Words better known in their negative forms

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#14290 - 01/01/01 01:01 AM Words better known in their negative forms
Wordsmith member Registered: 03/12/00 Posts: 121	Why do we have so much negativity around us? Open a newspaper, watch the TV, listen to the radio and you find nothing but negative words. Ever wonder why some words almost always appear in their negative forms? It is completely evitable, as the words for the next five days prove. This week's AWAD presents words that are scrutable and a quick peek in the dictionary shows that these are licit formations. Use these words in your writing for a gainly touch, a couth appearance. I hope you feel gruntled with this week's theme.
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#14291 - 01/03/01 12:55 PM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
funkbunny stranger Registered: 01/03/01 Posts: 1 Loc: Ontario, Canada	I had this very strange feeling at the first AWAD this week. That sort of "is someone reading my mind" feeling. OVer the last couple weeks my friends and I have been swapping humourous non-negative forms of words. We have become very 'gruntled' about the whole affair. So this week's topic is immensely timely and entertaining. I shall be very 'chalant' in my appreciation of the coming words. Matthew Clarke _________________________ Matthew Clarke
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#14292 - 01/03/01 02:08 PM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/03/00 Posts: 10463 Loc: this too shall pass	here's some from a list I've been dragging around for a while: nocent, effable, gruntle, peccable, scrutable, delible, ciplinary, defatigible, gainly, sipid, couth, consolate, ertia, eptitude, pensible, parage... NB - enigma has a suggestion for every one of these, which makes me feel good about the list. defatigible = fatigible
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#14293 - 01/03/01 04:38 PM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5400 Loc: rego park	OH tsuwm-- In reply to: here's some from a list I've been dragging around for a while: I see you as a first cousin to father time..laden with words strung together on a gossimer lines of ink: some all neatly bundleds, other escaping, spilling down trailing behind you-- at first glance, you look burdened by the words--disorderly with your bundles, but look again, you are so light, you step from cloud to cloud...and the words have neatly sorted themselves into nouns, or verbs, in alphabetical order... _________________________ my other obsession
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#14294 - 01/06/01 12:12 AM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 11578 Loc: Louisville, Kentucky	neatly bundleds, other escaping, spilling down trailing behind you-- at first glance, you look burdened by the words--disorderly with your bundles, but look again, you are so light, Good heavens--Tsuwm is Santa Claus??
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#14295 - 01/08/01 08:51 AM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5400 Loc: rego park	Oh no, Santa Claus is "Thomas Nast"-- round, red cheeked and cheery!–and not unknown for drinking coke–Tsuwm I see as more a gaunt, wiry figure-- and solomn- but not stern. (His words would betray him... tucked into the folds of his robes {a black professor's gown} and just peaking out, would be words like ‘merkin'– ‘nuf said..) It was the idea of "dragging around a list of words.." I sometimes feel like a bag lady– with a treasure trove of words– stashed, here and there, some look worthless, and like junk, but I refuse to abandon them.. So I keep hauling the about... I might not be rich, but I have these treasures.... _________________________ my other obsession
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#14296 - 01/08/01 10:14 AM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
FMD stranger Registered: 01/08/01 Posts: 1 Loc: New York, NY	Microsoft Office doesn't recognize vincible as a valid word...Freudian slip? And neither does the spell checker of this board!!!!
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#14297 - 01/08/01 12:30 PM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 11578 Loc: Louisville, Kentucky	Welcome, FMD. I got curious after your post: Gurunet brought up vincible, just fine. If you haven't read very far back, you may not know that our spell-checker's name is Enigma. Very appropriate, in all meanings of the term.
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#14298 - 01/09/01 09:10 AM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
LauraBean stranger Registered: 01/09/01 Posts: 2	When I was 10 or 11, I used the word "ruly" in a school paper and got into an argument with the teacher, who claimed it was not a valid word. I still like the word, however, and wonder, if "gruntled" and "vincible" pass as valid, why not "ruly"? Laura in CT _________________________ Laura in CT
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#14299 - 01/09/01 10:02 AM Re: Words better known in their negative forms
tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/03/00 Posts: 10463 Loc: this too shall pass	ruly is really a word, although archaic. W3 claims it is a back-formation from unruly and not the root though (which is pretty interesting, given their etymology for unruly!).
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