#2525 - 05/18/00 06:05 AM
Memory of words
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 03/22/00
Posts: 1981
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It’s funny how easy it is to remember some things from school and not others. We used to have a test on a Friday of general knowledge. I was an expert at capital cities (although I couldn’t place some of the countries on a map). Anyway, it certainly increased my chances of winning (but not making) my first £1,000,000.
Here’s some of the proper terms (collective nouns) that were regulars in the test.
a shrewdness of apes
a destruction of wild cats
a skulk of foxes
an exaltation of larks
a paddling of ducks (on water)
a team of ducks (in flight)
I’ve just looked them up and realised that they didn’t teach us:
a superfluity of nuns
- I wonder why?
Which words stick in your mind from long ago and why?
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#2527 - 05/18/00 02:13 PM
Re: Memory of words
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member
Registered: 05/09/00
Posts: 112
Loc: Auckland, New Zealand
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I remember mispronounciations, which usually caused some embarrassment: "civil" was "kivil", and try saying "unfed" with the stress on "un".
"Dad, what does 'unfed' (as above) mean?"
"YCLIU" pre-empting tswum
That's how I got started with dictionary and Thesaurus.
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#2528 - 05/18/00 02:22 PM
Re: Memory of words
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10464
Loc: this too shall pass
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yes! mispronunciations... epitome I read as EP i tome paradigm was PAR a DIG em another word I remember is career, used as a verb, as in to career down a mountain road -- I used this on an English paper and got marked down for making up a word! http://members.aol.com/tsuwm
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#2529 - 05/18/00 02:39 PM
Re: Memory of words
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 03/22/00
Posts: 1981
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> got marked down for making up a word!
Same problem. I used "oderous" (in the sense of smell) for "odious" (unpleasant) in the same way that Shakespeare had in the play we'd been studying the week before (poss the Scottish play) and got marked down for an incorrect word - I was cross - if it was OK for Shakespeare then...
It hastened my enthusiasm for giving up English at the earliest opportunity.
(It took me ages to work out epi-tome too).
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#2530 - 05/18/00 02:47 PM
Re: Memory of words
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member
Registered: 05/09/00
Posts: 112
Loc: Auckland, New Zealand
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"Persephone" was some sort of communication instrument at first glance! Never could quite master Greek mythology...
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#2532 - 05/18/00 03:02 PM
Re: Memory of words
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10464
Loc: this too shall pass
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Jo, VERGES Yes, I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an old man and no honester than I. DOGBERRY Comparisons are odorous... Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene v 8-D http://members.aol.com/tsuwm
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#2534 - 05/18/00 08:13 PM
Re: Memory of words
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newbie
Registered: 05/10/00
Posts: 28
Loc: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Yes, I too was marked down for making up a word: I used fracas in an essay and was told it didn't exist. Clearly it still rankles, as this was a wee while ago!
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