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Post by Verbivore on Jun 2, 2022 4:00:28 GMT
This June might be the month when a hyphen would have precluded my doing a double-take when reading a review of a new BMW electric car. (Only because I was bored in a waiting room!) ( Open Road – the NRMA magazine, May–June 2022; p 48. NRMA: National Roads & Motorists' Association, Australia's largest auto-club roadside service and insurance conglomerate)
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 4, 2022 5:36:16 GMT
I learned a new term!
It’s been a while but today, as I was involved with a Guardian crossword (online), I encountered a possibly useful* term:
hapax legomenon | ˌhapaks lɪˈɡɒmɪnən | noun (plural hapax legomena | -mɪnə | )
a term of which only one instance of use is recorded.
ORIGIN
late 17th century: Greek, ‘a thing said once’, from hapax ‘once’ and the passive participle of legein ‘to say’.
* on rare occasions
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jun 4, 2022 14:00:06 GMT
This must be only the second time in all the years I have been visiting this forum that Vv has posted something which I already knew and, indeed, I mentioned it on my posting on the 20th of May 2020. And you, Vv, replied to say you knew it already. Old age creeping on — just wait until you have also been retired thirty years!
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 5, 2022 1:19:28 GMT
This must be only the second time in all the years I have been visiting this forum that Vv has posted something which I already knew and, indeed, I mentioned it on my posting on the 20th of May 2020. And you, Vv, replied to say you knew it already. Old age creeping on — just wait until you have also been retired thirty years! Thanks, LJH :-) Since retiring a mere three years ago I find I'm forgetting names for things! (Not people – yet – if I have them or their likeness in front of me. Small mercy? lol ) I try to keep the brain active via word games, casual editing, the occasional book design, my own writing, conversation with intelligent / knowledgeable people, arguments with spanners and chainsaws … but I do suspect the neurons are dying off at an ever-increasing rate. When I go completely doolally, I hope someone will remind me who I am.
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 9, 2022 1:05:56 GMT
Pronunciation – regional? In a recent discussion a fellow pronounced maroon (the colour) as mә-ROON (which is, according to Australia's Macquarie Dictionary, the AU pronunciation of the verb/adjective relating to being stuck on an island); I find this to be quite common, if not the dominant pronunciation here. (A major football team here is the Maroons, and they pronounce their team as the mә-ROONS. That's as much as I know about football.) However, to my thinking, maroon (the colour) is 'correctly' pronounced mә-ROAN (rhymes with groan). Here is the entry for maroon in the ABC pronunciation guide: maroon
The Macq. Dict. says muh-ROHN is ‘widely favoured’ for the colour in Australian English. The Queensland Maroons rugby league team wear muh-ROHN jerseys. [NB: Perhaps their jerseys are muh-ROHN, but the team is always referred to by sports commentators as the mә-ROONS.] Added 15/03/2005 Revised 12/06/2014
Pronunciation
(1) Use muh-ROHN for the colour; (2) use muh-ROOHN for the verb meaning 'leave on a desolate island' (and other related meanings).
* * *
What are the usual pronunciations of maroon in other parts of the English-speaking world? (My dictionaries and other references are still in storage 950 km away.)
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 9, 2022 9:36:23 GMT
I've only ever pronounced it, and heard it pronounced, as ma-ROON, in either sense* of the word. I'd find ma-ROHN/ma-ROAN very odd if I were to hear it.
*Also in the third sense of a nautical distress-rocket.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jun 9, 2022 10:32:05 GMT
As far as I can recall, I have never heard maroon pronounced anything other than muhROON (thymes with soon and moon). This applies to the colour or abandoning someone on an island. I have always referred to the football team has muhROON but my son, who live in Brisbane, says both the colour and the football team are pronounced muhRONE (rhymes with phone and clone).
I agree about the maritime signal and would also apply muhROON (with a capital letter) to the African Americans who formed settlements away from slavery although I don’t know that I ever heard the latter spoken.
