One of my favorite word formations in any language, this Swahili word (which may sometime be spelled a bit differently, such as kipalafuti) means a rotary, also known as a roundabout or a traffic circle, and probably by a few other names in the English-speaking world.

Any who guess this word's etymology win unlimited private messaging rights, and a haha as well.

Hyla

Don't know, or simply not interested?

A couple of hints:

It's similar to many Japanese words, which take English words and add vowels here and there.

It stems from English influence in East Africa, when they drove sinister.

It's similar to many Japanese words, which take English words and add vowels here and there.

It stems from English influence in East Africa, when they drove sinister.

In that case, I would say it's come from the Swahilization of "keep left" (keep-a-lahf(u)t-i ?).

Should I be correct, would it be improper of me to decline the sunk fence? I would accept a laugh, though.

Well, that'll teach me to be stingier with my hints among this crowd of logophiles.

Twenty minutes from hint to answer! Nicely done. Despite your protestations, the sunk fence is up - you just can't see it.

>...the sunk fence is up...

Now I'm really disorient(at)ed!

Marty
Down Under

>...the sunk fence is up...

I noticed this in some horror as I hit send, but felt that I had committed myself, and should let the assembled forum-ers have at it.

On an unrelated note, just stumbled across this site, which has a fun little random word feature. My favorite so far: epispastic.

http://www.celerity.co.uk/words/

Fun site, Hyla! It gave me:

Avulsion

A ripping off or forcible separation, as of a part of the body by injury.
Now I know what my dentist has been practising – avulsion therapy, which judging by the bill is certainly a rip-off

I thought you did it on purpose.

Checked out the site and came across ephemeral
This is a seldom used word? not in my croud-- don't know when we started using it but it been in use for a while.

Favorite use: when speaking to any one you think is just trying to placate you with empty promises--
"Verbal promises are ephemeral-- I want your commitment in writing!"

ephemeral
An elegant, related, word is ephemeridae, which I have used to good effect talking about yard/garden matters.