Word of the Year 2007
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Can't be bothered looking this up, but isn't "foul" the modern spelling of "fell" anyway?
Foul is a bad smell. Fell is cruel or fierce. Fell has French origins and is the same place that felon comes from. Foul apparently comes from ful, which is Old English.
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Oh, don't get me started on 'guttered' and its ilk. I seem to be surrounded by people who suffer from some weird pseudo-homonym dyslexia...
"One 'foul' swoop" (or even "one 'fowl' swoop") instead of "one fell swoop"
"On 'tenderhooks'" instead of "on tenterhooks"
Oh, you'll love this. The linguistic community has a name for these - they're called eggcorns (you know, the seeds of an oak) - and there's the Eggcorn Database, where you can revel in the linguistic craziness of others.
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I like fillybusters.
Oh yes. It's a very happy eggcorn.
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SNAP!
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SNAP!
For all intensive purposes, let's call it a drawer. ;)
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Celebutard
Their PR spinmasters have tried to foist the term Celebutante on us, but no, let's stick with Celebutard. It's a more apt term for those that both stupidly famous and famously stupid.
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and there's the Eggcorn Database, where you can revel in the linguistic craziness of others.
OMG! Ex-potential! I've been wanting a word for that. Y'know, like the way Chris Cairns had tonnes of potential and just needed to realise his potential and then he retired.
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d'oh!
It's a more apt term for those that are both stupidly famous and famously stupid.
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oooo... eggcorns.
'pacific".
ie, "he wasn't being pacific in his answers, he evaded every major point."
uniquely new zealand in my experience.
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Nothing to with homonyms or homophones:
I detest the misuse of 'literally' as a synonym to 'very' - i.e. 'I'm literally gutted.'
What, like a fish?
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the misuse of 'literally' as a synonym to 'very' - i.e. 'I'm literally gutted.'
What, like a fish?
nah, just means they haven't got the ability to digest literature.
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On reflection, the misuse of 'literally' is a homophone matter, since it seems to also be a synonym for 'totally' or 'absolutely'...
Nice one Che.
I'm literally in awe of you right now.
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"Literally buggered" was how a bloke described himself to me once.
Maybe the entire nation's suffering from old timer's disease.
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Maybe the entire nation's suffering from old timer's disease.
You mean like the prostrate problems I keep hearing about?
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You mean like the prostrate problems I keep hearing about?
Well, you can't be literally buggered if you're supine.
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But the question is, would all of these wonderfully practical uses of language get you points in a PISA test? It wouldn't surprise me. And would "the chances of winning Lotto are a million to one" be acceptable?
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Is it an urban myth, or was it true, that once upon a time comparative census statistics showed that NZ had the highest proportion of one-person religions in the world? Who cares, never let the truth get in the way of a good story. My bet (again) is that we are just really creative (i.e. bad) spellers.
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So how about some creative egg-horning or will that make you all apocalyptic?
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I am still enamoured with the term "bromantic".
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horse mounted hippies disciplining the flock
I know that was way back on the thread, but thanks Steven Crawford for giving me the most bizarre mental image of my entire week (and I love bizarre).
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Fell is cruel or fierce
Ta - you know, I realise I originally guessed it was related to foul at the time I was probably reading the LotR at age 13 or so (fell beasts etc). Been under the misapprehension ever since.
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I was probably reading the LotR at age 13
ah.. the halcyon daze.
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I seem to be surrounded by people who suffer from some weird pseudo-homonym dyslexia...
The linguistic community has a name for these - they're called eggcorns
I thought the word for this is was 'malapropism'. My wife does them all the time and they seriously crack me up. Some of them are really quite apt.
btw, I withdraw my entry 'Fizzer' in awe of 'Sub-prime' capturing it much better. Now I won't trust Fizzer with a tin-foot barge pool.
I agree with Robyn that 'World Class' really means 'World Class in Oceania'.
Well, you can't be literally buggered if you're supine.
Don't make me show you a picture. The only thing you can't be literally buggered in is a chastity belt.
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Oh wait - I have another - Bollard (def: Thick wooden post, an impediment to progress).
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The only thing you can't be literally buggered in is a chastity belt.
I really really hope that one day I'll be able to use that quote in a conversation.
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