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Lost for Words

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SAGE

17:09 / 22.09.04

Mmm, a fine book. Though I'm inclined to dispute the definition of Pitlochry ("The background gurgling noise heard in Wimpy Bars caused by people trying to get the last bubbles out of their milkshakes by slurping loudly through their straws). Pitlochry obviously describes the noise made by the chains of a swing when you're playing on them in the park.

Olulabelle

03:32 / 26.09.04

How do you pronounce the word clique?

I always want to say cli'eek'. I've looked it up on dictionary.com and that's an accepted way of saying it, but no-one actually says it this way.

Everyone pronounces it with an 'ick' sound, as in click, but we pronounce the words unique, and mystique with an 'eek' sound at the end. So why is clique which should follow the 'eek' rule, generally pronounced with an 'ick' sound instead?

Smoothly

01:07 / 27.09.04

I pronounce it 'cleek', and so does everyone I know, I think. I thought 'click' was a US thing.

Whisky Priestess

14:20 / 27.09.04

Can someone please link to an online version of the meaning of Liff? All the ones I've found are broken links or have been taken down.

Vincennes: Bringing Sassy Back

14:38 / 04.03.05

Is there a word which bears the same relation to 'months' as the word anniversary does to 'years'? My prissy co-worker balks -understandably -at the phrase 'monthly anniversary' and despite putting the words 'mensaversary', 'menseversary' and 'mensiversary' into every online dictionary he can think of, has made no progress in finding an alternative.

ibis the being

16:08 / 04.03.05

Ha ha... I suppose if she's commemorating her "monthly visitor," she's coined the perfect word. Otherwise, I'm afraid you're stuck with using a clunky phrase like "monthly marker" or something similar.

Vincennes: Bringing Sassy Back

17:53 / 04.03.05

Yes, I thought it sounded rather good for those purposes, but in this case the reference was to the usually happier monthly visit from a paycheque. I was also sure the sentence could be re-worded so the word 'monthly' was used instead, but so it goes...

Olulabelle

19:12 / 04.10.06

What is the word for a spy who changes sides? Another way of saying 'gone over to the other side'? I'm sure there's a proper word for it but my brain is on strike.

Feverfew

19:35 / 04.10.06

Um... Apart from Defection?

20:20 / 04.10.06

okay it's an old term for having a head cold or a sore throat. I believe it is like:

carrah or caryh

I'm mostly certain there is a 'c' and an 'h' and a 'y' in it, though I could be insanely wrong.

Kali: under construction.
(prev. The Next Kali)

catarrh.

many thanks!

Yes, defection! Thank you. I told you my brain was busted.

Life Critic

00:11 / 20.10.06

'of, relating to, or belonging to a species'.
how do you say that in one word?
y'know, like when you say 'national' or 'planetary', or something.
will i be kicking myself?

Tsuga

02:13 / 20.10.06

I believe it actually is "specific", if it is a relationship within a species it is "intraspecific".

Life Critic

03:38 / 20.10.06

so if i was a traitor to my species, say, i would be a specific traitor?

Life Critic

13:42 / 02.11.06

new word wonderings...
peyote, coyote, cheyote/chayote...

similar words, but what is the similarity in meaning?
all i can find out so far is that 'te' is a common ending in america, often replacing the nahuatl 'tl' as a word became spanish.

anyone know more?

Prnss gt rbbt s fck vwls

13:57 / 02.11.06

I think Chaote was a neologism designed to sound like Coyote so that Chaos Magicians could feel all cool and assosciate themselves with a trickster figure. That's just a guess, but I'm pretty sure 'tis right.

Whisky Priestess

14:07 / 02.11.06

Lula - more colloquially, one who changes side could be called a turncoat, a traitor, a judas, a double-agent, etc.

Happy Dave

14:22 / 02.11.06

Toksik, the Online Etymological Dictionary seems to support the above.

A Haus of Minions

15:38 / 02.11.06

Indeed - peyote and coyote are both spanish versions of native words. Chaote is a particularly shit neologism for a practitioner of Chaos magic.

Life Critic

16:42 / 02.11.06

i think you misunderstand.
chayote, rather than chaote(the y was not a typo- cheyote is a foodstuff).
i'm aware of the etymology (nahuatl words taken in and remodelled by spanish, later swallowed whole by english) but would like more on the meaning of the last four letters.

they are all words from the same place and the same people.
i'm curious what relationship the three things have, if any, that led them to be similarly named.

