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OP
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Philosopher, mathematician, and writer, Bertrand Russell, once said, "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." This week's word describe people falling somewhere in between the spectrum. Can you identify some of those around you in these words?
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Apr 2001
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Pixillated was interesting - for a minute I thought it was a misspelling of "pixelated" meaning "distorted by digital resolution restrictions." A homonym is born!
The Russell quote rocks! Thanks for using it.
I was given a gift subscription to AWAD, and now I'm hooked.
Cheers, Bryan
Cheers, Bryan
You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Pixillated was interesting - for a minute I thought it was a misspelling of "pixelated" meaning "distorted by digital resolution restrictions." A homonym is born!
On the topic of today's word, here is a whimsical question especially (but not exclusively) for BlanchePatch:
What is the largest individual organism in the world and where is it?
(OK, so it's two questions.)
And a big hello, Bryan--welcome!
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Re: What is the largest individual organism in the world and where is it?
I believe it's a fungus growing just underground - not sure of the location, maybe Pennsylvania?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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It's a fungus, but it ain't in PA. Wanna try a lifeline? Maybe Sparteye knows. IP
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Inselpeter, you must be referring to the giant fungus found in the UP. But, I'm afraid that it has since been supplanted, by a similar one in - I think - the Pacific Northwest. Washington? Oregon?
I love "Oregon." No other state is just a couple of pencil squiggles away from being an herb! [huh? everyone says]
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journeyman
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journeyman
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"Oregon." No other state is just a couple of pencil squiggles away from being an herb!
And Sparteye, did you know that our state's name, when correctly pronounced, is a homonym for something that may be played? (Any more specific, and I'd be giving it away completely.)
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old hand
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old hand
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And Sparteye, did you know that our state's name, when correctly pronounced, is a homonym for something that may be played? (Any more specific, and I'd be giving it away completely.) Going gutteral: played or played with? cheer the sunshine warrior
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And Oregon could also describe a depleted gold mine! (When pronounced the usual incorrect way)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Oregon." No other state is just a couple of pencil squiggles away from being an herb!
And Sparteye, did you know that our state's name, when correctly pronounced, is a homonym for something that may be played?"Oregon" should be pronounced as "Organ"?! Not even a schwa between the "r" and the "g"?! Or is this just my non-rhoticity confusing me again?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Oregon - organ
Organs come in three kinds: the harmonica, the kind the monkey trainer cranks by hand ,and the kind that fills an enclosure.
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journeyman
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journeyman
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The schwa is optional - "organ" is quite acceptable. But we'll run you out of the state if you say Oree-Gone.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I can't stand it, she said, her lips twitching with repressed laughter: Could people who live in Oregon be called Oreganisms? OrGonads? What say, Geoff? [oh boy I'm asking for it now e]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The schwa is optional - "organ" is quite acceptable. But we'll run you out of the state if you say Oree-Gone
Thanks for that. I would never have said Oree-Gone, but it's nice to know that my schwa would be tolerated. I wonder if there are any USns on the board who cold guess the correct pronunciation of Gisborne, the town where my wife grew up. (Give it your best shot, Jackie)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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who cold guess the correct pronunciation of Gisborne, the town where my wife grew up. (Give it your best shot, Jackie)
Here's a cold guess, Sweet Max: omnascient?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Even we would not pronounce "Gisborne" as "omnascient", but, yes.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The words to describe Gisborne: the name of one of Robin Hood's enemies, Sir Guy of Gisborne. A French sounding name, but I'll bet it was not pronounced the French way, the city having been named after Sir William Gisborne.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Aksherly, Bill if you be a Nu Englandah, you might just stand a chance of gettin' it right.
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old hand
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old hand
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Could people who live in Oregon be called Oreganisms? OrGonads? What say, Geoff? [oh boy I'm asking for it now e]
Well, Ms Grand and Glorious Poobah, them folks in Eye-O-Way call it Aura-Gone. Now that it's really upper Californica, they're right, the aura IS gone! Most folks say Ory-gun. The name may well derive from the French word, Ouragan, meaning hurricane. Lotsa French names hereabouts, thanks to the French fur trappers of days of yore. Lotsa wind, too, especially around Salem, the capital, when the legislature's in session.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the French fur trappers of days of yoreThe days of yore are gone in Oregon.
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Geoff, I've heard Oregon is derived from a Native American name for the Columbia River.
Here's an Oregon pronunciation quiz: How is Owyhee pronounced? And what other place (completely unlike it) is it named for?
- Respecfully submittted by an Oregonism
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old hand
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old hand
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Geoff, I've heard Oregon is derived from a Native American name for the Columbia River.That's the other main theory, all right. Funny thing, nobody really knows for sure. How is Owyhee pronounced? And what other place (completely unlike it) is it named for?Pronounced just as it's spelled. As for the place, I'll guess it's the Sandwich Islands. - Respecfully submittted by an Oregonism If you're a real Oregonism, you host parasitic hydrophyllic organsims on your feet, and in the summer you don't tan, you rust! Remember the Oregon Un-greeting cards of the 1970s?
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old hand
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old hand
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The days of yore are gone in Oregon?Yore darned tootin' they is, sister! Why, the news travels so slow around these parts that the newspaper's called The Yoregonian, although some call it The Oregroanian.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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That's the other main theory, all right. Funny thing, nobody really knows for sure.
Beg to differ. I think you will find a number of supporters of either one theory or the other do know for sure.
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Geoff, I'm not sure it's fair for another Oregroanian to answer, but you are right about its origin. As for pronunciation, O - Wye - Hee. Named, I'm told by Oregon Field Guide, for a member of an early explorer's band who was from Hawaii.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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if you be a Nu Englandah, you might just stand a chance of gettin' it right ------------------------------------------------------ Giz-bun ? Like Liz-bun ?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Giz-bun ? Like Liz-bun ?Close enough, me ole china. Though here in Zild we is mighty fond of that there schwa thingy, so the "bun" in each of your examples would likerly be heard as b-schwa-n. Of course, if we were talking slowly, sso as to be understood by furriners, our schwa would probably sound like a "u"
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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if you be a Nu Englandah...
...you might be thought to speak Yiddish.
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