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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I have to admit that, if I heard "q-pon" over here, I would immediately think that the speaker had come from a rough-ish background and was trying (unsuccessfully!) to sound "posh." It really isn't in use in the UK, I think.
But the meaning would be clear enough, so I don;t think it would warrant inclusion in a dictionary, using the "quinion test". So how has it got into Spareye's dictionary, one wonders?
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>If enough English speakers decide that some word or phrase has value, to the extent that those who encounter it are likely to need to consult the dictionary in search of its meaning, then it is put into new editions.
as an example (no value judgment made), the review edition (online) of OED has included the word 'webzine' (it's their word-of-the-day today). [no entry for 'google' yet, other than the cricket sense..]
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 27
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 27 |
The difference is simple:
A "KOO-pon" will get you a maximum of 50 cents off whatever is being sold.
A "Q-pon" has no limit to its worth.
The same rule applies to "vase" (rhyming with "face") defined as a jar in which to stick flowers, compared with "vase" (pronounced "vaahz") meaning something from the Ming dynasty which, when you see it on a museum floor, you immediately pick up any two-year-olds you may have brought with you.
By way of illustration, there was a men's clothing store (somewhere in the states, I forget where) who offered a Q-pon worth $100 off a new suit. The kicker was that this Q-pon was posted on a highway billboard and anyone having the moxie to "clip" it would not only be risking life and limb but would also be breaking the law as well. Don't know if they ever got any takers.
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