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Post by Little Jack Horner on Dec 2, 2017 17:22:26 GMT
Suvvern only received replies from four of us in November. Too cold and damp, perhaps? Let’s see if we can do better in December but, how to begin? I’m afraid I have nothing much to offer but does everyone know that the words facetious and abstemious each has/have the five vowels in alphabetic order and, by adding “ly” to each, one creates words with six vowels including Y in alphabetical order? I believe English has no more examples of such words.
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Post by Dave Miller on Dec 2, 2017 20:47:53 GMT
Well, oxforddictionaries.com says:
"OxfordDictionaries.com also contains the chemical term arsenious 'relating to arsenic with a valency of three', while the 20-volume historical Oxford English Dictionary includes abstentious 'abstinent' as well as the rare botanical and zoological terms acheilous 'having one or both lips absent', anemious 'growing in windy situations', caesious 'bluish or greyish green', and annelidous 'belonging to the phylum Annelida'."
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Post by Verbivore on Dec 5, 2017 6:12:29 GMT
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Post by Twoddle on Dec 5, 2017 11:34:02 GMT
That's a surprise, Vv; I thought you were settled happily and forever in your Outback retreat, to be removed only in a box. Why and whither, if I might be nosey?
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Post by Verbivore on Dec 11, 2017 4:55:25 GMT
That's a surprise, Vv; I thought you were settled happily and forever in your Outback retreat, to be removed only in a box. Why and whither, if I might be nosey? Nosey's okay, Twod. Landlord (longtime friend) decided, most inconveniently and inconsiderately, to die. I wish it were only one box I had to pack; instead there were 25 100-litre boxes just for my kitchen gear, plus the entire kitchen, which I'd installed, not to mention (but I shall) far too many books (another 43 boxes!). Finding the right place is proving difficult here, and I'm considering a major geographical change to somewhere more affordable. Byron Shire is a victim of its own success, with too many people whose shit doesn't stink because they have too much money (lots of "celebrities" and developers have invaded the place, and it now has some of the nation's highest real estate prices). Ho hum. |
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Post by Dave Miller on Dec 11, 2017 10:24:27 GMT
Ooh, sounds like a lot of hassle, Vv. Keep up your spirit (and strength!) and I wish you good fortune in finding somewhere that will make it all worth the effort.
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Post by Twoddle on Dec 11, 2017 19:16:17 GMT
You have my condolences, Vv, both for your friend's death and for the necessity to move home. I detest upping sticks and moving on; the stress, and the time involved in packing and unpacking, are immense.
Since my first wife and I separated, twenty-two years ago, I've moved house once but she's done so eleven times (unless I've lost count). One of us must be bonkers; you decide which one.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Dec 15, 2017 22:32:41 GMT
Someone has to say something: do you know that “Icelandic” has two Cs but there are no Cs in the Icelandic alphabet?
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Post by Twoddle on Dec 16, 2017 0:00:53 GMT
Someone has to say something: do you know that “Icelandic” has two Cs but there are no Cs in the Icelandic alphabet? So they don't even know they're Nordic or Scandinavian? |
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Post by Dave Miller on Dec 16, 2017 18:23:52 GMT
Out of interest, I checked on Google Translate and found that the Icelandic for Icelandic is: íslensku
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Dec 21, 2017 15:28:18 GMT
In just exactly one hour, at 16.28 GMT, it will be the moment of the December solstice and the start of the astronomical new year. It is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere; the days will be growing longer, and we can tentatively look forward to summer 2018. Anyone for a little celebration? Perhaps a glass or two of mead? (Australians, having regained the Ashes, will, I hope, not begrudge Brits a little consolation.)
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Post by Twoddle on Dec 21, 2017 21:59:02 GMT
In just exactly one hour, at 16.28 GMT, it will be the moment of the December solstice and the start of the astronomical new year. It is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere; the days will be growing longer, and we can tentatively look forward to summer 2018. Anyone for a little celebration? Perhaps a glass or two of mead? (Australians, having regained the Ashes, will, I hope, not begrudge Brits a little consolation.) The evenings are already drawing out, the days start to lengthen from tomorrow, and sunrise will begin to get earlier from about New Year's Eve. Yes, LJH, summer's on the way! I had a Christmas card from an Australian distant-cousin, requesting me to send some snow because the temperature in her neck of the woods was 42C. At the time it was about 0C here, so I suggested we split the difference and both have a pleasant 21C over Christmas. |
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Post by Twoddle on Dec 24, 2017 10:36:57 GMT
I'm considering writing the true version of A Christmas Carol, stripped of all the spin and myth. It'll reveal for the first time how Scrooge's housekeeper, bribed by Bob Cratchit (who'd been defrauding his employer and feared he was about to be discovered and incarcerated), added psychotropic drugs to Scrooge's gruel, causing him to experience a nocturnal "bad trip" during which he hallucinated repeatedly about sundry ghosts and other nastiness. The consequent brain-damage resulted in a personality change that caused him to lose possession of his reasoning faculties and to give away most of his hard-earned cash to confidence tricksters and other ne'er-do-wells.
Notwithstanding that, a Happy Christmas to one and all (and Tiny Tim).
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Post by Verbivore on Dec 26, 2017 4:11:37 GMT
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Dec 28, 2017 18:37:19 GMT
I had never heard the term “banger” in this context — but my daughter had. It caused me to wonder, not so much when a slang word becomes standard, as to how long it might take. Has anyone thought about this? The term 24/7 still sounds a bit slangy to me but some people might think it is now standard (accordingbto the OED it originated in 1983). Is this a record? Does anyone in this forum have any ideas? Bangers (and mash) doesn’t seem like slang to me but it is, I think, informal. Is there any reliable way of clearly distinguishing slang and informal and colloquial? The BBC uses words like “medic” for doctors, “killer” for murderer and “cops” for policemen in its on-line news bulletins. How does one decide what is acceptable?
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