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Post by Little Jack Horner on Sept 18, 2019 23:19:32 GMT
After assiduous searching, I eventually discovered the original thread with this title but I could find no way of adding a new post. I wonder if proboards will allow my trying to resurrect it?
Here goes.
It is a long-time since anyone posted an item on “Tone’s thread” but it was a thread I particularly enjoyed. As a tribute to Tone, might I perhaps resurrect it with the following pairing?
Agerasia Neanimorphism
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 19, 2019 0:38:51 GMT
LJH: On first inspection they do appear to be synonyms – but just how exactly (and exclusively?) are they so? Can somebody find fault with the pairing?
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Sept 19, 2019 4:14:52 GMT
On reflection, and for the benefit of new visitors to this forum, it might be worth clarifying what this is about. Tone was until his recent death a frequent contributor to this forum. Among his valued offerings was the idea of searching for “true synonyms” (TS): word pairings (other than nouns) that have precisely identical meanings in all possible contexts in all varieties of English. It is often said that there are no such pairings as subtle shades of usage can be found to differentiate between the meanings in all candidate pairs. Various offerings were made by many contributors and Tone would delve into the deepest recesses of the full edition of the Oxford English Dictionary to find reasons for not accepting them! It was a challenging pastime which many of us enjoyed.
My hope is that someone with suitable percipience might take up Tone’s mantle and adjudicate future offerings including agerasia and neanimorphism above (which, I am sure you will agree, are two very common and frequently used words that will be familiar to all readers of simple stories 😂).
How about it, Vv? A post-retirement activity, perhaps?
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 19, 2019 5:42:18 GMT
[...] My hope is that someone with suitable percipience might take up Tone’s mantle and adjudicate future offerings including agerasia and neanimorphism above (which, I am sure you will agree, are two very common and frequently used words that will be familiar to all readers of simple stories 😂). How about it, Vv? A post-retirement activity, perhaps? I'm sure I could fit it into my manic retirement schedule. :-) For a start: From the OED: agerasia(ædʒəˈreɪsɪə) Also agerasy. [Gr. ἀγηρασία eternal youth; f. ἀ priv. + γῆρας old age.] The quality of not growing old; non-appearance of the signs of age; a green old age. 1706 Phillips, Agerasia. 1721 Bailey, Agerasy. 1775 Ash, Ageratia. 1863 Grindon Life vi. (1873) 82 Agerasia belongs only to the soul: this alone lives in perpetuity of youth.
++++++++++ And the nearest I could get to neanimorphism in the OED is: neanic, a. Zool. (niːˈænɪk) [f. Gk. νεανῐκ-ός youthful.] Designating the early stages of the growth of an animal, esp. the pupal stage of an insect. 1892 Buchman & Bather in Zool. Anzeiger XV. 421 Hyatt.‥ Neologic. Here proposed‥Neanic. Literary equivalent‥Adolescent. Ibid. 430 Neanic. During this stage specific characters and all other morphological features present in the adult, appear and undergo development. 1903 Amer. Naturalist XXXVII. 519 At this stage [in the growth of Sycotypus canaliculatus], the early neanic, the lines of growth are well marked and of nearly equal strength with the revolving lines, the two together giving the shell surface a reticulated appearance. 1906 J. B. Smith Explanation Terms Entomol. 87 Neanic: referring to the pupal stage. 1938 Nature 20 Aug. 341/1 It is helpful to distinguish between the very early, or embryonic, stages of development and the later, or neanic stages, during which the young gradually assumes the characteristics of the adult. Ibid. 10 Sept. 461/1 In the neanic phase the organism exhibits a combination of less stable characters. 1971 F. E. Eames Davies's Tertiary Faunas (ed. 2) i. i. 90 Neanic. Youthful stage in ontogeny.
I shall broaden the search to other references later, but on reading the above, I suspect Tone (RIP) would say No, not TSs.
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 19, 2019 5:59:49 GMT
From Merriam-Webster agerasia / agerasyNot found ++++++++++ neanicYOUTHFUL – specifically: constituting the pupal stage of insect development neanimorphismNot found ++++++++++ From The Free Dictionary (https://www.thefreedictionary.com/agerasia) agerasiayouthful appearance in an old person appearance, visual aspect – outward or visible aspect of a person or thing ++++++++++ neanic(Zoology) zoology of or relating to the early stages in the life cycle of an organism, esp the pupal stage of an insect [C19: from Greek neanikus youthful] ++++++++++ From Lexico ("powered by Oxford") agerasiaThe quality of not growing old; the non-appearance of the signs of age.
Origin Early 18th century; earliest use found in Phillips's New World of Words. From post-classical Latin agerasia from Hellenistic Greek ἀγηρασία eternal youth (Galen) from ancient Greek ἀ- + γῆρας old age + -ία. ++++++++++ neanicDesignating the later stages of an animal's growth, in which it acquires adult characteristics.
Origin Late 19th century; earliest use found in Sydney Buckman (1860–1929), geologist and palaeontologist. From ancient Greek νεανικός youthful from νεανίας young man (from νέος new, young + an element or elements of disputed origin) + -ικός. I shall persevere.
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Post by Twoddle on Sept 19, 2019 8:31:56 GMT
From Wiktionary.
Agerasia: An outward appearance more youthful than one's true age.
Neanimorphic: Appearing younger than one's actual age.
Whether or not they're synonyms, I've always exhibited their antonyms!
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Sept 27, 2019 9:32:44 GMT
This thread didn’t generate the interest I had hoped so how about this pair of words—
nonetheless and nevertheless
I may have suggested them before but I think without a decision.
Thank you for those who did comment on my previous suggestions. I now think agerasia is a noun and that neanimorphism is a non-existent “noun” derived from neanimorphic, an adjective — but I am not sure.
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 27, 2019 9:44:03 GMT
LJH: I've not given up on that pair yet, but to date nothing more than already posted – and I've been through a dozen or so of my numerous dictionaries (only another three or four dozen to go!).
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Post by Trevor on Sept 29, 2019 16:39:24 GMT
This thread didn’t generate the interest I had hoped so how about this pair of words— nonetheless and nevertheless I always understood that none the less was a three-word phrase, and nevertheless a single word. Would a word and a phrase with the same meaning meet the criteria?
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Post by Verbivore on Sept 29, 2019 22:32:08 GMT
This thread didn’t generate the interest I had hoped so how about this pair of words— nonetheless and nevertheless I always understood that none the less was a three-word phrase, and nevertheless a single word. Would a word and a phrase with the same meaning meet the criteria? The OED gives: 1. nonetheless; also none the less, none-the-less. Definition: nevertheless. 2. nevertheless. Definition: notwithstanding, none the less. Curious inconsistency there. At least the OED's circular references might qualify those two words as True Synonyms. Other dictionaries might differ a tad, but I'm too unwell to bother: ill all night from yesterday's party food.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Sept 30, 2019 8:25:19 GMT
I hope you are feeling better by now, Vv 😳 But retiring will be worth it 😄
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