (making it one of the kings of apocopes, rather, I'd've thought.) Pick a preferred source and see what it has to say?
well done, spotter :) 'twas odd, but pleasing, to spot your link to here when I was already somewhat ensconced; a while ago now, too shy to say “hallo”.
“Filofax” is apt; yours is delectable. I'd love to sit spreading out these pages of ours, spending time with each word (except those in the more functional, or sometimes displeasing, lists of mine). No empty whimsy: this vision has sprung upon me vividly, tactile (leather or coarse fabric, gently yellow pages, the edges of them) and might be a lasting change in my conception of this site…
La frappe is typing (and typescript), but also the act of minting a coin, shooting a (foot)ball or landing a punch — a word of striking, of some force, as you'd need with a behemoth of an old typewriter. Oddly, it also refers to the touch of a pianist: are French pianos built so heavily…?
There's quite a lovely (if…er…predictable — though the ending, I think originally shown at the end of the programme, is a beauty!) sketch by Armstrong & Miller on T9's well-known “preferences”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hcoT6yxFoUM
I rifle through the electronic archives to see what words have been added to the personal dictionary of my 'phone from time to time. Among abbreviations, errors and names and items of personal or local significance, there are some odd ones, most of which you might expect to be part of the T9 dictionary already:
the below citation reminds me of hearing English words on Indian television! (the more 'hip' a programme, the more English vocabulary creeps in, I think)
“Noël Coward singing three of his wartime songs, accompanied fore and aft by an orchestra conducted by Carroll Gibbons, and amidships by the Piccadilly Theatre Orchestra conducted by Mantovani.”
That sounds (smells, I want to say! seems) to me like the English gesture for so-so. If the hand turns on the wrist as if one is playing a tremolo on two fairly far-apart piano keys.
Pronounced, like smart-arse, with the stress on “smart”; Alec is left uncapitalised. Said, I've just learnt, to be used after an 1840s New Yorker: Alec Hoag. Pimp, thief and con artist!
Gicleé is a typo for giclée. I thought it could have been mine but apparently not, as I've not listed the other (until now). I wonder if prep school was mine for some reason. Who knows.
Words in Scrabble dictionaries are unaccented, like the tiles. That is, all virtual ones I use are so; I've not seen a real, paper one.
Yahoo must be lying about dictionary.com (I can't find any official mention of it, mind?), or else including all foreign words in its game — have you tried playing something completely outré that also appears in Kernerman's?
It's acceptable in real Scrabble too. Aîné is French for elder (and aine, without the accents, groin!). It seems to be a Gastwort (see here) and nothing more. Which is a bit rude.
de rien! I think sionnach was right in judging the conversation to have been one quite respectful and seeking to inform/be informed. That being so, I wasn't inclined to take it personally. Nor, I'm very glad to say, was it a case of this all-too-often most apposite of cartoons…
Aye, I did, from the start. If the guidelines hadn't emphasised that there is scope for taking up a legal case against misleading “vegetarian” or “vegan” labelling, despite the lack (as yet!) of a legal definition of those terms, I wouldn't have so much to go on.
I mentioned cheese labelling to show that while you personally are free to hold to your own definition (cf. identity politics), it's not the one subscribed to by a significant number of other vegetarians and those interested in the concept; therefore it leaves scope for even the scrupulously well-informed to make mistakes regarding your particular preferences.
I'd love to see what happens to these terms in ten or twenty years' time, or longer. My line of argument is such because I believe the definitions I advocate have significant longevity. If when I'm sixty-four vegetarians are widely accepted to be those who only eat vegetable (in the broadest sense of the word) products, I'll gladly eat my (vegetable-product-based) hat.
Interestingly, it's their term you're using. Origin 1847, Vegetarian Society, Ramsgate. The OED definition continues thus: a person who on principle abstains from any form of animal food, or at least such as is obtained by the direct destruction of life.
I don't know about the origin of vegan, on the other hand.
You can use whatever term you want, but it won't give you a right to be pissed off when someone offers you strictly labelled (see first post, or here; you do live in the UK, or do I remember wrongly?) vegetarian cheese made with vegetarian rennet. Unless you've already told them you hate cheese, of course.
1. a. One who lives wholly or principally upon vegetable foods, says the OED. (emphasis mine)
Vegetarianism in practice uses a definition of exclusion (no animals) not inclusion (only vegetable products). Eggs qua eggs aren't animals. Honey isn't an animal. Fish are animals. Poultry are. Argue with the Vegetarian Society if you like.
The term ‘vegetarian’ should not be applied to foods that are, or are made from or with the aid of products derived from animals that have died, have been slaughtered, or animals that die as a result of being eaten. Animals means farmed, wild or domestic animals, including for example, livestock poultry, game, fish, shellfish, crustacea, amphibians, tunicates, echinoderms, molluscs and insects.
The term ‘vegan’ should not be applied to foods that are, or are made from or with the aid of animals or animal products (including products from living animals).
Eggs, dairy products and honey are thus vegetarian, but not vegan. Gelatine and ordinary rennet, being by-products of animal slaughter, are neither.
Veg*n (where * stands for both -etaria- and -a-) has spread as an easier way of notating vegetarian/vegan.
c_b, aye. That misunderstanding was perpetuated by my parents, though. (I was in my early teens when I came across “uvula” and had a bit of an ohhhh moment.)
I love the precisely recurring presence of “some wag” in tales like these.
I was actually introduced to this one by a comment about the TV programme Howard Goodall's Organ Works. It still tickles me more than it should. No pun intended.
I use the droll tag here — and the word more widely — quite sincerely, covering both those two senses, I suppose (I'd not looked it up or thought about it before, but it does match my usage of the term): never as an insult, mild or otherwise. It does carry a connotation of recognition of a rather bad joke, but I have a lot of love for those.
By the reckoning of the mighty Oxford English Dictionary (why yes, we aresleeping together), the plural can be any of mongooses, mongeese, mongoose or mongooze(!!)
More than historically; they're still played. I've watched one be carried slung across the player's body ready to be played, up the side aisle of a church, willing its gigantic neck not to collide with anything on the way. So crane-like!
Has many suggestions regarding origin, most of them baseless, but my current favourite (regardless of truth factor) is that it's a companion to peeler — both from the name of Robert Peel.
ph combinations ought not to count, as if the p really were silent then the word would begin with an h sound—which none of them do. The ph can be dropped as a whole though, I've just found out.
I adore these. “See Banbury cake” is misleading, however: the Eccles cake is far more famed (and widely available!).
They're not so small either. A good one can be more the size of a pasty than a mince pie. Of course, that's not a patch on the size of a Victoria sponge or other “real”, flour-eggs-milk-and-butter cake.
I think this one has burrowed its way into my consciousness without me being, well, conscious of it. I'm fairly certain I've used snitty once or twice.
Pakistan in both its short- and long- vowel variants (and indeed another: short-long, Pakist�?n) is common in the UK. I'm not too sure of the Urdu vowels themselves except for “varyingly longish”.
How is Tunisia pronounced across the pond? Tu as in to instead of chew?
kewpid: Yes, yes, no. My 9s also look like gs (which doesn't work in this typeface!), a habit I picked up from a teacher of French I rather disliked. I try and differentiate 0s from Os by shape, as ordinary type does, when necessary — but I fear a mistake like the plant display one day…
Would be nice if under or above "appears in these lists:" we also had "is a favourite word of Tom, Dick, Harry and Joan". Favourites are an underused feature here and this would help them be seen more, which I'd like a lot.
Good point — that first page alone has crivens, a Scotsism; Bold and Ariel, British detergent brands; Sadler's Wells, a theatre noted for ballet which has lent its name to a company of same; David Blunkett, an ex-(I think!)politician; the Territorial Army…
Typography-speak (a very neo- neologism?) for contextual alternate — a different letterform to be used when the standard one would cause a visual clash.
An oft-quoted anecdote — perhaps even oft-witnessed, for the simple reason that it's a joy to repeat — has two dons in conversation, one of them heard in passing to be saying “and ninthly…”
A millenary word (adj., relating to thousands) seems apt for my thousandth addition. If you'd like to celebrate, please send millinery by the millenary (n., a sum of one thousand).
My favourite phrase to describe this — or rather a common view of it — is a passing one I've actually just come across in the current revision of its article: “ultimately meaningless rhetorical gymnastics”!
Manufacturer of white goods. Ran an advertising campaign (q.v.) in the early 1990s whose tagline was “On, and on, and on … and Ariston”. Consequently, a word often compulsively attached to the end of any “on, and on, and…” phrase.
Solicitor and barrister are standard for me too, as I'm familiar (well—to an only pedestrian degree!) with the English law system, within which those are the two defined branches of the profession. I'd never heard attorney till I started to come more into contact with American culture through the media.
burntsox may be interested to know that there's a (self-referential in this case) term for such hoity-toitiness: auxesis
Latin, through Gr. άντονομασία, from άντονομάξειν, antonomazein, to name instead.
