Words and Language

[Conversationand]

I was reading in the Streams thread and there was a conversation about words going on. Now I like words and the cultural implications that can be drawn from them and just finding new ways of saying things. So here's a thread to talk about words and language.

Are there any words that you use that would not be found in a "official" dictionary?

Do you add suffixes or prefixes to words that don't normally have them?

Do you know any really old words that have fallen out of use that you like?

Are there any words with an interesting origin or funny story that you know of?

Are there any "$5 dollar" words that the general population may not know but you like?


Personally I find my self trying to add suffixes and prefixes to words all of the time, as well as pushing together two words which really are supposed to stay apart.

Also, you should know that for a time in English history a bagpipe could be colloquially referred to as a doodlesack. If you had to hire a doodlesack player for a funeral then would he bring his doodlesack in a doodlesack sack? If he were derelict in his duties then you might have to sack the doodlesack player.

Now that the cat is out of the sack and you know how big of a dork I can be.

Moving on I find it really interesting that we have this sort of revolving "street" lexicon that centers around the internet and media. For instance, you may not use the words, but you might know what the words bae, salty, and a slew of acronyms such as imo/imho, roflmao, and irl mean.

What about you?

 

[Zi]

One of my favorites. I study a prefix suffix website I found. Collect old dictionaries Have hundreds of words stored on my computer just because I like words. I make up words as I go all the time. Unfortunately I haven't the time to really get into it on here

 

[Zi]

Any grammar or spelling books from 60yrs ago and beyond I buy as well when I find a good one

 

[Lynx]

Obligatory opening xkcd comic:

 

[Lynx]

I had a friend who was working in a food booth at the county fair. I asked her if she charged a fair fare for the fare she served at the fair. And I asked her if the fare she served was any good, was it fair? She replied she did serve fair fair fare at a fair fare fare.

 

[tourist]

I had a friend who was working in a food booth at the county fair. I asked her if she charged a fair fare for the fare she served at the fair. And I asked her if the fare she served was any good, was it fair? She replied she did serve fair fair fare at a fair fare fare.

She was obviously a fair maiden.

 

[Conversationand]

One of my favorites. I study a prefix suffix website I found. Collect old dictionaries Have hundreds of words stored on my computer just because I like words. I make up words as I go all the time. Unfortunately I haven't the time to really get into it on here

That is unfortunate. I'm sure you've got tons of cool words rolling around that I'd like to hear about.

 

[Jennie-Mae]

She was obviously a fair maiden.

Certainly not fair to middlin'.

 

[seoulsearch]

Hey Conversation,

I've read your OP at least 3 times, and I'm pretty sure that it's caused my last 3 brain cells to blow up. Kudos to you!

Personally, I subscribe to "The Little Mermaid" School of Vocabulary. If people could hear me in real life, I often forget the name of an item mid-sentence and instead, come up with references such as, "Where did I put that stupid thingamabobber..." and, "How long has this dingelhopper been sitting here??!" I frequently draw mental blanks, so I find that most any old combination of vowels and consonants will just have to do.

I also tend to combine words such as dork + doofus = dorkus, but I assure you, they're all meant as terms of endearment.

On a serious note, something I've always found intriguing are the words, "die", "dying," and "died", because they are all verbs = "action" words.

Many people in this world believe that this life is all there is, and that dying is the last step--in other words, they believe that people go from a state of activity (living) to a state of complete inactivity (death).

And so, I have always found it interesting, and maybe a bit strange, that "dying" is an "active" word... and so it seems (to unbelievers), a description of "a state of action" (life) in which one is going to "a state of complete inaction" (death.)

As a Christian, of course, I simply believe that death is a "passing on"--a state of going from one state of action to another state of action.

I have often wondered if it's the same in other languages (Are the words for "dying" also verbs in Japanese, French, Spanish, etc., as well?) and how this originated.

I know this is nitpicking but to me, the very fact that we use action words to describe the very end of our lives... is a tiny hint that there is another state of activity after this one.

