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#199740 05/10/11 11:05 AM
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I have seen, and can't remember, the word for 'long shadows.' Assistance will be appreciated!

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There's a word for it? I would have thought 'long shadows' would have done the trick.

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How long should they be to deserve a special word?

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Ha....good question, Bran

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Originally Posted By: Faldage
There's a word for it? I would have thought 'long shadows' would have done the trick.


sorry to disappoint, but..

Main Entry: mac·ro·scian
Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek makroskios
: having or casting a long shadow
< that macroscian day which I had dreaded for so long -- Osbert Sitwell >
[W3]

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Originally Posted By: tsuwm
Originally Posted By: Faldage
There's a word for it? I would have thought 'long shadows' would have done the trick.


sorry to disappoint, but..

Main Entry: mac·ro·scian
Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek makroskios
: having or casting a long shadow
< that macroscian day which I had dreaded for so long -- Osbert Sitwell >
[W3]


ooh, I like that word.

welcome, jrp!


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< that macroscian day which I had dreaded for so long -- Osbert Sitwell > [W3]

I see, many hours long.

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Good discussion your question started. Welcome JRP


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"fr. Gk makros, long + skia, shadow] /muh KRASH iun/
[adj.] having a long shadow; [n] a person whose shadow
is long, spec. an inhabitant of the polar regions
"

I bet in the polar regions the shadow projections must be the longest on earth? And in summer the days without end?

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macroscian

It's a great word, but unfortunately one would have to return to the easily understandable "long shadows" to gloss it, if one hoped to be understood by more than 0.05% of the Anglophone population.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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A word to put in a vitrine with other conversation pieces.

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I have it in my 'little black book of useless topics for
cocktail parties'. Now the word is not useless, but the
conversation at a cocktail party would be. .05% of the
Anglophone population, if that.

Last edited by LukeJavan8; 05/11/11 03:28 PM.

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May we infer microscian as well?

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Can a person be macroscian? Figuratively, I mean. I seem to recall hearing/reading that so-and-so cast a long shadow; usually a person of great importance or power, at least in certain circles.

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We are all macroscian in the sunset of our lives.

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Barring overcast.

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That would spoil the shadows, long or otherwise.


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Wow, that was good, Faldage! I was at first tempted to laugh, but I shall bow instead. [bow]

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Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
macroscian

It's a great word, but unfortunately one would have to return to the easily understandable "long shadows" to gloss it, if one hoped to be understood by more than 0.05% of the Anglophone population.


It also doesn't mean "long shadow." It means "having or casting a long shadow."

And, looking it up in the OED, I discover it does have a noun meaning, but it's 'one who has a long shadow, an inhabitant of the polar regions.' So we still don't have a word for 'long shadows.'

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oh, just when we thought it solved.


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well, it seems to have been (yet another) drive-by posting - so who's complaining?

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Originally Posted By: Candy
oh, just when we thought it solved.



So we could change it to 'dark shadows'> there used to be
a soap opera of that name.


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After all this I hardly dare ask if you have one word for 'long clouds' for me.

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Well--Aotearoa means "Land of the Long White Cloud" (New Zealand), which, acc'g. to Wikipedia could be shortened to aoroa--if that's an actual Maaori word I mean! ao = cloud, tea = white and roa = long

Hey--you didn't specify English! whistle wink

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I should have thought of that smirk

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Originally Posted By: Jackie
! ao = cloud, tea = white and roa = long Hey--you didn't specify English! whistle wink

I've been searching all sorts of exotic languages for the long shadow too. So I did not mean per se English. Old and Indian languages often have these one word sentences. Perfectly allright.

Mrs. Longshadow ( what's the cup of tea has to do with it? grin )

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Old and Indian languages often have these one word sentences.

By Indian, you don't mean South Asian, I assume, but the native languages of North and South Americas? This is one of the problems with the X number of "words" for snow in Eskimo meme. You can see two examples in the article on polysynthetic languages (link) on Wikipedia.


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Originally Posted By: BranShea
.....
I've been searching all sorts of exotic languages for the long shadow too.....


So.... I am not the only one that spends hours surfing the net looking up little snippets of information. Not that I have done that much this week. But its what I do do crazy

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Originally Posted By: Candy
Originally Posted By: BranShea
.....
I've been searching all sorts of exotic languages for the long shadow too.....


So.... I am not the only one that spends hours surfing the net looking up little snippets of information. Not that I have done that much this week. But its what I do do crazy



Count me in on that activity as well


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Yes, that's what I meant, the native languages of North and South Americas and the Arctic languages. But I gave up when I did not find the long shadow there.

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