As well as perhaps naturalised trademarks, refers to the use of a title in place of a proper name (Her Royal Highness; Your Grace; the Honourable Member… in addresses, as well as the Bard for Shakespeare and the King for Elvis), and the use of a proper name to symbolise some recogised quality (“He's no Einstein”, &c.)
I've often wondered if these sorts of rhymes were only invented after the Great Vowel Shift, whereupon people would read previously perfectly-well-rhyming old verse and think "It doesn't rhyme! Must be an olde-tyme trick — that's good enough for me!" and proceed to write drivel quite consciously rhyming prove with love thinking it's sophisticated. Well?
What are the words in this list with no (web-based) citations whatsoever?—are they coined to describe “genetics” of words after the pattern of chromosome and genome?
Streight seems an odd choice — it's marked as obsolete in Webster's dictionary and only appears in the OED's comprehensive listing of spellings for straight/strait (and interestingly, stretch), also indicating obsolescence.
In what way does prodigal find itself incorrectly corrected?
The Royal Society of Chemistry's carefully-considered hangover remedy consists of toast and honey. Quite apart from the nutritional benefits of such a morning-after breakfast, it's certainly a combination that puts a smile on my face.
See tsar—for me, when I came across the fact a few weeks ago, the most surprising of all. I had an attack of poor referencing & wondered if Cæsar might not be an eponym at all but a title like Christ, but the OED has comforted me.
A cross between the idea of an entrepreneur and an odd-job man; or, simply an innovative "quick fix" for a problem. Also refers to a type of home-grown motor vehicle made for necessary transport.
I've known this one for years, and only now — not that I'm particularly surprised — found it's an apocryphal tale. The most complete (and presumably verifiable!) reference I have:
The magazine Punch (May 18, 1844) published a letter from a 17 year old Ms. Catherine Winkworth suggesting that Napier's despatch to Lord E. should have read "Peccavi" (I have sinned). Thus, the famous wordplay was, in fact, a tongue-in-cheek insult.
Not sure what's so objectionable about the pronunciation. Do you use the same kind of sound for both ns? For me it's /'fiŋ-gə-naɪls/. ŋ is "ng", the tongue closed at the back of the palate. A journey forward!
Independent radio producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister were curious about how musician of [indie darling nature Sufjan] Stevens writes his songs ... So, they introduced Stevens to the Arkansas town of Brinkley ... not far from where the ivory-billed woodpecker recently was rediscovered.
Collison and Meister spoke with people in the town, then shared the interviews with Stevens. He wrote a song about the ivory-bill, known as the "lord god" or "great god" bird because of its breathtaking appearance.
Can tags be globally hidden, or does one have to do it on a word-by-word basis?
Tags here aren't ever attributed — therefore there's no "hiding" going on. The only link between tag and person is to be found from the person's own user pages. And you can tag any word you like without having to list it.
I was excellently pleased after playing this word copycat for a while in SOWPODS games to find out it had such a concrete (relating to an object; unlike those tricksy ones like el which are letter names, &c.), and a little amusing, meaning.
28. genderless! Curiously, etymonline points out the archaic word wight is not to do with the Isle's Wight. Some speculation on the roots of the ManxMan can be found in this book chapter.
Veda is connected to wit, you're right. The OED's etymological entry for the latter is beautiful: a vast journey across a swathe of Teutonic languages, to Old English, down to the mythical Indo-European, and of course to Sanskrit, taking in quite a tapestry of cognates along the way.
The variety of bird species and that of languages are becoming quite intertwined in my mind, now. Ancestry, migrations… and of course, etymologists and ornithologists; linguaphiles and birdwatchers. Worders and birders.
I don't think I could explain what constitutes a syllable (q.v. for an explanation in a day or two, perhaps) without breaking into linguist-speak of death — but to understand the wobbliness of your theory, note that there are actually two "breaks" of the breath (stops, which you could hold as long as you like) in this word, viz.: te—xt—s!
Simple request: please move the little "processing" throbber next to whichever button has been pressed on each respective page (like it is for commenting), so that one doesn't have to scroll around to see if one's request has been successfully submitted!
edit: I can't find a displaced one, now. If I do I'll point it out. And please bring back the "delete" button for comments!
I think the list description bug has eased itself a bit, but other editing ones still stand: the "more about you" box on my profile is currently choking. It's a symptom of a longstanding bug where sometimes, when a comment contains external links, they vanish upon editing and become no more than text. Which is better than nothing, but still perplexing.
I try to stick with “onvelope”*. Though if one is sufficiently RP I suspect one would say “onv'lope”, which the trusty OED hints at in its /'ɒnv(ə)ləʊp/.
Of course, oikolectchez nous proudly renders the word, quite intentionally, as “onv'lopp” :)
Like Pétaouchnok, another imaginary place in the French language: this one an isolated, backward village, perhaps in beautiful countryside, but still to be scoffed at. Les oies are geese.
Archaic version of Timbuktu (along with other such terms whose transliteration has changed over the years, the older version often carries imperialist overtones); both are used to signify a place very far away indeed.
French equivalent of a particular usage of Timbuctoo (now more properly Timbuktu) in English: an imaginary place, its name styled after those of Russian or Ukrainian villages, meaning “very far away indeed”.
"Filiere." Miss F. Frances Lambert. The Hand-book of Needlework. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1842.
Miss Lambert describes the filiere, or gauge, "as a steel instrument with graduated notches round its edges, distinguished by different figures. It is used by wire-drawers for ascertaining the sizes of their wires, and is applied in a similar manner, for measuring the diameters of netting and knitting needles; thus -- when speaking of the relative size of these needles, they are frequently designated by their corresponding numbers; but, as has been before observed, there appears to be no universal standard."
The word content of a list vanishes from the page when you edit its description (it's still there, if you navigate back to the list page after editing). I also can't seem to delete a list description.
I'm going to make a list of English words-with-all-the-vowels - since we haven't found the English term for them yet, which of panvocálica/pentavocálica (or something else) do you think I should use for its title - and are they plural terms? (I know almost no Spanish!)
curiously, this is one of the phrases which crops up when you Google "intentional malapropism" — this is incidental though, and not a mark of research method!
Ah no, you see, I wanted to try and stress that although the point about t/d in "butter" &c. is a valid one (ah! I've remembered, it's a flap), it's not really the reason why they merge in "iced tea". The sound at the end of a BrE pronunciation of "iced" on its own (well, mine anyway) is an aspirated t after all, and the same thing still occurs.
A cuppa; a brew. Made in a sturdy mug. Milk and two sugars — depending on the builder, of course. The ones I've shared a kettle with take it unsweetened and with just a dash of milk to make it a shade more akin to redbrick than latte, as do I. The most consistent factor among builders' teas is the brew itself: a bag (sometimes two) of household-name blended black tea steeped for a good several minutes, producing plenty of tannins. Strong stuff.
If you asked for "sweet tea" here though, you'd get ordinary hot black (as opposed to green or white or not tea at all!) milky tea which someone would drop a couple of sugars in.
I'd love to experience a proper Southern sweet tea, mind. A spot on the far edge of a vast circle of teas, as far away from sencha as it is from my own comfort — builders' tea.
Through my transatlantic telescope I suspect that I spy a discussion about greaseproof paper here...
Almost nobody pronounces in everyday speech the "(e)d" in "iced tea" and "waxed paper". The d and the t share the same place of articulation (where your tongue goes to rest) so they run together and no sound is repeated. My linguistics is rusty, but this might be a very basic example of assimilation. There's no need to think of it as dropping the t; it's still there, just in a tight embrace with the d.
The idea that waxed paper is somehow not paper amuses me (to me it's exactly like paper, no mystery there — the defining characteristic of paper is not in my mind its suitability for writing but its composition, i.e. various organic fibrous materials, and the common, though obviously widely varied, feel that imparts to the sheets or scraps of it), just as the idea of "sweet tea" as an unquestioned fact not being hot sends my eyebrows up. The first is a deep personal association, the second cultural. O mutability!
from wax paper: "sweet tea" is always cold because that's the salient feature of the tea: it's sweet. Hot tea is not served sweetened. — an abomination to British ears!
Is there any word which covers the same traits (kindness, experience, generosity, maybe a bit of exuberance) in a female? Matronly is too distanced. Language hacks gladly accepted.
as far as I'm aware, the sequence was accepted as an approximation even when the Linotype keyboard was made. I imagine it varies slightly with time and according to dialect/material surveyed.
sorry again! I did see the other entries, whose humour I understood — and yes, I didn't see them in your list. Zug is a new one on me (though vague memories of German words to do with travelling). Off to request a feature to make word-inclusion-in-lists more obvious!
Before all reading go out to poke children's knees in the name of experiment — they do; they're just not yet made of bone. “Ossification is completed about the age of puberty.”—Gray's Anatomy
In general, a peep-hole; also Judas trap, Judas hole; listed as a sense of Judas in the OED. Used, oddly, in photography: the “Judas window” here is a set-up on some older, chiefly manual cameras which (by placement of a tiny mirror) allows the photographer to see in the viewfinder a setting which is made elsewhere on the camera, such as the aperture setting on the lens barrel.
