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Topic Options #5431 - 08/19/00 06:44 AM Max Quordlepleen Carpal Tunnel Registered: 08/12/00 Posts: 3409 Top #5432 - 08/19/00 08:00 AM Re: Is this the ultimate paradox? Jackie Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 11580 Loc: Louisville, Kentucky Interesting, Max! Did Anu list this one under the theme, words that are their own antonym? Top #5433 - 08/20/00 01:41 PM Re: Is this the ultimate paradox? Jazzoctopus old hand Registered: 07/03/00 Posts: 1094 Loc: Cincinnati & Loveland, Ohio, U... I'd like to know what a hippopotamus has to do with long words. Top #5434 - 08/20/00 10:54 PM Re: Is this the ultimate paradox? tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/03/00 Posts: 10464 Loc: this too shall pass what does hippopotamus have to do with long words? why, nothing. the affix does conjure up the image of whopping big though, as does the other affix monstro-, when attached to a word that already refers to big words. -ron obvious Top #5435 - 08/21/00 05:25 PM Re: Is this the ultimate paradox? Jazzoctopus old hand Registered: 07/03/00 Posts: 1094 Loc: Cincinnati & Loveland, Ohio, U... If "hippo" means big, and "pot", related to potable, means water, then that would make sense to me that hippopotamus, roughly translated, means "big water animal". In German, though, hippopotamus is Nilpferd, which basically just means "horse of the Nile". . . Top #5436 - 08/22/00 12:20 AM Re: Is this the ultimate paradox? Bingley Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/09/00 Posts: 3065 Loc: Jakarta Unfortunately for your theory, Jazzoctopus, hippopotamus comes from the Greek hippos = horse and potamos = river. Hippopotamus therefore equals river horse. Quite close to the German in fact. Presumably the Ancient Egyptians knew about hippopotami before they knew about horses. Did they call horses land hippopotami? Bingley _________________________ Bingley Top Previous Topic Index Next Topic Preview Hop to: General Topics ------   Information and announcements   Q&A about words   Wordplay and fun   Words and languages in schools   Miscellany   Weekly Themes   Looking for (writers, speakers, ...) (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) ------   Words from medicine   Beheading words   Meta-words   Words from classical mythology   Animal Safari   Words with unusual etymologies   Eponyms or words derived from people's names.   Loanwords from German   English as a global language Moderator:  Jackie  Print Topic Switch to Threaded Mode View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM View homepage Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM View homepage Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM View homepage Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts Forum Stats 8431 Members 16 Forums 13688 Topics 209834 Posts Max Online: 3341 @ 12/09/11 02:15 PM Newest Members supermatthias, prabakaran, sce, Eva, sylviasuper 8430 Registered Users Who's Online 0 registered (), 33 Guests and 2 Spiders online. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters (30 Days) LukeJavan8 93 jenny jenny 62 wofahulicodoc 61 endymion6 57 Rhubarb Commando 37 BranShea 31 Faldage 16 Buffalo Shrdlu 15 zmjezhd 13 teepee 11 May Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

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