 

[Conversationand]

Hey Conversation,

Personally, I subscribe to "The Little Mermaid" School of Vocabulary. If people could hear me in real life, I often forget the name of an item mid-sentence and instead, come up with references such as, "Where did I put that stupid thingamabobber..." and, "How long has this dingelhopper been sitting here??!" I frequently draw mental blanks, so I find that most any old combination of vowels and consonants will just have to do.

Southerners excel at non-specificity. "Over yonder way in the back that ole boy who lived in the white house really knownt everything there was to know about it. You know as far as the doin is concerned. I tell you what. He was plumb good."

 

[Yahweh_is_gracious]

I make up my own words sometimes. Usually to replace a swear. I use words like "melon farmer", "fartcicle", and "poop pickles". Yes, I'm weird. Thank you for noticing.

My favorite recent $5 word is "parsimony". Not the noun meaning "cheap or frugal" but the noun meaning "a principle according to which an explanation of a thing or event is made with the fewest possible assumptions".

 

[Rachel20]

I really need to improve my writing skills. I would like to express myself better in emails/written content - being professional and warm at the same time.

It sucks.

 

[toinena]

Three English words with Norse (Viking) origin that suits here:

1. for all those crazy people that fight with eachother in BDF. I think some of them has gone:
berserk berserkr, lit. 'bear-shirt', (alt. berr-serkr, 'bare-shirt') frenzied warriors[SUP]

2.For Pipp, Seoulsearch, Zeroturbulence and Lynx
cake kaka (="cake")

3. for all us that dreams if prince charming
husband husbondi (="master of the house")

and a bonus word just for a special person here:
ugly uggligr (="Dreadfull, repulsive")

[/SUP]

 

[notmyown]

Southerners excel at non-specificity. "Over yonder way in the back that ole boy who lived in the white house really knownt everything there was to know about it. You know as far as the doin is concerned. I tell you what. He was plumb good."

my sister, a Yankee, is married to a southerner. she was telling me about his non-specificity this morning, so i read her this post.

i think she's still laughing.

 

[Prov910]

Do you add suffixes or prefixes to words that don't normally have them?

Not a suffix or prefix, but I sometimes use the contracted word "probly" in place of probably. I use this mostly in text messages and this message board.

Are there any "$5 dollar" words that the general population may not know but you like?

Lovingkindness. I've read the bible quite a bit over the years. Read it end to end many years ago. But the word lovingkindness just didn't register--even though it's used 30 times. I reread the bible from end to end a couple years back. This time I noticed the word lovingkindness in the bible. Lovingkindness is now my favorite word.

Do you know any really old words that have fallen out of use that you like?

Bumbershoot. It means umbrella. I think bumbershoot is more of a colloquial term used in Western Pennsylvania, rather than an old, out of vogue word.


Great topic!!



edit: Oops! I saw this thread on the front page and didn't notice it was in the singles forum. I'm not single! So I usually don't post here. I guess this one time is okay though.

 

[Jennie-Mae]

What a strange thread. Like it's made way over yonder in Tennessee or Miss'ippi or sumpin. Lord knows how folks just a piece across the line is so not like us folks on the right side of that big ole line. Lol.

 

[Lynx]

My goodness, the language in this thread! Tsk tsk.

 

[Lighthearted]

I'm the person that uses words like yeppers and anywho's...you'uns and ya'll...the southern instilled from my youth pops out...

 

[Zi]

I haven't forgotten about you. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to get into my books and such and send you some of my favorites

That is unfortunate. I'm sure you've got tons of cool words rolling around that I'd like to hear about.

 

[Mitchell1989]

One of my favorites. I study a prefix suffix website I found. Collect old dictionaries Have hundreds of words stored on my computer just because I like words. I make up words as I go all the time. Unfortunately I haven't the time to really get into it on here

I thought I was the only one! I have a document on my computer of tons of words I’ve come across in passing over the years that I like. It’s basically a list of “$5 words.”

Here are a few: gravitas, repartee, proclivity, volition, laconic, largess, and compunction.

Here are a some words/phrases of foreign origin that are used in English occasionally to describe things: “mea culpa”, “ex nihilo”, “hoi polloi”, “ferme le bouche”, “persona non grata”, “dura lex, sed lex“, and “inter alia”.