Gr. agelastos, not laughing; ultimately from gelaein, to laugh. Coined by the French Renaissance writer Rabelais, or so the source quoted in the OED suggests.
rather than its mundane meaning of "amuse", I like its subtleties: to entertain his presence, to entertain such an idea, &c. — etymologically "to hold mutually"
If it helps, I read the fact somewhere when I was quite small and started looking up the length of the "set" entry in rather a lot of dictionaries afterward :)
The word set has a multitude of definitions in the English language (464 separate definitions according to the Oxford English Dictionary, making it the word with the highest number of definitions; its full definition contains over 10,000 words making it the longest definition in the OED).
It'd be grand if on the "n wordies list word" page, after each name, it was shown exactly *what* list (if any) the word is included in.
That said, I don't quite understand the point of a general word list, especially since we have a separate "favourites" list - mine's only full of words I had to add so they would exist on Wordie, and I'm sure those are rapidly becoming scarce!
Comments by sarra
Show previous 200 comments...
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
sarra commented on the word vouvoyer
To address someone as vous: someone your elder, or whom you don't know very well.
Compare tutoyer.
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word bork
remembers about [verlan, goes off to add]
edit: comes back embarrassed to find she already has
May 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word hypnic jerk
A type of myoclonic jerk.
May 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word morning lark
In opposition to, of course, a night owl.
May 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word chatmate
The only OED citation is from 1599!
May 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word stimthought
*grins*
May 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word bork
I like the variation b0rken.
May 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word pigs' ears
The bow of the drawstring on a ballet shoe. “Tuck those pigs' ears in!”
May 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word pig's ear
You can make a pig's ear of something ( = arse it up completely)
see also pigs' ears
May 13, 2008
sarra commented on the word shrdlu
cf. etaoin shrdlu
May 12, 2008
sarra commented on the word et patati et patata
“and so on and so forth”; “yada yada yada”
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word fi
“bah”!
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word yeah, right
The apocryphal story…
LECTURER: In English, a double negative conveys a positive meaning. In certain other languages, it merely intensifies the negative meaning. However, there is no language where a double positive signifies a negative.
STUDENT: Yeah, right.
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word ouaip
“yep”!
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word ouais
“yeah”; see ouaip and oui (which I'm sure you know!)
« mon cul ouais ! »
— my arse! (yeah, right!)
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word euh
hésitation!
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word ben
(Fr.) “well” (as the English interjection or exclamation)
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word hein
(Fr.) “eh?”, “huh?”
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word nibling
It's not in the roots of uncle, Asativum; nuncle is just a variant, though you're (partly) on the right track as to how it came about: I'm not sure the history of apple contains anything directly akin to napple, but orange has n- roots which persist today (Spanish naranja for instance). The process you describe is metanalysis.
May 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word unfettered
“…unfettered access…” — BBC Radio 4 news bulletin, 10th May 2008. Surely most stations would use unrestricted or full!
May 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanocon
Or took a breath! (says a singer)
May 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word pullulate
ah! I'd forgotten this one! Thank you, Latin; I miss you.
May 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word wurd
hah, you've got me thinking about wourds now!
May 10, 2008
sarra commented on the list fun-with-apocopes
you've got sci fi; how about sat nav? (Weirdly its Google status is still as two words. I thought it'd've been condensed by now.) I woke up with this one.
May 9, 2008
sarra commented on the word exacerbate
Did look down the list but it's so gigantic I missed it! Damn it.
May 9, 2008
sarra commented on the word sidewalk
UK here (I don't think “verge” is any more local than that, though I may be wrong).
May 9, 2008
sarra commented on the list fun-with-apocopes
disrespect, there's no doubt. Though it is of course rich with other possibilities (making it one of the kings of apocopes, rather, I'd've thought.) Pick a preferred source and see what it has to say?
May 8, 2008
sarra commented on the word exacerbate
But abate is (roughly) an antonym of exacerbate…?
May 8, 2008
sarra commented on the word dork
Not specifically a whale's, I don't think!
May 8, 2008
sarra commented on the list fun-with-apocopes
no dis?!
I'm off to dis you in front of my friends! (It is a strain for me not to spell it diss, mind.)
May 8, 2008
sarra commented on the word sidewalk
It's a verge here (while the sidewalk is, naturally, the pavement).
May 8, 2008
sarra commented on the word twit
It's not! Neither is prat, twat or twerp. It's a very common urban legend (I heard it when I was very small).
May 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word agelast
Troopie, your source is showing!
May 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word monosyllable
MLL!
May 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word que sera, sarra
yep, had that one :D
May 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word zenvy
*gigglesnort*
May 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word faute de frappe
I did entertain a wry smile at your joke, rolig :)
May 6, 2008
sarra commented on the word up and adam
No, c_b, take a look at 82's link :)
I am now, however, going to be earwormed for quite a while. Naturally.
May 6, 2008
sarra commented on the list adjectives-that-used-to-be-people
herculean, gargantuan, protean, quixotic, titanic (sometimes)
bowdlerized, galvanized, macadamized, pasteurized?
May 6, 2008
sarra commented on the list textonyms
he damn it :( And, I think, an and good; maybe on? I think you've probably covered the more far-out examples.
see also the other list (if you haven't already)
May 6, 2008
sarra commented on the word reespect
R E E S P E C!
May 6, 2008
sarra commented on the word faute de frappe
On ballet: ah, that is true! More subtleties. That is where I first learnt the word frappé, of course.
May 6, 2008
sarra commented on the word up and adam
I was going to mention Atom Ant, too!
May 6, 2008
sarra commented on the user tree
well done, spotter :) 'twas odd, but pleasing, to spot your link to here when I was already somewhat ensconced; a while ago now, too shy to say “hallo”.
“Filofax” is apt; yours is delectable. I'd love to sit spreading out these pages of ours, spending time with each word (except those in the more functional, or sometimes displeasing, lists of mine). No empty whimsy: this vision has sprung upon me vividly, tactile (leather or coarse fabric, gently yellow pages, the edges of them) and might be a lasting change in my conception of this site…
*hugs tree*
(no pun intended)
May 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word faute de frappe
(Fr.) Typographical error.
La frappe is typing (and typescript), but also the act of minting a coin, shooting a (foot)ball or landing a punch — a word of striking, of some force, as you'd need with a behemoth of an old typewriter. Oddly, it also refers to the touch of a pianist: are French pianos built so heavily…?
May 5, 2008
sarra commented on the list predictive-text-speak
ooh!
a virtual keypad at t9.com
There's quite a lovely (if…er…predictable — though the ending, I think originally shown at the end of the programme, is a beauty!) sketch by Armstrong & Miller on T9's well-known “preferences”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hcoT6yxFoUM
May 3, 2008
sarra commented on the list predictive-text-speak
I rifle through the electronic archives to see what words have been added to the personal dictionary of my 'phone from time to time. Among abbreviations, errors and names and items of personal or local significance, there are some odd ones, most of which you might expect to be part of the T9 dictionary already:
walking
glib
spontaneously
beauteous
watching
brilliant
justifying
subtext
unbearded
inevitability
vicarious
neverending
workshop
cellist
consultant
hostels
trying
better
albatross
(for some reason, it forgets how to spell things ending in -ing)
May 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word clue
Ooh yes. I only learnt that last year. Brilliant bit of hidden language.
May 3, 2008
sarra commented on the list the-i-de-facto-i-phonetic-alphabet
I use f as in fox. Every time I kick myself when I remember it sounds like socks. Foxtrot. Foxtrot. I will remember.
I love, no matter how tired it is, repeated by whichever comedian or “comedian”, g as in gnome…
May 3, 2008
sarra commented on the word clue
Clue the board game is known as Cluedo in its home country. (a pun on ludo)
May 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word morris dance
the below citation reminds me of hearing English words on Indian television! (the more 'hip' a programme, the more English vocabulary creeps in, I think)
May 2, 2008
sarra commented on the word amidships
“Noël Coward singing three of his wartime songs, accompanied fore and aft by an orchestra conducted by Carroll Gibbons, and amidships by the Piccadilly Theatre Orchestra conducted by Mantovani.”
—Donald Macleod, Composer of the Week, BBC Radio 3 (30th April 2008)
May 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word periphrastic do
e.g. Do you know the name of the King? Do you have a pencil I could borrow?
I've just heard of a cat named this.
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/6361Aho.htm
April 30, 2008
sarra commented on the word hatstand
damn! I came here to cite that.
April 29, 2008
sarra commented on the word meh
That sounds (smells, I want to say! seems) to me like the English gesture for so-so. If the hand turns on the wrist as if one is playing a tremolo on two fairly far-apart piano keys.
April 28, 2008
sarra commented on the word open lists
I've just giggled for about thirty seconds at “inclination”, too. Yippee! (It's late…)
April 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word phenylalanine
a beauty to spend time repeating loudly! (As I did once I decided to try and pronounce it for the first time a few years ago.)
April 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word open lists
Gangerh, that's a fabulous pun; I hope it was intended. I only list one way…
April 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word smart alec
Pronounced, like smart-arse, with the stress on “smart”; Alec is left uncapitalised. Said, I've just learnt, to be used after an 1840s New Yorker: Alec Hoag. Pimp, thief and con artist!
