Not every coined word shows evidence of clear thinking.
One of my pet peeves is "homophobia".
The prefix homo, in most cases, means same; as in homosexual.
So homophobia should mean fear of one's own kind, the exact opposite
of what the coiners intend it to mean.
Hi Stevo and welcome.
RE: homophobia, my guess is that it's based on the abbreviated (and typically pejorative) form of "homosexual," homo.
Yeah, StevoStranger, although I know that Alex has the derivative, (although I don't understand it to be pejorative) I think that the combination of "homo" meaning "man" and "phobia" meaning "fear of" is semantically stupid.
But language cares not for logic, language cares only for function.
without other comment, here is the AHD:
homophobia
SYLLABICATION: ho·mo·pho·bi·a
NOUN: 1. Fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay men. 2. Behavior based on such a feeling.
ETYMOLOGY: homo(sexual) + –phobia.
OTHER FORMS: homo·phobe —NOUN
homo·phobic —ADJECTIVE
there are 20 other sources at OneLook to choose from.
-joe (just the facts) friday
Speaking of coining, there are many concepts for which no word has ever been coined. Frequently someone comes up with one in a new thread, whereupon contributors unsuccessful attempt to find exactly the right word. Many come close but of course nobody hits it on the head because there isn't one
By coincidence, here's an example from WW:
http://www.wordwizard.com/ch_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18756If anyone has a list of other such concepts for which no synonym exists or would like to start a thread soliciting such expressions, I sincerely invite him to do so
God love Bill Gates
God DOES love Bill Gates. The fact that young William attended an Episcopal prep school is not a precondition to that divine love ... but it can't hurt.
Father: If God exists, and if She has feelings, I'm sure She loves Steve Jobs more than Bill Gates
But if Bill attended a parochial school, I'm sure She doesn't hold it against him
i am out of the handbasket? Wee!
i hope them wheels are powered by a 5 on the floor v8 engine, with a nice tight suspension..
i could use an upgrade from my mazda mx6..
dam.. its helen reddy that musick is reference.. oh well my ship will come in one day!
If your ship comes in looking as you described it I want a picture.
Speaking of--I was thinking today about a jacket my daughter received as a gift several months ago. It is still hanging in her closet, unused. I was thinking that I probably ought to fold it and put it away somewhere to keep it from getting "shopworn".
I figured shopworn just about has to be a coined word. I learned it from hearing my mother say it. Is it still in use, these days? I havn't heard it in a long time.
Jackie I've seen shopworn used to describe musical instruments such as guitars, typically very expensives one whose appeal is in part due to their appearance. See for example
this guitar .
Getting back to the thread, working in wordwizard-com wordorigins-org, phrases-org, wordsmith-org, and wordcraft.infopop I often encounter threads asking for a term describing a concept for which there is no apparent Standard English word. Rephrasing my question, what do you suppose such concepts have in common, if anything