#99031 - 13/06/2002 07:15
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: butter]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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according to this the word ZENZIZENZIZENZIC is no longer used, that is why it doesn't appear in the oxford english dictionary
Strictly speaking, that's why it only appears in the OED and not, for instance, the Shorter OED. The OED (I've got the Compact edition) contains every word in English* except those which became obsolete before 1150.
Peter
* Apart from "snog", which somehow got left out.
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#99032 - 13/06/2002 07:31
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: tonyc]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 09/08/2000
Posts: 2091
Loc: Edinburgh, Scotland
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Or as various folks say - wubble-ya-wubble-ya-wubble-ya.
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#99033 - 13/06/2002 07:33
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: frog51]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Weebles wobble but they don't fall down.
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#99034 - 13/06/2002 07:40
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: canuckInOR]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 09/08/2000
Posts: 2091
Loc: Edinburgh, Scotland
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I, and the group of reprobates I call my friends, have been trying with some success to twist words used for specific tenses and plurals - it's been catching on for years:
Along the same lines as dive now, dove yesterday we have jump and jamp, glide and glid and various others.
The plural of mouse should definitely be meece, and spice - speece.
And a collective noun I heard applied to my family - for some reason, can't think why - an asylum of Alsops.
And it isn't just the English language - maths is quite mad too. Anyone looked at Euler's formula ->
e^(i*pi)+1=0
an irrational number to the power of (an imaginary number multiplied by an irrational number) plus an integer = zero!
How does that happen???
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Rory MkIIa, blue lit buttons, memory upgrade, 1Tb in Subaru Forester STi MkII, 240Gb in Mark Lord dock MkII, 80Gb SSD in dock
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#99035 - 13/06/2002 07:51
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: pgrzelak]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
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Given enough time, "double-u" as we know it now may transform into "dubya"
God I hope not.
Isn't screwing up the US concepts of Civil Liberties and the global concepts of Free Trade enough for this guy? Can't he leave anything untainted?
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Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962
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#99036 - 13/06/2002 09:14
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: genixia]
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enthusiast
Registered: 31/05/2002
Posts: 352
Loc: santa cruz,ca
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#99037 - 13/06/2002 09:17
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: lastdan]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
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LOL. That I could live with
The tough coughs as he ploughs the dough with a bough.
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#99038 - 13/06/2002 10:33
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: pgrzelak]
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addict
Registered: 05/05/2000
Posts: 623
Loc: Cambridge
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I remember being told that that the reason '&' is called an ampersand is because the alphabet sung by children many, many years ago included 'and' at the end of the song.
They would sing "and per se, and" (and by itself, and), which ended up becoming slurred into a single word.
While I know the per se part to be true, I have no idea if the children singing it is true or legend.
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#99039 - 13/06/2002 11:01
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: David]
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addict
Registered: 10/01/2001
Posts: 630
Loc: Windsor, Ontario Canada
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I have to axe the question why no one has mentioned ebonics yet?
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01001010 01101111 01101000 01101110
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#99040 - 13/06/2002 11:02
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: ineedcolor]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Because we're talking about English.
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#99041 - 13/06/2002 11:37
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: butter]
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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So I guess zenzizenzizenzizenzizenzizenzizenzizenic would be the 256th power of a number.
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#99042 - 13/06/2002 11:45
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Yeah, as much as esperanto is Spanish instead of just plain stupid
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Matt
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#99043 - 14/06/2002 11:25
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: peter]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I own a copy of the complete OED (the Compact OED, to be specific, which has the complete OED reproduced into one volume with 9 original pages printed on each physical page, and it still has 2371 pages of definitions), in which this ``word'' does not appear. It does, however, for example, include the word ``asa3t''. That fourth letter is a three. I'm sure it has some name, but it's simply not a letter I'm familiar with, and it certainly hasn't appeared in the English language for quite some time.
Oh, and my OED has two definitions for ``snog'', neither of which are what I assume your definition would be. However, it does list ``snogging'', which would see to be what you're talking about, and it lists inside that definition the word ``snog'' as a modified form.
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Bitt Faulk
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#99044 - 14/06/2002 13:24
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: svferris]
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 09/09/1999
Posts: 1721
Loc: San Jose, CA
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The english language seriously needs to be refactored. Unfortunately, due to the distributed nature executing copies of the source code, it can't easily be done except memetically. Oh well.
I should also point out that the english word "oversight" has two meanings that are at odds with itself.
Calvin
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#99045 - 14/06/2002 13:24
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: ]
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 09/09/1999
Posts: 1721
Loc: San Jose, CA
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People around here say "dubdubdub-dot"
Calvin
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#99046 - 14/06/2002 13:47
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: eternalsun]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Great, now I can't get the Me and My song "Dub I Dub" out of my head.
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#99047 - 14/06/2002 21:24
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/02/2002
Posts: 3212
Loc: Portland, OR
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[The OED] does, however, for example, include the word ``asa3t''.Don't you dare leave us hanging without telling us the definition. All I can say is thank heaven there are blanks in scrabble!
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#99049 - 16/06/2002 09:53
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: tonyc]
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addict
Registered: 08/01/2002
Posts: 419
Loc: Minnesota
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Chthonic was always my favorite "hangman" word, but - I guess it's not really an English word (from Greek I believe).
Also, on a somewhat related note, have you ever been here?: http://www.engrish.com
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#99050 - 16/06/2002 11:45
Re: That crazy English language
[Re: tracerbullet]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Cthonic is just as much an English word as, say, psychotic is. Very few English words are English originals.
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Bitt Faulk
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