Something or someone can be smart-alecky.
April 25, 2008
sarra commented on the word ansa
gives a whole new meaning to ansaphone!
(Or a couple, depending on ingenuity.)
April 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word mussels
It is a fine suggestion though. Bloody gorgeous.
April 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word supersede
I hope your intention is that supercede is the misspelling!
There's some brief exploration of the etymology and the reasons for the s/c muddiness here.
April 24, 2008
sarra commented on the list adoption-agency
Gicleé is a typo for giclée. I thought it could have been mine but apparently not, as I've not listed the other (until now). I wonder if prep school was mine for some reason. Who knows.
April 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word mackinac
mackinaw?
April 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word fiancé
Absolutely. Same with divorcé and divorcée (and blond and blonde!)
April 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word barcode
/nick psarra
damn it!
April 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word vertigo
“Have you got vertigo?”
“No, I only live round the corner.”
*dies*
April 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word meatbeard
hahaha. A double chin! (Probably more through obesity than old age.)
:)) perhaps?
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word comeuppance
mmhm, I couldn't resist confirming your suspicion, and that then led to a wondering on my part. Not quite so direct!
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word comeuppance
1859. I'm not sure it fits the main criterion for my list though: it's not a particularly strange or idle word, after all. I'll mull it over…
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word hummus
houmous to me! حمٌص in Arabic (I hope), its source language.
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word d'neeht
!!!
Beautiful. It's my plan to one day create an invertible book. One of its characters is called snoous.
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word ning nang nong
A poem by Spike Milligan, rather!
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word aine
Words in Scrabble dictionaries are unaccented, like the tiles. That is, all virtual ones I use are so; I've not seen a real, paper one.
Yahoo must be lying about dictionary.com (I can't find any official mention of it, mind?), or else including all foreign words in its game — have you tried playing something completely outré that also appears in Kernerman's?
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word antibalas
Also the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra!
April 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word aine
It's acceptable in real Scrabble too. Aîné is French for elder (and aine, without the accents, groin!). It seems to be a Gastwort (see here) and nothing more. Which is a bit rude.
April 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word ning nang nong
Oh lord, I can probably still recite this given a minute or two without prompting to recollect. Thank you, Spike!
April 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word mangel-wurzel
Also mangold-wurzel or mangoldwurzel, among others. I can't help thinking of hurdy-gurdies though. Could one construct one from the other?
April 21, 2008
sarra commented on the user bilby
de rien! I think sionnach was right in judging the conversation to have been one quite respectful and seeking to inform/be informed. That being so, I wasn't inclined to take it personally. Nor, I'm very glad to say, was it a case of this all-too-often most apposite of cartoons…
http://xkcd.com/386/
I think there was no great problem understanding one another, in any case. Truce!
April 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word synaesthesia
I think I remember reading a term, or at the very least a corroboration of your experience, c_b. I can attempt to look it up if you so fancy.
I've a comparison table of composers' colour–note/key relations too, somewhere. Everyone's synæsthesias are, delightfully, different.
April 20, 2008
sarra commented on the word vegetarian
Aye, I did, from the start. If the guidelines hadn't emphasised that there is scope for taking up a legal case against misleading “vegetarian” or “vegan” labelling, despite the lack (as yet!) of a legal definition of those terms, I wouldn't have so much to go on.
I mentioned cheese labelling to show that while you personally are free to hold to your own definition (cf. identity politics), it's not the one subscribed to by a significant number of other vegetarians and those interested in the concept; therefore it leaves scope for even the scrupulously well-informed to make mistakes regarding your particular preferences.
I'd love to see what happens to these terms in ten or twenty years' time, or longer. My line of argument is such because I believe the definitions I advocate have significant longevity. If when I'm sixty-four vegetarians are widely accepted to be those who only eat vegetable (in the broadest sense of the word) products, I'll gladly eat my (vegetable-product-based) hat.
April 20, 2008
sarra commented on the word vegetarian
Interestingly, it's their term you're using. Origin 1847, Vegetarian Society, Ramsgate. The OED definition continues thus: a person who on principle abstains from any form of animal food, or at least such as is obtained by the direct destruction of life.
I don't know about the origin of vegan, on the other hand.
You can use whatever term you want, but it won't give you a right to be pissed off when someone offers you strictly labelled (see first post, or here; you do live in the UK, or do I remember wrongly?) vegetarian cheese made with vegetarian rennet. Unless you've already told them you hate cheese, of course.
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word vegetarian
Ah, and the Vegetarian Society aren't vegetarians? You may have missed my edit.
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word vegetarian
1. a. One who lives wholly or principally upon vegetable foods, says the OED. (emphasis mine)
Vegetarianism in practice uses a definition of exclusion (no animals) not inclusion (only vegetable products). Eggs qua eggs aren't animals. Honey isn't an animal. Fish are animals. Poultry are. Argue with the Vegetarian Society if you like.
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word shepherds' socks
You can change it according to preference!
Unless your channel of choice doesn't rhyme. Hmph.
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word vegan
see vegetarian for clarification of the differences!
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word vegetarian
Firstly, “vegetarians” who eat fish are pescetarians.
The Britsh Food Standards Agency attempt to clarify the terms vegetarian and vegan:
Eggs, dairy products and honey are thus vegetarian, but not vegan. Gelatine and ordinary rennet, being by-products of animal slaughter, are neither.Veg*n (where * stands for both -etaria- and -a-) has spread as an easier way of notating vegetarian/vegan.
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word quorn
Yes. I'm moving over to vegetarian for discussion, if anyone fancies joining me…
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word feed me till i'm six foot four
Bread of heaven,
Bread of heaven,
Fe-ee-eed me till I'm six foot fo-o-o-o-our! (six foot FO-O-OUR…)
Fe-ee-eed me ti-ill I-I'm six - foot - four!
— Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah (Cwm Rhondda), in many, many schools, et al.
practise singing along: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iimx4JA97U
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word shepherds' socks
While shepherds washed their socks by night
All watching ITV
The angel of the Lord came down
And switched to BBC
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word squit
urgh. in plural, the squits (BrE?)
April 19, 2008
sarra commented on the word venez-y voir
I want!
April 18, 2008
sarra commented on the word tuque
With pompom: bobble hat.
Without: woolly hat.
Easy!
April 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word rire dans sa barbe
To laugh to oneself.
Lit. to laugh in one's beard.
April 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word histoire à dormir debout
A tall story, tall tale, a likely story!; cock-and-bull story.
Lit. story of sleeping standing up.
April 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word il m'aime : un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout !
“he loves me: a little, a lot, passionately, madly, not a bit!”
April 17, 2008
sarra commented on the list flower-rhymes
thanks, P!
April 17, 2008
sarra commented on the word a pound to a gooseberry
aye, these are they for me!
April 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word a pound to a gooseberry
my archives go untended! I'll have to look this one up again. I can't think whence on earth it sprang.
April 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word et tout le bataclan
“and all the rest of it”!
April 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word fripier
I think — (French; masculine noun) a seller of vintage clothing. The owner of a friperie (which, yes, sells friperies).
April 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word pantyhose
Tights. Much better.
April 16, 2008
sarra commented on the word comash
Will Self is a consummate arse! I delight in this. To a point.
April 15, 2008
sarra commented on the word noosexual
aye. Prolagus was using the Greek νόος or νο�?ς; nous; mind.
April 15, 2008
sarra commented on the word epiglottitis
c_b, aye. That misunderstanding was perpetuated by my parents, though. (I was in my early teens when I came across “uvula” and had a bit of an ohhhh moment.)
April 15, 2008
sarra commented on the word paperasse
(French; feminine noun) Bumf.
April 15, 2008
sarra commented on the word ninny-broth
…realises sionnach's gender
April 15, 2008
sarra commented on the list words-that-are-only-ever-used-ironically
ach! unique?!
April 12, 2008
sarra commented on the list a-little-carrot-over-the-a
over the å is just a ring, uninventively. In Czech it's a kroužek (where the acute accent is a �?árka).
April 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word handel's organ works
I love the precisely recurring presence of “some wag” in tales like these.
I was actually introduced to this one by a comment about the TV programme Howard Goodall's Organ Works. It still tickles me more than it should. No pun intended.
April 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word abridged ellipsis
I thought on seeing this that an ”abridged“ ellipsis would be one of these:
…
signifying abridgement in a text. But I see what you mean!
April 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word symphony product
sorry to drag this back to the point, but where and why is the term symphony product used? What does it mean?
April 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word spudge
hahahahahaha!
April 10, 2008
sarra commented on the word droll
curious discussion herein
April 10, 2008
sarra commented on the list words-that-are-only-ever-used-ironically
Oh, no!
I use the droll tag here — and the word more widely — quite sincerely, covering both those two senses, I suppose (I'd not looked it up or thought about it before, but it does match my usage of the term): never as an insult, mild or otherwise. It does carry a connotation of recognition of a rather bad joke, but I have a lot of love for those.
