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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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<<are you sufficiently aware...?>>
Are you insufficiently aware of the meaning of the words "go away, you are not wanted here" to understand them?
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Hi vika, pleased to meet you. if there is a word for an old man - starik - what would be a colloquial for - starichok?Yes, it's a common feature to most languages that you can append a simple suffix to a word and thereby denote "small & cute" ("small" really meaning "like my child" I suspect, as physical size doesn't make much difference). If memory serves correctly, you append an "-ot" in French (thus Pierre Peter becomes Pierrot little Pete) and a "-je" [-yeh] in Dutch. I'll bet there are many other European languages where similar rules apply. There isn't really an English equivalent. For proper nouns (names) you'd probably shorten the name, and sometimes append a "y" [eeh]. Joshua becomes Josh and/or Joshy, Elizabeth becomes Liz and/or Lizzy, David becomes Dave/Davy. For standard nouns, however, there's no equivalent that I know of. I suppose you could make "man" "manling", but that just sounds weird. We'd talk about "little old men", usually meaning the phrase in a friendly fashion. "Old geezer" is also affectionate. Just to confuse matters, "old" sometimes means "good/faithful" (in the UK at least), as in "How are you doing, old boy/me old mate?" The implication is that the person is like an old friend to you, whether you've really known them years or not. Hope this helps. There are plenty of brighter intellects than mine around, who will hopefully take the time to provide further enlightenment.  Fisk
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have no answer for you, vika, but on the line of other words: my niece calls my parents(her grandparents) Old Hoot and Coot. very affectionately, of course.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Hi, Vika. In American usage I have often read the expression "old timer" as an affectionate label for an old man. But perhaps that is no longer in use, maybe one of our US nationals can advise on that. It has never been in common use here in the UK, however, as far as I am aware, .
dxb.
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Carpal Tunnel
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fishona, there are some diminutive suffixes in english, but most are not applied to people.. there is, from the french,
et/ette.. lunchonette, (a small place to eat,) and in US english, (UK english as well, i think) the irish een, smithers (a mess, disorder, pieces) becomes smithereens (small peices) and een is used for names, even by Dickens, Pegeen (not Peggy) Maura, (Maureen), Colleen, etc..
een show up in teeny weeny, (very small)
there are also, still in use, but losing favor, word ending that indicate a female, Actor/Actress, Waiter/Waitress.
and finally there is the odd word, like Blond/blonde.
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there are some diminutive suffixes in englishSee, I knew my little old light (lighty?  ) wasn't shining brightly enough, Helen. Indeed, the "-ette" ending from the French (bless those Normans) pervades English, as also in caravanette, maisonette, teat pipette, errrrm that's all I can think of at present. Didn't know that "smithers" meant anything, but have used the phrase "blown to smithereens" lots. And Maureen being a diminutive Maura is also news to me, so thanks for that. word endings that indicate a femaleApplies a lot to names, doesn't it? George >> Georgina, Stephen >> Stephanie, Fred(eric) >> Frederica, Max(imilian) >> Maxine, David >> Davina. I wonder if once upon a time these may have provided a means for a proud (and dominant  )father to name a daughter after himself.
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here in the UK
Yes, dxb, we'd tend to say "old geezer/bloke" or (slightly less complimentary) "old codger" over here. Never heard anyone use "old timer".
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I think the Spanish version of abuela - abuelita (grandmother) is used also with affection and respect more than size, however, the two persons I have ever heard use that term were both men and they were taller than, and adored their abuelitas. They both also liked to tease a lot. Consuelo, is this term used very often for grandfathers?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Smithers is rarely used as a word, but it does come up again and again, as a "name" for incompitennt handy man. (tho, in Fawlty Towers, they used O'Reilly)
smithereens is very small peices..(and things might well be blown to smithereens!)
in NY, a sporting goods company, the Spalding company, makes a small pink hand ball, and these are always called spaldeens. a neat play, since the G tend to be dropped anyway-- there is a real vowel shift to ee(n) from i(ng).
the Aileen now use as a girl names, is really "Little darling", my mother detested it as name! and Colleen, is said to be uncertain.. but since my own sisters were affectionately called "Lumps of Coal" (black hair/dark eyed, black irish) i suspect colleen is a "little lump of coal".
anthracite coal is really quite beautiful... It's shiny, hard, pure black-- and compaired to peat, expensive, and desirable.. a little lump of coal might not sound complimentary today, but i think it could be a quite nice thing to be compared too.
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Carpal Tunnel
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in NY, a sporting goods company, the Spalding companyThe company, founded in Chicago (and now headquartered in Massachusetts), has a very interesting history. Albert Goodwill Spalding was a baseball superstar in the 1870's, "at annual salaries ranging from $1,500.00 to $2,500.00, amounts considered fabulous in the rather limited baseball world of that time." When pitching for the Chicago Cubs in their 1876 championship year, "Spalding compiled an amazing record of 52 victories and 14 defeats."http://www.spalding.com/pressroom/ag_spalding.html
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