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#51690 01/03/02 10:27 PM
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Please don't hit me with a fish, but I found a very nice word in Mrs. Byrne, but cannot find it anywhere else either online or in my dictionaries here at the farm.

Mrs. Byrne's word is euphelicia, which is defined online (a dubious proposition on her site) as the happiness that results from having all one's wishes granted.

Does anyone have another source for this word? Has it been misspelled on the site? Is the definition correct? And do you think the word has been generally rejected because the genie in the lamp usually only grants up to three wishes?

Hoping this isn't another post in which I'll be cornobbled,
DD


#51691 01/03/02 11:30 PM
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Dear WW: I haven't found your word just yet, but in the attempt I found a site with a couple dozen obscure words :http://pub12.ezboard.com/fdocsplacefrm67.showMessage?topicID=21.topic

Now I'll go back and look for "euphelicia" again, there were more sites.


#51692 01/03/02 11:40 PM
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Dear WW: you're bringing me luck. I found a collection of unusual phrases:
http://stommel.tamu.edu/~baum/skb_dict.html


#51693 01/03/02 11:58 PM
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The third site was really different. A self styled saucy minx had a list of things she was going to search for. I tried one of them and got the most amazing pictures.


#51694 01/04/02 12:35 AM
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>happiness that results from having all one's wishes granted.

actually® she defines it as 'healthiness' not 'happiness'. I have not been able to confirm the word, or I would use it as a wwftd.


#51695 01/04/02 01:19 AM
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...be careful what you wish for!


#51696 01/04/02 02:01 AM
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Here's what the "Frugal Advisor" has (Bill's first link):
2) euphelicia \ue fe lis' i a\ (noun): healthiness resulting from having all one's wishes granted

But this makes little sense, to me. The first thing I'd think about anybody (wish it were I!) who has all their wishes granted would be that they were happy, not healthy; unless they specified mental healthiness, which this didn't do, and that would be odd, anyway.

Wow--some of the words and def.'s here are so incredible that I'd be tempted to say they were made up, but I recognize a few of them. For ex., did you-all know there's a word for being able to speak only at night? hemeraphonia. Here's an interesting one, particularly for a certain board member: "gymnophobia \jim noe foe' bi a\ (noun): fear of nudity". And a couple that I thought sounded made-up: "stomachous \stum' e kes\ (adjective): obstinate; angry"; and, "pilgarlic \pil gor' lik\ (noun): a bald head that looks like peeled garlic".

Ohhhh, Dr. Bill...I think I just found a new near-favorite word: "dulciloquy \dul sil' e kwee\ (noun): softness in speaking". I love the meaning, and I LOVE the sound, nice and slow: dul-SILL-lohh-kwee... Thank you!










#51697 01/04/02 03:04 AM
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just so y'all know, fwiw, all of the words at the Obscure and Unusual words site are from Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary and everything in SKB's dictionary marked with a (B) is from the same source. and lest you think I'm completely down on Mrs. B., I'm not. I'm sure she found all of these words in a real source, it's just that some of her sources are of doubtful value, and she doesn't indicate which words come from where -- you should see her bibliography; t'would be a major project just to reverse engineer her book.


#51698 01/04/02 03:12 AM
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Dear tsuwm: a half-hearted quibble: How can you tell the words are from Mrs. Byrne, and not from her source, or some other source? Would in not be actionable to just take from her?


#51699 01/04/02 03:26 AM
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bill, like I said her bibliography is extensive, as in it extends to four(4) pages; i.e., her words come from a variety of sources. when a person has a list of dozens of words and they all can be found in Mrs. B, or when everything in a *very sizable list like skb's that is marked with a (B) can be found in Mrs. B, what would you conclude? and what's she gonna do about it when she borrowed it all in the first place? I'd be willing to bet dollars to dooabs that that site which features a random sampling of her words, attributed to her, garners her naught but the publicity.

amateur lexicography is a torturous endeavour. folks steal shamelessly from one another. : )

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