I could write a lot more about droll humour…
April 10, 2008
sarra commented on the list the-opposite-of-sympathy
I like it!
April 9, 2008
sarra commented on the word quiet'n
quieten!
April 9, 2008
sarra commented on the word gooseberry
Naked Translations has a hint or two of why this term is used to mean a single person in the company of couples.
April 9, 2008
sarra commented on the word builders' tea
addendum: you can't make it with wretched Lipton teabags, which are woefully popular overseas :(
April 8, 2008
sarra commented on the user ofravens
god yes!
April 8, 2008
sarra commented on the user ofravens
I think it's just come to me why your name, as well.
April 8, 2008
sarra commented on the word gyrating
“A baking afternoon in a dusty village, and ten young Maoists are gyrating and marching under red-bannered slogans.”
—Charles Haviland, The World Tonight, BBC Radio 4 (7th April 2008)
April 8, 2008
sarra commented on the word in the gods
The seats dizzyingly high up in an auditorium, usually the cheapest (but most virtuous?)
March 31, 2008
sarra commented on the word whinge
not a hybrid word! Shares Old English and Old Norse roots with whine, that's all.
March 31, 2008
sarra commented on the word mongoose
By the reckoning of the mighty Oxford English Dictionary (why yes, we are sleeping together), the plural can be any of mongooses, mongeese, mongoose or mongooze(!!)
March 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word goffer
ah!
March 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word cocksucker
straight-faced from WordNet there.
March 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word goffer
Are you sure about criming? Nothing close to it is in the OED.
March 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word theorbo
More than historically; they're still played. I've watched one be carried slung across the player's body ready to be played, up the side aisle of a church, willing its gigantic neck not to collide with anything on the way. So crane-like!
March 20, 2008
sarra commented on the word platitude
plongitude should be the quantifier for how sonorous a ruler is when held atop a table and made to vibrate!
March 15, 2008
sarra commented on the word hendiadys
an excellent example! Also “good and ready” — I wonder if “hard and fast” counts? “new and improved”?
March 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word ruck
ruck up my favourite meaning
March 11, 2008
sarra commented on the word riffy
“dirty; scruffy; flea-ridden; lousy or nitty”—Proper Brummie. I'm not sure if it's used outside the Birmingham area.
March 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word rozzer
vetted?
And yes. Like rugger for rugby, too (although wrong era, and wrong class of speaker, but still).
March 7, 2008
sarra commented on the word ooaa
my brain is bending trying to decipher the transcription, but it seems to be oh-oh-ah-ah
(I'm annoyed this isn't a Scrabble word)
March 6, 2008
sarra commented on the word rozzer
Has many suggestions regarding origin, most of them baseless, but my current favourite (regardless of truth factor) is that it's a companion to peeler — both from the name of Robert Peel.
archived discussion from sci.lang
March 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word hizzoner
eugh, thank you!
March 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word hizzoner
?!
March 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word auto de fe
Properly auto-da-fé or auto-de-fé. Da is Portugese and most common in this usage, de Spanish.
March 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word tandem
From Latin for “at last”; “finally”. No joke.
February 29, 2008
sarra commented on the list silent-p
ph combinations ought not to count, as if the p really were silent then the word would begin with an h sound—which none of them do. The ph can be dropped as a whole though, I've just found out.
I'd pronounce the initial p in the German words.
February 27, 2008
sarra commented on the word bodice ripper
Me too!
February 27, 2008
sarra commented on the word alumninium
Or alumnium. Metal made of graduates.
sigh
February 27, 2008
sarra commented on the word bbc
The British Broadcasting Corporation; also the Beeb or Auntie.
February 27, 2008
sarra commented on the word auntie
Affectionate nickname (with initial capitalisation) given to the BBC.
February 27, 2008
sarra commented on the word roar
As an acronym found in nightclub advertisements, stands for Right Of Admission Reserved.
February 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word arabesque
I'm not sure of the reason for the term's use in ballet. I was going to research and write an article on the variations once; I may still do so.
February 26, 2008
sarra commented on the word necrophage
You know what I meant: dead bodies :)
February 24, 2008
sarra commented on the word necrophage
Good grief. Apparently used by staunch vegetarian (or vegan) propagandists.
Gr. νεκ�?ός, necros, dead body, and -φάγος from φαγείν, phagein, to eat. One who eats dead things: by application, a meat-eater.
February 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word eccles cake
I adore these. “See Banbury cake” is misleading, however: the Eccles cake is far more famed (and widely available!).
They're not so small either. A good one can be more the size of a pasty than a mince pie. Of course, that's not a patch on the size of a Victoria sponge or other “real”, flour-eggs-milk-and-butter cake.
February 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word snit
I think this one has burrowed its way into my consciousness without me being, well, conscious of it. I'm fairly certain I've used snitty once or twice.
February 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word paddy
A tantrum. cf. paddywhack. Even the OED isn't sure quite why the word is used this way, though.
February 21, 2008
sarra commented on the word arachide
Peanut oil. (Fr)
February 17, 2008
sarra commented on the list amber-words
abetting too, though I was reminded of it just now by seeing it alone!
February 15, 2008
sarra commented on the list verbed-2
waffle isn't actually verbed; it comes from a different root!
February 9, 2008
sarra commented on the word when it's at home
“Whàt's thát when it's at hòme?!”
(note attempted indication of intonation!)
February 5, 2008
sarra commented on the list u-s-and-them
oh good grief, apparently it can rhyme (you know what I mean) with Micronesia!
February 5, 2008
sarra commented on the list u-s-and-them
missile; data
Pakistan in both its short- and long- vowel variants (and indeed another: short-long, Pakist�?n) is common in the UK. I'm not too sure of the Urdu vowels themselves except for “varyingly longish”.
How is Tunisia pronounced across the pond? Tu as in to instead of chew?
February 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word 7
kewpid: Yes, yes, no. My 9s also look like gs (which doesn't work in this typeface!), a habit I picked up from a teacher of French I rather disliked. I try and differentiate 0s from Os by shape, as ordinary type does, when necessary — but I fear a mistake like the plant display one day…
February 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word features
Would be nice if under or above "appears in these lists:" we also had "is a favourite word of Tom, Dick, Harry and Joan". Favourites are an underused feature here and this would help them be seen more, which I'd like a lot.
February 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word vodkatini
heh!
February 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word hotlink
Hotlink, like hyperlink, used to be HTML speak for what is now just a link. Curious to see it's changed in meaning.
February 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word scrabble
But I bet she survived!
groan
A couple that spring to mind are jungly and anaerobe.
February 1, 2008
sarra commented on the word optimetrist
One who poses the question “is the glass half full, or half empty?”…
see (an) optometrist
February 1, 2008
sarra commented on the list change-one-letter
Good point — that first page alone has crivens, a Scotsism; Bold and Ariel, British detergent brands; Sadler's Wells, a theatre noted for ballet which has lent its name to a company of same; David Blunkett, an ex-(I think!)politician; the Territorial Army…
February 1, 2008
sarra commented on the list change-one-letter
There's a huge archive of these I've enjoyed for a while. Guardian Books Talk: Change one letter in a book title
January 31, 2008
sarra commented on the list seussian
His name is Seuss, mind.
January 31, 2008
sarra commented on the list i-do-not-like-them-sam-i-am
and I thought my list was irritable!
January 28, 2008
sarra commented on the list amber-words
pique has two separate applications, but little more. Might it count?
dander is like haw for me: mostly, it stands alone. betwixt too, to a lesser degree.
January 27, 2008
sarra commented on the word ditto
Also a kind of duplicating machine.
January 26, 2008
sarra commented on the list folk-entomology
yesssssss, me too!
January 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word ceilidh
When I first learnt this word many years ago I imagined it was spelt cailey. /'keɪlɪ/, rhymes with daily.
January 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word phenomena
Quite so. Go forth and educate, then :)
January 23, 2008
sarra commented on the word phenomena
The plural form of the word phenomenon. “A phenomena” does not exist, while “some phenomena” and “a phenomenon” do.
January 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word sudo
YES! Really tickles me every time.
January 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word calt
Typography-speak (a very neo- neologism?) for contextual alternate — a different letterform to be used when the standard one would cause a visual clash.
Discussion: http://typophile.com/node/40729
January 14, 2008
sarra commented on the word bumpf
I have a feeling it's actually a common linguistic effect, the name of (and reason for) which I forget.
January 5, 2008
sarra commented on the word nuß-ecken
I rally in support of c. It's a beautiful letter. Y isn't bad either.
January 5, 2008
sarra commented on the list creative-onomatopoeia
♥ tuft!
I'm loath to add anything to this list, as my relationship with language does this all over.
January 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word pouze
Pouze is rubbish. I upend your theory.
January 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word pelf
That would be because of pelt.
January 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word honesty
The name by which I know the plant lunaria.
January 4, 2008
sarra commented on the word ninthly
An oft-quoted anecdote — perhaps even oft-witnessed, for the simple reason that it's a joy to repeat — has two dons in conversation, one of them heard in passing to be saying “and ninthly…”
New Scientist : Letters : Twenty-fifthly - 13 December 1997
Alleged to have appeared as a cartoon in Punch magazine some time pre-WWII.
