Wordsmith.Org

Wordsmith Talk

 About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

You are not logged in. [Log In] Wordsmith Talk » Forums » (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) » Meta-words » effete
Register User    Forum List        Calendar     Active Topics     Search     FAQ
Page 2 of 2 < 1 2
Topic Options
#166731 - 03/12/07 01:30 PM Re: effete [Re: wwh]
klingsor Offline
stranger

Registered: 03/12/07
Posts: 1
In all the msgs here I did not once see the famous remark by Nixon's vice president Spiro Agnew who spoke in one of his diatribes against some political enemies about "effete snobs".

Since this happened a very long time ago, I don't recall if that was all there was to it, or if there was any more. Does anypne else remember this?

Top
#166784 - 03/13/07 03:55 PM Re: effete [Re: klingsor]
Zed Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 08/27/02
Posts: 2064
Loc: British Columbia, Canada
Hi Klinsor, welcome aboard.
US politics isn't my forte but politics from anywhere remain a great source for insults.

Top
#186204 - 07/30/09 10:36 PM Re: effete [Re: tsuwm]
Shawn F. Offline
stranger

Registered: 07/30/09
Posts: 1
Loc: LA
I think the word that is being described is 'epicene'

Top
#186216 - 07/31/09 10:04 AM Re: effete [Re: Shawn F.]
zmjezhd Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 08/13/05
Posts: 2477
Loc: R'lyeh
epicene

Epicene (< Latin epicoenus < Greek epikoinos 'common to many, promiscuous') originally meant 'having the characteristics of both genders (both in the sexual and grammatical sense), and effete, as tsuwm's post showed, meant infertile. In linguistics, epicene nouns are ones in which the male and female terms for animals are the same, not different. They are both roughly synonymous in English in the meaning 'an effeminate (man)'.

Top
#186240 - 08/01/09 02:28 AM Re: effete [Re: klingsor]
seapea Offline
stranger

Registered: 06/15/09
Posts: 13
Originally Posted By: klingsor
In all the msgs here I did not once see the famous remark by Nixon's vice president Spiro Agnew who spoke in one of his diatribes against some political enemies about "effete snobs".

Since this happened a very long time ago, I don't recall if that was all there was to it, or if there was any more. Does anypne else remember this?


"an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals." ~ S.T. Agnew (wiki search)

Gee, back then at least one Republican knew how to say what he meant. Today, none would dare use so many polysyllabic words.


Edited by seapea (08/01/09 02:29 AM)
Top
Page 2 of 2 < 1 2



Forum Stats
7256 Members
16 Forums
12812 Topics
189753 Posts

Max Online: 853 @ 10/23/07 11:39 AM
Who's Online
1 registered (tsuwm), 7 Guests and 10 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
Alan, jincy crow, aml, Goodspeaker, W1343
7256 Registered Users
Top Posters
wwh 13858
Faldage 12533
Jackie 10393
tsuwm 9577
Buffalo Shrdlu 6690
AnnaStrophic 6489
Wordwind 6296
of troy 5400
maverick 4683
WhitmanO'Neill 4189
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31
Board Rules · Mark all read
Contact Us · Wordsmith Talk · Top

Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 2010 Wordsmith.org