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 9, 2022 11:52:31 GMT
As far as I can recall, I have never heard maroon pronounced anything other than muhROON (thymes with soon and moon). This applies to the colour or abandoning someone on an island. I have always referred to the football team has muhROON but my son, who live in Brisbane, says both the colour and the football team are pronounced muhRONE (rhymes with phone and clone).
[...] Thanks, Twod and LJH. Perhaps, LJH, your son could inform sports broadcasters of that pronunciation, because I've only ever heard them say muhROON when referring to that club.
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Post by Dave Miller on Jun 9, 2022 18:58:33 GMT
In the UK, all senses are muhROON. I can’t usefully comment on how other countries choose to mispronounce words!
As a slight aside, I’m intrigued by a nice old ex-Royal Daimler which takes pride of place in the Coventry motor museum, near me. The details tell us that, like all Royal cars of the time, it was finished in “maroon”, but it is not dark red. It’s a dark brown with a slight leaning towards deep red. That makes sense, I suppose, as the name comes from the French for chestnut.
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 9, 2022 22:57:27 GMT
It seems that maroon (mә-roan) might be an Australianism, much like mandarine (man-dә-reen) as previously discussed).
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 10, 2022 4:50:39 GMT
As a slight aside, I’m intrigued by a nice old ex-Royal Daimler which takes pride of place in the Coventry motor museum, near me. The details tell us that, like all Royal cars of the time, it was finished in “maroon”, but it is not dark red. It’s a dark brown with a slight leaning towards deep red. That makes sense, I suppose, as the name comes from the French for chestnut. It had never occurred to me that "maroon" was derived from the French, "marron". That means not only that both the British and Australian pronunciations are incorrect, but that the colour is as well!
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jun 11, 2022 12:38:29 GMT
Folk will recall that I have mentioned becoming addicted to the New York Times Wordle challenge. Unfortunately, one is only allowed one attempt a day but there are other similar challenges and, in particular, I have been visiting the website of Word Master. I have learned some new words:
TIDED which seems to be the past participle of the verb “tide”. A ship can be described as having tided into or out of a harbour or river mouth using only the ebb and flow of the tide.
AGERS is the plural of AGER which is any entity which results in an object becoming (or looking?) older.
I have also discovered TAXER which is any person or organisation which levies taxes.
And then there is DITZY, an adjective which means silly or scatterbrained.
I expect I will find some more in due course.
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 14, 2022 0:17:13 GMT
Proud humility
A judge recently appointed to the Queensland Supreme Court said that he was "extremely proud and humbled”.
Many of our recently elected politicians have also declared their ‘proud humility’ at being elected.
Am I missing something here?
The oxymoronic term always reminds me of a church anecdote:
Elderly parishioner, on shaking the pastor’s hand after service, declared: “I really enjoyed today’s sermon on humility, Pastor. My father was a humble man, as was his father before him. And I’m proud of it.”
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Post by Dave Miller on Jun 14, 2022 13:58:44 GMT
I, too, am mystified by the use of "humbled". We hear of a celebrity getting, say, an OBE and saying that they are "so humbled". Why? Were they expecting a knighthood? Surely they would only be humbled if the award was noticeably lower in standard than what they were expecting. (To humble, verb: to cause (someone) to feel less important or proud.)
It's part of a pattern I think, where the person WANTS to be seen as humble, in their moment of glory, as that would be a more admirable stance. So they say they are humbled. Quite a big-headed approach!
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jun 14, 2022 22:37:27 GMT
I concur. If I had been given an OBE or a knighthood I would certainly be proud but I hope I would not be overweening and arrogant. I can’t imagine that I would feel humble. Even if the recognition was undeserved I don’t think I would feel humble. More likely I would feel embarrassed. Still, it seems to be the thing to say these days. I think pride is one of the seven deadly sins, is it hot, so perhaps people are concerned to protect their life in the afterworld?
I wonder if folks visiting this forum have noticed that “oxymoron” is itself and oxymoron deriving from the original Greek for sharp and dull?
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