December 25, 2007
sarra commented on the word skintle
To skintle is “to set bricks in an irregular fashion so that they are out of alignment with the face by ¼ inch or more”. (skintling; skintled)
December 25, 2007
sarra commented on the word mother of thousands
Any of various plants noted for rapid spread or vegetative reproduction — Oxford English Dictionary
Most commonly Saxifraga stolonifera:
but also the ivy-leaved toadflax, Cymbalaria muralis; Linaria cymbalaria; Tolmiea menziesii; or Campanula rapunculoides.
Other names applied to such plants include piggy-back plant, Youth on Age, mind-your-own-business and wandering Jew.
December 21, 2007
sarra commented on the word millenary
A millenary word (adj., relating to thousands) seems apt for my thousandth addition. If you'd like to celebrate, please send millinery by the millenary (n., a sum of one thousand).
December 21, 2007
sarra commented on the word woggle
I must have a woggle somewhere still, proudly named as ever.
December 20, 2007
sarra commented on the word postmodernism
My favourite phrase to describe this — or rather a common view of it — is a passing one I've actually just come across in the current revision of its article: “ultimately meaningless rhetorical gymnastics”!
December 20, 2007
sarra commented on the word chandrachoodan
hello!
December 19, 2007
sarra commented on the word avoir d'autres chats à fouetter
literally “other cats to whip” (charming!)
December 19, 2007
sarra commented on the word freedom good
Bob is eluding me. Could you give a hint?
December 19, 2007
sarra commented on the word tjalk
Lazy OED!
It's the middle word in this mp3 file: tjirpen, tjalk, tjokvol.
December 19, 2007
sarra commented on the word ariston
Manufacturer of white goods. Ran an advertising campaign (q.v.) in the early 1990s whose tagline was “On, and on, and on … and Ariston”. Consequently, a word often compulsively attached to the end of any “on, and on, and…” phrase.
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word earl grey
A new addition (December 2007) to the Oxford English Dictionary! Puzzlingly late; highly commended.
I suggest trying it black, with gin.
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word attorney
Solicitor and barrister are standard for me too, as I'm familiar (well—to an only pedestrian degree!) with the English law system, within which those are the two defined branches of the profession. I'd never heard attorney till I started to come more into contact with American culture through the media.
burntsox may be interested to know that there's a (self-referential in this case) term for such hoity-toitiness: auxesis
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word paralipsis
“Not to mention…”
I think I learnt this as paralepsis, which is a fair variation, but -lipsis is the Latin and commonest English form.
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word antonomasia
Latin, through Gr. άντονομασία, from άντονομάξειν, antonomazein, to name instead.
As well as perhaps naturalised trademarks, refers to the use of a title in place of a proper name (Her Royal Highness; Your Grace; the Honourable Member… in addresses, as well as the Bard for Shakespeare and the King for Elvis), and the use of a proper name to symbolise some recogised quality (“He's no Einstein”, &c.)
Ol' Blue Eyes for Sinatra may be considered an example both of antonomasia and synecdoche (a class of metonymy).
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the list surprisingly-eponymous
rolig—antonomasia
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word eye rhyme
I've often wondered if these sorts of rhymes were only invented after the Great Vowel Shift, whereupon people would read previously perfectly-well-rhyming old verse and think "It doesn't rhyme! Must be an olde-tyme trick — that's good enough for me!" and proceed to write drivel quite consciously rhyming prove with love thinking it's sophisticated. Well?
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word supercalliwhat
Keep trying! It's all there, I promise.
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word supercalliwhat
*-???i-???gi-l*c-???i-??i-??c????
Clued enough? :)
Hyphens to aid the eye only — they're not, of course, integral to the word.
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the list words-you-will-be-incorrectly-corrected-on
Amused by the idea of your odd looks :)
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the list ome-is-where-the-heart-is
What are the words in this list with no (web-based) citations whatsoever?—are they coined to describe “genetics” of words after the pattern of chromosome and genome?Ah! I now have found your comments on lexisphere.
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the list words-you-will-be-incorrectly-corrected-on
Streight seems an odd choice — it's marked as obsolete in Webster's dictionary and only appears in the OED's comprehensive listing of spellings for straight/strait (and interestingly, stretch), also indicating obsolescence.
In what way does prodigal find itself incorrectly corrected?
December 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word cancrine
Latin cancrīnus, from cancer, crab. See, for a musical application, cancrizans.
December 17, 2007
sarra commented on the word cancrizans
A canon (musical) which contains a reversal of its own theme. From Latin cancriz�?re, to walk backwards; see cancrine.
December 17, 2007
sarra commented on the word veisalgia
Coined in 2000 in a journal article: The Alcohol Hangover — Weise et al. 132 (11): 897 — Annals of Internal Medicine
December 17, 2007
sarra commented on the word hangover
The Royal Society of Chemistry's carefully-considered hangover remedy consists of toast and honey. Quite apart from the nutritional benefits of such a morning-after breakfast, it's certainly a combination that puts a smile on my face.
http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2005/HangoverAvoidance.asp
The upmarket name for a hangover is veisalgia.
December 17, 2007
sarra commented on the list surprisingly-eponymous
See tsar—for me, when I came across the fact a few weeks ago, the most surprising of all. I had an attack of poor referencing & wondered if Cæsar might not be an eponym at all but a title like Christ, but the OED has comforted me.
December 16, 2007
sarra commented on the word tsar
Derived, as is kaiser, from Cæsar—first Caius Julius, Roman emperors thereafter being Cæsars, and figuratively, later, any emperor also.
(This English spelling became standard after being chosen by the Times newspaper at the end of the nineteenth century.)
December 16, 2007
sarra commented on the word masti
In current Hindi usage, a word meaning mischievous, playful fun.
In Urdu and Persian, a word connected to Sufism, meaning a state of abandon to God.
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word jugaad
ज�?गाद (Devan�?garī)
A cross between the idea of an entrepreneur and an odd-job man; or, simply an innovative "quick fix" for a problem. Also refers to a type of home-grown motor vehicle made for necessary transport.
http://www.dinkercharak.com/mgt/jugaad.htm
Perhaps similar to bricolage.
Among many, many other things, there is a company called Jugaad making "mastiful things" to be found in eco-conscious shops of the UK.
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word loath
Loath is loath to be misspelt with an e.
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the list monovocalics
*falls over with joy*
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-4
Oh gosh, now I understand 4 but my knowledge is lacking! My survey says—Ellison?
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the list at-least-two-apostrophes-or-your-money-back
Gosh, if you're counting grocer's apostrophe's, you could go miles with this list...
P.S. Either you've missed some clues, or you choose to be judicious!
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the list loquy
Very very well spotted! I remember reading it a lot as I inferred what it meant, but forgot to add it.
This is certainly no pauciloquacious list.
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word tamil
Much better, thank you!
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word sanskrit
In the Devan�?garī script, संस�?कृतम�? (saṃskṛtam)
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word tamil
In its own script: தமிழ
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word peccavi
I've known this one for years, and only now — not that I'm particularly surprised — found it's an apocryphal tale. The most complete (and presumably verifiable!) reference I have:
The magazine Punch (May 18, 1844) published a letter from a 17 year old Ms. Catherine Winkworth suggesting that Napier's despatch to Lord E. should have read "Peccavi" (I have sinned). Thus, the famous wordplay was, in fact, a tongue-in-cheek insult.
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ/2005-11/1132988836
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word plosive
polyplosivity!
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the list at-least-two-apostrophes-or-your-money-back
I can't stop. Daft ha'p'orth am I. (It's even 'a'p'orth round our way.)
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the list at-least-two-apostrophes-or-your-money-back
Two more! One is that if you have bos'n's you can have cap'n's. T'other's from Yorkshire. ;)
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the list at-least-two-apostrophes-or-your-money-back
sha'n't is fine, as it was once shalln't.
I di'n't see one I might sometimes use in there. I also like wu'n't (for possibly both of wouldn't and won't), but that's rocky dialect ground.
Unfortunately you oughtn't've had tam'o'shanter: it should really be tam-o'-shanter (there's nothing missing before the o, so it doesn't warrant an apostrophe). Wanting spaces are rock 'n' roll and fish 'n' chips, though these could stay. And add pick 'n' mix!
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the list chromonyms-3
You'll have to tell me what you had in mind, if someone else doesn't guess.
December 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word fingernails
Not sure what's so objectionable about the pronunciation. Do you use the same kind of sound for both ns? For me it's /'fiŋ-gə-naɪls/. ŋ is "ng", the tongue closed at the back of the palate. A journey forward!
December 14, 2007
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-4
hahaha! 18. crotchety!
December 14, 2007
sarra commented on the word dishabille
Ouch. Wasn't aware this was a legitimate variation. My future self (wanting to make a correction) has possibly been saved some embarrassment.
December 13, 2007
sarra commented on the list chromonyms-3
8) lac, I think.
Oh, and 7) cobalt?
