Linguaphiles

“The other day I stumbled on something I have never discvored before: A typo in a dictionary. The dictionary is a pocket-sized New Revised Edition Webster's Medical Dictionary with a 2005 printing. The word should be "periostitis", but in the dictionary they have ommitted the "o." It's even misspelled as a guide word.



I know there are others here who love words like I do. CrashBang comes to mind.

Anyway, thought the topic was worth its own thread.”

“Today's Word: Zeugma (Noun)

Pronunciation: ['zug-mê ]

Definition 1: The Greek correlate of the Latinate word, "syllepsis"
[si-'lep-sis], a syntactic construction in which a single word governs at least
two other words or phrases even though its sense applies to them in different
ways, e.g. "He flew off the handle and straight to Rio."

Usage 1: Zeugma (syllepsis) usually indicates that one of the words or phrases
involved is used normally while the other is in an idiom. "To lose one's temper"
is idiomatic (nothing is actually lost) while the meaning of "to lose his hat"
is straightforward. However, if you combine them, i.e. "He lost his hat and his
temper," the result is a mildly amusing zeugmatic expression which is
syntactically good but semantically not so. (Some people argue that zeugma and
syllepsis are not the same but there is no general agreement as to what the
difference is.)

Suggested Usage: Let's begin with an example of zeugma from 'Dombey and Son' by
Charles Dickens, "Miss Nipper shook her head and a tin canister, and began,
unasked, to make the tea." Get the idea? Now let's see if we can do it:
"Councilwoman Rankin would rather press flesh than clothes." You have probably
already heard something similar to this, "He drove his car recklessly and his
wife crazy." All these sentences suffer from inoperable zeugma.

Etymology: From Greek zeugma "a bond," which devolved from earlier *yeug-, also
the origin of English "yoke." Latin jugum "yoke" ([j] was pronounce [y]) is
another descendent, one responsible for English "jugular," "conjugate," and
"subjugate." The same root became Sanskrit yugam "yoke" and yoga "union."
English "jostle" is a former diminutive of "joust," borrowed from Latin iuxtare
"to be next to" from iuxta "nearby," another relative. The nasalized variant
gave us English "join," "joint," "junction" and Spanish "junta," all originating
in Latin iungere "to join." (Now let's take the bull by the horns and the time
to thank Mary Jane Stoneburg of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania for yoking us up with
today's word.)





Today's Word: Litotes (Noun)

Pronunciation: ['li-tê-teez, lI-'to-teez]

Definition 1: A figure of speech that uses dramatic understatement to express a
positive idea by negating its opposite.

Usage 1: An expression that uses litotes is "litotic" and one can speak
"litotically." Litotes is a form of meiosis "understatement," the opposite of
"hyperbole" or rhetorical exaggeration. When Tom Jones sings "It's not unusual"
when he means "it is usual" he is engaging in a perfect example of litotes.
While some instances of litotes may seem to be double negatives, this kind of
double negative is OK since it serves an honorable literary function (as the
next section explains).

Suggested Usage: Litotes is a rhetorical trope which can be used for a not
unsubtle effect. It can be used to soften the blow of an unwelcome truth as when
your friend says that your blind date is "not unattractive." We also find a kind
of ironic emphasis in reverse: "While I wasn't looking forward to that dinner
party, the evening was not at all unpleasant." Not all litotic phrases involve
double negative, as we see in Queen Victoria's classic British understatement,
"We are not amused." Not too shabby, eh?

Etymology: From Greek litotes "simplicity" from litos meaning "plain, simple."
The Greek root is based on PIE *(s)lei- "flat, slippery" which also underlies
English "slime," "slick, "slice," and "slip." Old Irish sleman "smooth" is also
related, as is Latvian slieka "earthworm." (Kudos for today's word goes to Grant
Hutchison of Dundee, Scotland, a not infrequent visitor to the yourDictionary
Agora at http://www.yourdictionary.com/cgi-bin/agora/agora.cgi.)”

“That was a pretty good find! I sure would never have known that was misspelled, LOL.

It drives me insane to be reading a good book, and be distracted by a ton of misspelled words because of a crappy editing job. My copy of Dracula is like that. Oh well, that book cost like $5, I guess I see why now, haha.”

“"Miss Nipper shook her head and a tin canister, and began,
unasked, to make the tea."

I think we just found Ruby's trail name. LOL!”

“LMAO!!! I kind of like that one. =D”

“If I say the secret word, do I win $100?”

“I particularly love words like the one you posted. It's fun (to me) to take apart the word and figure out exactly what the ailment is.”

“It's one reason that people who love words avoid Webster's.”

“Do you know that most dictionaries with the word "Webster" in their title have no affiliation with the original Webster dictionary or Noah Webster at all? It's just become such a recognizable name associated with dictionaries that publishers throw that name in their title for pseudo credibility.”

“Councilwoman Rankin would rather press flesh than clothes.

lol

ITS SO TRUE”

“'pseudo' is the operative word here.”

“This week's theme: There is a word for it.

omphaloskepsis (om-fuh-lo-SKEP-sis) noun

Contemplation of one's navel.

[From Greek omphalos (navel) + skepsis (act of looking, examination).
Ultimately from the Indo-European root spek- (to observe) which is
also the ancestor of suspect, spectrum, bishop (literally, overseer),
despise, espionage, telescope, spectator, and spectacles.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=omphaloskepsis

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"Readers whose main interest is literary how-to or criticism can look
elsewhere, in places specifically dedicated to those matters. Doing
too much of it here would smack of omphaloskepsis."
Stanley Schmidt; About Science Fiction; Analog Science Fiction & Fact
(New York); Jun 2001.”

“I always considered that "delving into the mind of tomorrow"”

“the search for naval lint goes on...”

“I'm surprised they didn't list 'skeptic'.

("Analog"... good stuff!)”

“Should have; I'm having problems with mine (skeptic tank).”

“I like navel oranges. My grandpa sent me a box of them from his tree :)”

“I live near several large Marine Corp bases adn all the doctors there are navy doctors. One of the 3 peeps that do one of our morning drive radio shows was discussing someone going to a naval doctor. The party animal, but not to bright, member started going off on how stupid someone had to be to specialize in navels. At first I chuckled at that until I realized he was dead serious. The other 2 dj rode him hard after that. And that was hysterical”

“Smart money is always on the OED”

“i thought this was going to be a thread on the D.L.I.F.L.C. and i got so excited that someone had been to the school too!

but no, it's not. no linguists here.”

“paraph (PAR-uhf, puh-RAF) noun

A flourish at the end of a signature, originally as a precaution
against forgery.

[Via French and Latin from Greek paragraphos (a line showing a break
in sense or a change of speakers), from para- (beside) + graphein (write).
Ultimately from the Indo-European root gerbh- (to scratch), which also
gave us crab, crayfish, carve, crawl, grammar, anagram, program, and
graphite.]

Examples of paraphs (would that be paraphernalia?) :
http://artlex.com/ArtLex/P.html#anchor5714739

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=paraph

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"This was a considerable feat in that he had recognised not only the
initial upon the bedcloth, but its unique paraph in one corner."
Linda Berdoll; Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife; Landmark; 2004.”