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I was paging through a dictionary one day, and as I am want to do, I stopped to read the definition of a really cool $50 word. The definition was "One who roots for the underdog." I remember that because I am one. The problem is I don't remember the word! Does anyone know this word?
Thanks, Robert Payne
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Posted by tsuwm and Jackie last July. But I couldn't find their posts until I had re-coined it and found at above URL
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One who roots under the dog: a tick and sometimes a flea.
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One who roots under the nit: Faldage ;)
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In reply to:
The word has three parts. The Latin prefix infra- means "interior to,
below, or beneath." Related words include under, inferior, and
inferno. The middle part, -canino- is from the Latin canus (dog), and
-phile is from the Greek philos (beloved, loving).
How interesting that inferno pertains more to that which lies below than to a conflagration, which is how the word seems to be used nowadays.
There was a film in the 1970's called "The Towering Inferno" about a fire in a high rise building. (Probably not a popular film after the recent unpleasantness.) In light of the word's etymology it seems to be an oxymoron.
Now as to rooting for an underdog, what would one be called who cheers for Kerberos?
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The definition was "One who roots for the underdog." I remember that because I am one. The problem is I don't remember the word! Does anyone know this word?Um, would that be incurable romantic? How about Polly Purebred, then?  Welcome, Robert Payne. I hope you will enjoy this place as much as we do.
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I posted about that, Dr. Bill?? Good heavens, I have NO memory of that whatsoever!  I'm impressed that you came up with it, though. And oh, Aunt mav, you are SO bad!!  And yes, welcome, Robert Payne. Glad to have you!
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a really cool $50 word
Hi Robert Payne and WELCOME  .. great question. I was thinking altruist but I suspect it's close but no cigar. Your phrase above has intrigued me though. I've heard of a $64,000 Question, but not a $50 word. Does this just mean great or interesting?
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Hi Robert, welcome aBoard.
We have a similar expression in French but it is usually used to mean somebody is talking in a hoity-toity fashion.
When a person talks using big words he would not usually use we say he is "taking out his 10-dollar words" (il sort ses mots à dix piastres)
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I had an English teacher who called long impressive words $10 words. I suppose this was to reflect the fact that the word was special enough to be expensive if you had to purchase it from a word lover (I need a $10 synonym for "word lover"). My $50 word is simply adjusted for inflation! Either that or it is five times as long and impressive as a $10 word!
By the way, where did the expression "close but no cigar" come from? I use that expression fairly often myself.
Thank y'all for the big welcome. I'm enjoying the discussion group already.
Robert Payne
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ooops Robert. I guess we were posting at the same time. Well, it's always nice to know that some expressions are used in both languages. When I get an itchy throat, I get funny looks when I say I have a "cat in my throat" instead of a "frog in my throat" like English people say.
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Welcome aboard, Robert! This one definitely roots for the underdog: http://id.mind.net/~loki/underdog.jpgThe Only WO'N!
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Australian?
LLOL! As per usual, Doc, your diagnosis was quick and apt! And I've been dying to say "Did you hear about the Wombat? All it does is eats roots and leaves."
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I get funny looks when I say I have a "cat in my throat" instead of a "frog in my throat" like English people say.
Years and years ago a French girl complained to me that 'my nose is sinking'. I looked at her blankly. It was some time before we worked out that the French use the same verb (couler? help me out, bel!) for a sinking ship and a running nose...
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And I've been dying to say "Did you hear about the Wombat? All it does is eats roots and leaves."Can't you Striners make up your own? The definition of a Kiwi is one who eats roots shoots and leaves ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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>I posted about that, Dr. Bill?? Good heavens, I have NO memory of that whatsoever!
well, might as well bring it back here:Blush! Ah, me. Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. The definition of a Kiwi is one who eats roots shoots and leaves ... No argument here, my friend! Special to doc_comfort: is there a word for someone who defends the underdoc?
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When I was a kid, every summer carnivals would come to town. Like a circus without the animals, just dozens of games of chance, merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels, and onther rides. One game of chance was trying to win a cigar by pounding with a sledgehammer on a circular steel plate that caused a weight to go up a vertical track towards a gong at the top, entitling contestant to a prize of a cigar. Macho musclemen would try to impress their dates. It was rumored that the proprietor could keep the weight from going all the way to the top, but I never found out how he could do it, until he wanted somebody to win, to attract more contestants.
His sales pitch was to bellow when a contestant failed was: "Close, but no cigar!" Followed by more chatter to tempt other suckers to try to impress their girls. When there were no suckers waiting, he would with one hand swilng the sledgehammer to make the weight ring the bell, so easily it confirmed my suspicion that his apparatus was rigged.
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>"infracaninophile"
I can find "infracaninophile" on the web, and in web word-lists. However, Robert said he found his word "paging through a dictionary", and I can't find "infracaninophile" in any website for a published dictionary.
Could this be a word that's been coined, but has never made it into a recogized published-on-paper dictionary?
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from the earlier thread, it was coined by...
Christopher Morley, in the preface to "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" [of Conan Doyle]:
"What other man led a fuller and heartier and more masculine life? [it was another age]
Doctor, whaler, athlete, writer, speculator, dramatist, historian, war correspondent,
spiritualist, he was always also the infracaninophile -- the helper of the underdog."
not all dictionaries are on the web just yet, nor do I have all dictionaries in hard copy (it only seems that way), but I do have it in print in two actual books: as quoted above and in Charles Harrington Elster's "There's a Word for it!" perhaps Mrs. Byrne has it in her dictionary also, but I don't have that to hand at the moment.
(it seems highly probable that Morley coined this as a nonce-word, but there is still time to get it into the OED if only enough of us get... on top of it.)
EDIT: Mrs. B. indeed covers the word, but she cites Morley for it, indicating that she also found it in none of her lexicographical references. :)
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While we're at it, who can say how root came to mean to loudly express support for someone?
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Re: Robert said he found his word "paging through a dictionary"
I wondered about the fact that infracaninophile is rarely in dictionaries. I'm actually not so sure infracaninophile is the word I saw. I think I would have remembered that one because of the roots. Wouldn't it be neat if it has a synonym?! It would almost be worth while to spend a few days (weeks?) looking through the dictionary! The dictionary I saw it in (I think) is at my parents' home. I'll at least look up infracaninophile to see if it is there.
Robert
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the proprietor could keep the weight from going all the way to the top, but I never found out how he could do it
I read somewhere a while back that there was a lever or foot-pedal the carnie could press that subtly altered the tension of the wire going up to the bell. If the wire was taut, the projectile ascended to the top smoothly and easily. If it was loose, the energy of the strongest hammering was easily dampened, and inadequate for the task...
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...would that be incurable romantic? How about Polly Purebred, then?
I would have said "a 1950's Brooklyn Dodgers fan" (sniffle). It was always "wait 'til next year," and then the year Next Year finally came, they up and left town. :-( That's gratitude for you! (Some of us never got over the insult, as you can see!)
Then we had to become Mets fans...at least we knew how!
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Can't you Striners make up your own?
Evidence, CapK... Which came first, the wombat or the Kiwi?
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Hey, doc, we have an AMA, too! Slight difference in the first A, though. I'll tell you, judging by this article, either you-all have a whole lot of dangerous doctors, or Aussies must be emulating us lawsuit-happy Americans. 
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Hey, doc, we have an AMA, too! Slight difference in the first A, though.Hey, Jackie! I've been a member of the AMA for 13 years! You were referring to the American Motorcyclist Association, weren't you?
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is this another animal husbandry joke?
TEd
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