December 13, 2007
sarra commented on the word lord god bird
Oh, I didn't post the quote to rubbish your etymology; in fact, I should have edited the "breathtaking appearance" part out!
December 13, 2007
sarra commented on the list chromonyms-3
An intriguing quiz — I'll be reading a lot about this!
December 13, 2007
sarra commented on the word headless body in topless bar
bing!
December 13, 2007
sarra commented on the word lord god bird
The song is available, freely and in full, on NPR's page about the story.
December 13, 2007
sarra commented on the word mulgara
Tags here aren't ever attributed — therefore there's no "hiding" going on. The only link between tag and person is to be found from the person's own user pages. And you can tag any word you like without having to list it.December 11, 2007
sarra commented on the word mulgara
Lists are better for thumbing one's nose at particular words.
December 10, 2007
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-4
hmm!
December 9, 2007
sarra commented on the word zo
I was excellently pleased after playing this word copycat for a while in SOWPODS games to find out it had such a concrete (relating to an object; unlike those tricksy ones like el which are letter names, &c.), and a little amusing, meaning.
December 8, 2007
sarra commented on the list quiz-time-4
13. haplography. ugh! I had to Google.
23. syllabub
28. genderless! Curiously, etymonline points out the archaic word wight is not to do with the Isle's Wight. Some speculation on the roots of the Manx Man can be found in this book chapter.
December 8, 2007
sarra commented on the word petrel
Veda is connected to wit, you're right. The OED's etymological entry for the latter is beautiful: a vast journey across a swathe of Teutonic languages, to Old English, down to the mythical Indo-European, and of course to Sanskrit, taking in quite a tapestry of cognates along the way.
The variety of bird species and that of languages are becoming quite intertwined in my mind, now. Ancestry, migrations… and of course, etymologists and ornithologists; linguaphiles and birdwatchers. Worders and birders.
December 8, 2007
sarra commented on the list wallah
a cook's assistant is a slip of the keyboard?
I can't believe you've not got round to the chai(-)wallah yet — most important for me!
December 7, 2007
sarra commented on the list fibrous-words
A wonderful use of fibrous, for one. These are my favourite kinds of words.
December 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word texts
I don't think I could explain what constitutes a syllable (q.v. for an explanation in a day or two, perhaps) without breaking into linguist-speak of death — but to understand the wobbliness of your theory, note that there are actually two "breaks" of the breath (stops, which you could hold as long as you like) in this word, viz.: te—xt—s!
December 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word sxw�?št'qá
sxʷ�?št'qá?
December 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word features
It didn't appear after my first edit, but I did a test one now and lo, there it is. I feel compelled to leave it for posterity though.
December 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word envelope
Maybe they don't need veloping?
December 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word hobosexual
I may well speak of hobosexuals if I had a code in de doze.
December 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word texts
Jeff — sixths, thousandths; glimpsed, jinxed; prompts, tempts (attempts &c.); adjuncts, conjuncts, precincts, instincts… If you allow liquids, then twelfths, sculpts, mulcts, waltzed and warmths too. However, sixths seems to be the only other one I've found which doesn't rely on a nasal at the beginning of the cluster, and it seems you're looking solely for unvoiced consonant clusters here. Linguistic convention does count all these types as valid four-consonant clusters.
Naturally, there's also contexts, pretexts &c.
(I'll probably only amuse myself in pointing out that sixths and twelfths are consonant intervals)
December 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word features
Simple request: please move the little "processing" throbber next to whichever button has been pressed on each respective page (like it is for commenting), so that one doesn't have to scroll around to see if one's request has been successfully submitted!
edit: I can't find a displaced one, now. If I do I'll point it out. And please bring back the "delete" button for comments!
December 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word bugs
I think the list description bug has eased itself a bit, but other editing ones still stand: the "more about you" box on my profile is currently choking. It's a symptom of a longstanding bug where sometimes, when a comment contains external links, they vanish upon editing and become no more than text. Which is better than nothing, but still perplexing.
December 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word envelope
I try to stick with “onvelope”*. Though if one is sufficiently RP I suspect one would say “onv'lope”, which the trusty OED hints at in its /'ɒnv(ə)ləʊp/.
Of course, oikolect chez nous proudly renders the word, quite intentionally, as “onv'lopp” :)
*no pun intended
December 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word nøstepinne
Norwegian (Bokmål; the Nyorsk is nystepinne) for “little nest-stick” — a simple tool of turned wood used to wind balls of wool by hand.
Also known as a nøstepinde, as in these instructions for using one, but this may well be an error as Norwegian has no pinde.
December 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word clitic
tragically, this would be the most apropos entry in my linguistics is sexy list yet
December 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word diphthong
in an amp(h)itheatre!
December 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word lemniskate
I've always imagined that lollerskates would cause the wearer to rofl. Which would make it quite difficult to successfully lemniskate.
November 28, 2007
sarra commented on the word lemniskate
bravo!
November 28, 2007
sarra commented on the word lemniscate
Describes a certain kind of figure-of-eight mathematical curve, an example of which is the infinity sign ∞.
The Latin root is lēmniscus, from the Greek λημνίσκος, lêmniskos, both referring to ribbons.
November 28, 2007
sarra commented on the word lemniscatic
Roughly, figure-of-eight shaped; found in the mathematical study of elliptic functions.
cf. lemniscate
November 28, 2007
sarra commented on the word species
actually, the OED specifies only two variants: /'spi�?ʃi�?z/ and /'spi�?ʃɪi�?z/ — that is, not a "speesees" in sight!
November 27, 2007
sarra commented on the word trifouillis-les-oies
Like Pétaouchnok, another imaginary place in the French language: this one an isolated, backward village, perhaps in beautiful countryside, but still to be scoffed at. Les oies are geese.
November 19, 2007
sarra commented on the word timbuctoo
(or Timbucktoo)
Archaic version of Timbuktu (along with other such terms whose transliteration has changed over the years, the older version often carries imperialist overtones); both are used to signify a place very far away indeed.
November 19, 2007
sarra commented on the word pétaouchnok
/pe.ta.uʃ.nɔk/
French equivalent of a particular usage of Timbuctoo (now more properly Timbuktu) in English: an imaginary place, its name styled after those of Russian or Ukrainian villages, meaning “very far away indeed”.
November 19, 2007
sarra commented on the word prime-ministerial
for premenstrual; no. 8 in a series of collected intentional malapropisms
November 19, 2007
sarra commented on the word filière
"Filiere." Miss F. Frances Lambert. The Hand-book of Needlework. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1842.
Miss Lambert describes the filiere, or gauge, "as a steel instrument with graduated notches round its edges, distinguished by different figures. It is used by wire-drawers for ascertaining the sizes of their wires, and is applied in a similar manner, for measuring the diameters of netting and knitting needles; thus -- when speaking of the relative size of these needles, they are frequently designated by their corresponding numbers; but, as has been before observed, there appears to be no universal standard."
-- http://www.librarycompany.org/HookBook/case8labels.htm (c&p)
November 14, 2007
sarra commented on the list freerice-words-to-learn
oh good grief. You've got me hooked. Half-learnt languages (French, German, Latin) have never been so useful.
November 14, 2007
sarra commented on the list remnants-of-a-catholic-childhood
hee. Have you seen my analogue? A less rich tradition, to be sure.
November 9, 2007
sarra commented on the word isometric
Not to be confused with biometric, as the UK press/political establishment seem to have been doing lately.
November 8, 2007
sarra commented on the word bugs
The word content of a list vanishes from the page when you edit its description (it's still there, if you navigate back to the list page after editing). I also can't seem to delete a list description.
October 25, 2007
sarra commented on the user frangarnes
I'm going to make a list of English words-with-all-the-vowels - since we haven't found the English term for them yet, which of panvocálica/pentavocálica (or something else) do you think I should use for its title - and are they plural terms? (I know almost no Spanish!)
October 25, 2007
sarra commented on the word i resemble that remark
for I resent that remark; no. 7 in a series of collected intentional malapropisms (and one I can't believe I forgot!)
October 25, 2007
sarra commented on the word none of your beeswax
for none of your business; no. 6 in a series of collected intentional malapropisms
curiously, this is one of the phrases which crops up when you Google "intentional malapropism" — this is incidental though, and not a mark of research method!
October 25, 2007
sarra commented on the list words-that-rhyme-with-larynx
without stopping to look it up, I think it's a rhyme on an unstressed syllable (in this case "ynx").
October 24, 2007
sarra commented on the word waxed paper
Ah no, you see, I wanted to try and stress that although the point about t/d in "butter" &c. is a valid one (ah! I've remembered, it's a flap), it's not really the reason why they merge in "iced tea". The sound at the end of a BrE pronunciation of "iced" on its own (well, mine anyway) is an aspirated t after all, and the same thing still occurs.
real linguists are free to correct me!
I hope I'm inducing some linguistics mumble effect here ;)
October 23, 2007
sarra commented on the word builders' tea
A cuppa; a brew. Made in a sturdy mug. Milk and two sugars — depending on the builder, of course. The ones I've shared a kettle with take it unsweetened and with just a dash of milk to make it a shade more akin to redbrick than latte, as do I. The most consistent factor among builders' teas is the brew itself: a bag (sometimes two) of household-name blended black tea steeped for a good several minutes, producing plenty of tannins. Strong stuff.
