#92888
01/22/2003 12:46 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
I know this does not apply to everyone but it seemed a good place to post it. There's a group at McGill University doing a survey on English word usage in Canada. All you have to do is email them at canadian_english@mcgill.ca and ask for a survey to be sent to you by mail, and they will gladly send you as many copies as you ask for. I know there are a few other Canadians on Board (belMarduk, boronia, modestgoddess) and I thought this would be the easiest way to get the word out. I've already done the survey myself and it was fun. There isn't much info on the McGill website but I originally heard about it on CBC Radio. Anyway, all I can find at McGill is the prof's short information page: http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/linguistics/dept/faculty.html#cboberg and a short, technical description of the project: http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/linguistics/dept/projects.html#cb2-2005But I thought this group might have a higher-than-normal interest in completing such a survey.
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#92889
01/22/2003 3:20 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Thanks Bean! Sounds like fun. I've sent for my copy
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#92890
01/22/2003 3:50 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Wow, when did you move north of the border? I'm seriously thinking of doing the same thing... 
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#92891
01/22/2003 5:14 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
thinking of doing the same
Yeah. You don't know what it's like, listening to her constant complaining about how it isn't cold enough or there's just so little snow.
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#92892
01/23/2003 7:36 PM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
it isn't cold enough or there's just so little snow.Not that we-all wouldn't love to have youse join us up here, but if these are the only problems, perhaps we could somehow arranged to have some of the snow and cold sent down your way...? No, really! Take my cold and snow....Please! 
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#92893
01/23/2003 7:39 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Thanks, mg. Faldage was born with congenital tongue-in-cheek syndrome. We've had over 60 inches of snow so far. Is it true they grow bananas in Vancouver?
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#92894
01/23/2003 7:40 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
arranged to have some of the snow and cold sent down your way
Y'all seem to have been doing perty good in that department so far. NOAA says we gone have a warmer and drier than usual Jan-Mar thanks to our friendly little boy in the Pacific.
Hah!
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#92895
01/23/2003 7:40 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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#92896
01/23/2003 7:43 PM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Bean, thanks for this. I've emailed for about half-a-dozen copies of the survey, if they care to send that many....I looked at the description, but, and it seemed to be more to do with pronunciation by first-year students from across Canada? with particular note taken of how they pronounce vowels? How does a survey, filled out by people across the country, help out with this, I wonder? Anyway, lookin' fwd to gettin' my copy/ies!
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#92897
01/23/2003 7:45 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
in VA tonight: 7 degrees F
That's about up where our high's been lately.
I put stop and waste valves on the pipes going to the shower (a perennial freeze problem when it gets below about 5°F)
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#92898
01/23/2003 8:09 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
in VA tonight: 7 degrees Fsounds tropical to me... we were at -20°F this morning... it's about -7°F right now... don't think it's been above zero here at my house for three days.
formerly known as etaoin...
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#92899
01/23/2003 8:40 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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#92900
01/23/2003 11:24 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Better watch it, DubDub--you'll have all the Vermonterites comin' after ya fer callin' their home state Hell!  Augh, I am absolutely green with envy! I wanna move up North!! (But I'd have to leave my family behind; but maybe not my son if I move to Alaska.) 60" of snow! Minus degrees! WAIL!!!!! You lucky DOGS!
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#92901
01/24/2003 2:30 AM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
erm, would somebody please take Jackie's temperature? actually, it's supposed to get above zero tomorrow. but only for a little while...
formerly known as etaoin...
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#92902
01/24/2003 6:47 AM
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 12
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 12 |
Is it true they grow bananas in Vancouver?
As far as I know, they don't grow any here, no. But I did hear a few days ago that we might not have any bananas in ten years or so. Not sure why, since I only quickly skimmed the article before leaving to go out somewhere.
"Did you eat another dictionary?" -- what an online friend said to me once
"Did you eat another dictionary?" -- what an online friend said to me once
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#92903
01/24/2003 11:16 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
I think the link was about the broader scope of the project. But Buddy-who-is-conducting-the-survey was interviewed on CBC and was asking for anyone interested in doing the word-usage part of the survey to contact him. Hence my post above. There does not yet seem to be a website specifically for the word-usage questionnaire.
And as for the bananas, Flam_X, I think it was something about a fungus which could kill them all, something like the famous potato blight in Ireland which wrecked every potato in Ireland (more or less) because they were all genetically the same.
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#92904
01/25/2003 3:25 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Dear Anna(Betsy)Strophic,
Here's the letter I received in reply to my request for the suvey:
Hi Ann,
Thanks for your e-mail.