-

the pronounciation exercise that is 'chaote' was probably modelled on coyote, i reckon.
'carlos castenada, we are your children', innit.
PoMoAppropriachineGo, and all that.

grant

19:03 / 02.11.06

The Endings Ate and Ote in Spanish Words of Mexican Origin
Norman L. Willey
Hispania, Vol. 5, No. 5 (Nov., 1922), pp. 298-300

(access is restricted, but I might be able to get more later)

or try doing your own research with a free Nahuatl dictionary. "Otli" means "way" or "path," if that helps.

This translation guide for Mexican Spanish says: Common suffixes are "-ito - ita" denoting small, "-ote - ota" denoting big., which seems less exciting than some of the other options.

grant

19:08 / 02.11.06

Oh, and matsya and I had lots of etymological fun with chayote once upon a time. It's a squash-like vegetable known in Australia and the Caribbean as a choko, in South Africa as sou-sou, and in Europe (and fancier North American establishments) as a mirliton. Looks a little like a cross between a pear, a cucumber and a Granny Smith apple, has the consistency of a potato, grows on a vine like a pumpkin. Mysterious little thing. Has nearly no flavor at all. If anyone knows any other names for the thing, I'm collecting them.

A Haus of Minions

19:20 / 02.11.06

Ah, I see. Well, at a guess, that's a nauhatl word ending. Is there a reason why they would need to be connected in anything other than a grammatical sense? Lots of second declension neuter words in Latin end in "-um" in the nominative form. At a guess, -"-tl" might just mean "this is a noun" - like nahuatl itself...

A Haus of Minions

19:23 / 02.11.06

And after brief investigation, it looks like that is indeed the case. "-tl" after a vowel, "tli" after a consonant.

Life Critic

19:49 / 02.11.06

sorry, i'm obviously not being too clear...i've googled high and low already.
i looked at etymonline and the nauhatl dictionary before first asking, and was made no wiser.
i found the 'tl' was a nauhatl ending, and i knew that spanish added 'te' instead, but i wanted to find what the 'yo' was.

all i can find googling is that the 'tl' noun ending exists,and exists with and without the 'yo'.

grant;
that book you linked to looks like it might hold something useful, but not that i could access.

A Haus of Minions

20:12 / 02.11.06

Ah-ha! Right. Sorry. Got it.

I'm empty. A quick trawl of the listservs suggests that it might mean "abstract from a specific instance of the noun". So, tonacatl is some meat, tonacayotl is the idea of food. Nantli is mother, nanyotl is motherhood.

Not sure whether that is accurate, whether it applies to your words or, if so, what they mean, though. Maybe Barbelith needs to register as a university to get JSTOR?

SAGE

20:24 / 02.11.06

That would be shiiiiny.

Banehammer

21:57 / 02.11.06

Saveloy -- the word you are looking for is apathy. Naive disregard.

MattShepherd: LARGELY ABSENT!

14:58 / 03.11.06

Any terms to refer to those new to the sea? Old salts are old sailors, landlubbers are those who don't spend time on the water, but I'm sure there's some nautical equivalent to "greenhorn."

grant

16:29 / 03.11.06

A "lubber" or a "swab," I think.

I'm pretty sure "lubber" has all the meanings you need -- although in surf slang, there's a "hodad" who's a non-surfer who acts like a surfer, a "gremmie" or "grommet" who's a newbie surfer, and then just a "surfer" who actually surfs. I kind of feel like "swab" refers to a gremmie sailor (one whose duties would include swabbing the deck), but I've never actually been in the Navy or crewed on a freighter so I don't know.

You might find this listing of Navy slang useful. (They seem to like "raisin" and plain old "newbie" as terms for a new sailor. New Usable Body=NUB="noob"=newbie.)

Shrug: Butcher Boy

22:09 / 15.05.07

Is there a word to describe an excessive, unstable, growth?
'Cancerous' almost works but I need it to refer more specifically to industry?
Any ideas?

Papers

22:10 / 15.05.07

Bloated? Sprawling?

Shrug: Butcher Boy

22:20 / 15.05.07

Ah, very good, thank you, papers/palindrome! It was either 'distended' or 'tumescent' either which just aren't industry related whatsoever.

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