Also found in greasy spoons or caffs.
October 23, 2007
sarra commented on the word sweet tea
If you asked for "sweet tea" here though, you'd get ordinary hot black (as opposed to green or white or not tea at all!) milky tea which someone would drop a couple of sugars in.
I'd love to experience a proper Southern sweet tea, mind. A spot on the far edge of a vast circle of teas, as far away from sencha as it is from my own comfort — builders' tea.
October 23, 2007
sarra commented on the word waxed paper
Through my transatlantic telescope I suspect that I spy a discussion about greaseproof paper here...
Almost nobody pronounces in everyday speech the "(e)d" in "iced tea" and "waxed paper". The d and the t share the same place of articulation (where your tongue goes to rest) so they run together and no sound is repeated. My linguistics is rusty, but this might be a very basic example of assimilation. There's no need to think of it as dropping the t; it's still there, just in a tight embrace with the d.
The idea that waxed paper is somehow not paper amuses me (to me it's exactly like paper, no mystery there — the defining characteristic of paper is not in my mind its suitability for writing but its composition, i.e. various organic fibrous materials, and the common, though obviously widely varied, feel that imparts to the sheets or scraps of it), just as the idea of "sweet tea" as an unquestioned fact not being hot sends my eyebrows up. The first is a deep personal association, the second cultural. O mutability!
October 23, 2007
sarra commented on the word sweet tea
from wax paper: "sweet tea" is always cold because that's the salient feature of the tea: it's sweet. Hot tea is not served sweetened. — an abomination to British ears!
October 23, 2007
sarra commented on the word avuncular
might do the trick!
October 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word avuncular
Is there any word which covers the same traits (kindness, experience, generosity, maybe a bit of exuberance) in a female? Matronly is too distanced. Language hacks gladly accepted.
October 15, 2007
sarra commented on the word etaoin shrdlu
as far as I'm aware, the sequence was accepted as an approximation even when the Linotype keyboard was made. I imagine it varies slightly with time and according to dialect/material surveyed.
October 13, 2007
sarra commented on the word bhaji
very droll. I approve. ;)
October 13, 2007
sarra commented on the user john
I think I've mentioned this before but it's come up again: we really need to show on a word's page which lists it's seen in!
October 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word metamophoses
my keen eye is really down lately; I feel like covering my tracks ;)
October 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word zugma
sorry again! I did see the other entries, whose humour I understood — and yes, I didn't see them in your list. Zug is a new one on me (though vague memories of German words to do with travelling). Off to request a feature to make word-inclusion-in-lists more obvious!
October 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word metamophoses
no; more than one of them!
October 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word tremendous
oroboros: pft!
October 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word kneecap
Before all reading go out to poke children's knees in the name of experiment — they do; they're just not yet made of bone. “Ossification is completed about the age of puberty.”—Gray's Anatomy
October 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word etaoin shrdlu
Once etched into one's mind, makes a game of Hangman quite predictable... (though I found I'd memorised it by accident and not for that purpose!)
The full sequence on the Linotype keyboard is etaoin shrdlu cmfwyp vbgkqj xz.
October 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word zugma
it's actually zeugma, sorry!
October 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word trufax
playground-ish slang of unknown origin, now more often to be seen wild on the internet, viz.:
October 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word sarnie
We also call them sammiches :)
October 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word minger
Or no g depending on regional accent: standard is /'mɪŋə/
October 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word slough of despond
I've always taken “slough of despond” to be a humorous phrase or perhaps an intentional malapropism for some more respectable phrase I wasn't familiar with; I'm surprised to find it's from the Pilgrim's Progress!
There is (quite apart from the actual famously despondent Slough) a real Slough of Despond, near Wiarton in Ontario, Canada. This could be it.
October 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word izard
A type of ibex (a wild goat); can also be spelt isard or izzard, which has another meaning (q.v.)
Could conceivably be the answer to an infuriatingly tedious cryptic crossword clue about Christmas lizards, of course.
October 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word izzard
Not just a surname but an archaic name for the letter Z.
Also a variant of izard.
October 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word judas window
definition from doubletongued.org
In general, a peep-hole; also Judas trap, Judas hole; listed as a sense of Judas in the OED. Used, oddly, in photography: the “Judas window” here is a set-up on some older, chiefly manual cameras which (by placement of a tiny mirror) allows the photographer to see in the viewfinder a setting which is made elsewhere on the camera, such as the aperture setting on the lens barrel.
October 3, 2007
sarra commented on the list definitions-without-words
Wonderfully (by which I mean—self-referentially!), Gastwörte also describes these — German for "guest-words" (singular Gastwort). Or Fremdwort, or Lehnwort depending on exactly how they're used: this article from the Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language is enlightening, if to be believed.
calque is also brilliant: what happens when a foreign phrase is translated and used literally.
October 3, 2007
sarra commented on the list definitions-without-words
loanword?
October 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word selvage
Wikipedia: selvage denim
A variation is selvedge.
September 29, 2007
sarra commented on the list intentional-malapropisms
possibly we ought to have a second list for foreign-language phrases rendered into English — it seems almost a different concept!
July 6, 2007
sarra commented on the word murky bucket
for merci beaucoup; no. 5 in a series of collected intentional malapropisms
July 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word spaniard in the works
for spanner in the works; no. 4 in a series of collected intentional malapropisms
July 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word cast asparagus
for cast aspersions; no. 3 in a series of collected intentional malapropisms
July 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word cast nasturtiums
for cast aspersions; no. 2 in a series of collected intentional malapropisms
July 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word devil's avocado
for devil's advocate; no. 1 in a series of collected intentional malapropisms
July 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word agelast
Gr. agelastos, not laughing; ultimately from gelaein, to laugh. Coined by the French Renaissance writer Rabelais, or so the source quoted in the OED suggests.
July 2, 2007
sarra commented on the word crotchet
♩
July 2, 2007
sarra commented on the word quaver
♪
July 2, 2007
sarra commented on the list words-to-spread
the idea: useful words for concepts people tend to say "I wish there were a word for that!" about — often, there is!
June 12, 2007
sarra commented on the word clotted
“clotted prose”: wonderfully evocative!
May 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word norfolk
English Norfolk rhymes (loosely) with “poor luck”!
May 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word stand
“a stand of oaks”
April 29, 2007
sarra commented on the word coriander
in British English, coriander is the leaf, also known as cilantro, dhania and Chinese parsley.
April 20, 2007
sarra commented on the word ect.
…“Latin for ‘I'm ignorant and I don't know it’”—everything2
April 16, 2007
sarra commented on the word sebkhet
?
April 11, 2007
sarra commented on the word paternoster
a kind of circular lift. One's first words upon stepping into one of these may well be a pleasingly coincidental “Oh my God!”.
March 8, 2007
sarra commented on the word pluke
onomatopoeia for the noise it makes when it pops? ;)
March 3, 2007
sarra commented on the word copesetic
perhaps you mean copacetic?edit-happy fingers! This is a legitimate variation!March 1, 2007
sarra commented on the word achi kochi
�?��?��?��?�, 'here and there'. Japanese onomatopoeia.
February 28, 2007
sarra commented on the word hikikomori
�?��??�?�もり (I hope!)
February 28, 2007
sarra commented on the word �?��??�?�もり
hikikomori
February 28, 2007
sarra commented on the word cryptogam
not a typographical slip for cryptogram. Gr. kryptos, hidden + gamos, marriage — one whose reproduction is mysterious: a flowerless, seedless plant.
February 28, 2007
sarra commented on the word entertain
rather than its mundane meaning of "amuse", I like its subtleties: to entertain his presence, to entertain such an idea, &c. — etymologically "to hold mutually"
January 18, 2007
sarra commented on the word snarlatan
:D
January 4, 2007
sarra commented on the word obseqious
I'm afraid that would be obsequious!
December 27, 2006
sarra commented on the word set
If it helps, I read the fact somewhere when I was quite small and started looking up the length of the "set" entry in rather a lot of dictionaries afterward :)
December 13, 2006
sarra commented on the list tongue-twisters
preshrunk shirts
December 13, 2006
sarra commented on the word set
WikipediaDecember 13, 2006
sarra commented on the list word-words
Now, tell us, why is "Synonym" the only capitalised Word I've seen on the whole site? It's most jarring!
December 11, 2006
sarra commented on the list words-some-people-can-t-pronounce-no-matter-how-often-they-try
itinerary!
December 9, 2006
sarra commented on the list lizzy-s-words
It's bibulous - I've never heard the word, but knew it must be related to imbibe, &c., so that gave me search fodder!
December 9, 2006
sarra commented on the user john
It'd be grand if on the "n wordies list word" page, after each name, it was shown exactly *what* list (if any) the word is included in.
That said, I don't quite understand the point of a general word list, especially since we have a separate "favourites" list - mine's only full of words I had to add so they would exist on Wordie, and I'm sure those are rapidly becoming scarce!
December 8, 2006
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