gymnopodia :- "1. Going about barefooted. 2. The condition of being an imbecile." The usual state of the inhabitants of Antichthonia. Noëtallodeter Kenkhros, Aux chiottes, ou les putaines sous les lèvres.

jheem,

Will you break down the gymno part of gymnopodia to make the connection to barefoot? The podia part is clear, but the 'bare' part I can't figure out. Thanks.

The gymno- part means 'nekkid', as in gymnasium, 'place where y'all run round nekkid'. E.g., "Let's all go down to the White Dog Gym and get cynical."

Yup. Faldage's got it: it means 'naked footed', but so does 'bare footed'.

So Satie's Gymnopodiae refers to a bunch of imbeciles? Or naked feet?

Or naked feet?

Gymnopodie would refer to bare feet, I'm assuming, since the imbeciles meaning came after Satie [1866-1925].

Thanks for clearing up the naked part.

When I look at one bare foot, do I see a gymnopodius?

gymnopodius

I think what you're seeing is either one gymnopus or two gymnopodes. When I look at Satie (not satay), I see a gymnopodiste. Another great gym word is: gymnosperm 'a plant whose seeds are not enclosed in an ovary', e.g., a pine tree.

Gymnosperm! Fabulous!

Back to gymnopus. That sounds like a blank sheet of paper, if you get my drift.

if you get my drift

Then the plural would be gymnopera, but seriously one oughtn't to mix Greek and Latin roots.

I prefer nelipot meownsef
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=70986

nelipot

This nother one those noncish words? Nother ipecakricy?

I don't know. Dr. Bill brought it up and I decided to spread the word. I likes it, I do

you could be right, jheem; nelipot shows up on a myriad of obscure word lists (but not mine -- I like a little bit of verification); but I find it in neither OED2 or W3. I can't remember which of Bill's sources this one came from.

Nellipot is in Ms. Byrne's list, tsuwm.

>Nellipot is in Ms. Byrne's list

1. that explains how it got on all of those online lists
2. we know how much she is to be trusted, don't we
3. oh well, at least *she spelled it right

Gk nêlipous (nêlipodos) 'unshod, barefooted'. Though it looks like it might be related to pous (podos) 'foot', it's suppose to be from ne- + êlips (êlîpos) 'shoe'. But why it got twisted in nelipot, instead of something like nelipus, only Mrs Byrnes knows why ...