We'd be happy to send you a copy of our survey, or several, if you know other people around your area who might enjoy filling them out. It's often fun to compare respones with family, friends, or co-workers. It would actually be extremely interesting for us to get some responses from the
New Hampshire area, so we could see how word usage differs across the international boundary. Just let us know how many surveys you'd like, and we'll get them in the mail right away.
So there you go! I am still in God's Country where the temperature has been hovering around zero fahrenheit for a week. A few windy days and it was about 15 below (wind chill) !!!! Poor Pearl (Bichon) is getting cabin fever!
Meawhile graka' jbdlwieuw, vbwkoluqyduyegf ,zbbkbbxz bdjkq is beginning to make sense to me!
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#92905
01/26/2003 2:58 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
it was about 15 below (wind chill)
Our weather warmed up considerably this afternoon for the first time in several days, so I washed my car; it was really awful-looking, with dirt and salt sprayed all over it. My hands did get a little cold. When I finished and came indoors, I found out it was exactly freezing. No wonder some of the water droplets turned to ice before I could dry them... I have since been officially declared unable to function in normal society.
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#92906
01/27/2003 4:19 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
In reply to:
And as for the bananas, Flam_X, I think it was something about a fungus which could kill them all, something like the famous potato blight in Ireland which wrecked every potato in Ireland (more or less) because they were all genetically the same.
How can bananas all be genetically the same when we've got something like 20 different kinds of banana in Indonesia alone?
Bingley
Bingley
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#92907
01/27/2003 10:41 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
20 different kinds of banana in Indonesia
I believe we're talking about Ugandan bananas here. There was an article about it on NPR news the other day. They mentioned that the bananas in question were seedless and propagated by, I believe, runners. They wanted to do some gene splicing with wild bananas but Ugandan law forbade them from bringing the wild bananas into the country.
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#92908
01/30/2003 9:36 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
They mentioned that the bananas in question were seedless and propagated by, I believe, runners.
That marathon runners or just joggers? Sorry, I'm an apple that's got the pip, and besides, Juan misspelled my name.
- Pfranz
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#92909
01/31/2003 3:09 AM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
20 different kinds of banana
I read that the domestic banana - the edible variety - is susceptible to the aforementioned fungus (black something-or-other). Wild bananas are naturally immune - but they also have honkin' big hard seeds that render them reproducible, but inedible. That's wot I read, anyway....
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#92910
01/31/2003 3:22 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
honkin' big hard seeds
Dang it, whyn'tcha WARN somebody when yer gonna say somethin' like that? Somebody just might be trying to swallow some tea at the moment... [mopping keyboard]
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#92911
01/31/2003 3:46 AM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Jackie, YOU make ME larf out loud! (but I dislike the abbreviation LOL so I'se not gonna use it!) (love you, woman!)
So mebbe this means your nose is nice and clean inside now, after its tea enema....Or perhaps the only result was that now, all you can smell is tea...?!
I did the nose trick with grape juice once when I was small. It dyed the inside of my nose purple.
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#92912
01/31/2003 5:31 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
In reply to:
20 different kinds of banana
I read that the domestic banana - the edible variety
I meant 20 different kinds of edible banana, though some need cooking first. I think pisang raja (king bananas) have er.. honkin' big hard seeds but I don't remember seeing any in other types.
Bingley
Bingley
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#92913
01/31/2003 10:49 AM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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#92914
01/31/2003 11:05 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
You don't use honkin' to mean big? I thought that was more or less universal slang.
"Jaysus Murphy, that was a big honkin' truck that nearly smashed into us!!!!!!!"
EDIT: Or honkin' big. And truck was a bad example because they actually honk. How about "honkin' big steak"?
(or something like that)
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#92915
01/31/2003 11:13 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
honkin' big hard seeds that render them reproducible, but inedible
Hey! Watermelons have honkin' big hard seeds. Doesn't stop folks from eating them.
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#92916
01/31/2003 11:18 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
So do guanabanas. Never stopped me neiver.
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#92917
01/31/2003 11:18 AM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
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#92918
01/31/2003 11:22 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
I consider unpleasant (or honkin' big) any seeds which are macroscopic and randomly hidden throughout the fruit. Therefore I tolerate apple seeds because I can avoid them (they're localized) but I hate watermelon, partly because of the flavour (I hate cucumber, too), and partly because of the seeds which appear just when you think you've successfully navigated (!) around them all!!!!!!
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#92919
01/31/2003 11:23 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Stick a watermelon seed in a banana and tell me whether it's honkin' big. And the honkin' big seeds in peaches and avocadoes ain't stopped nobody from eating *them, neither.
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#92920
01/31/2003 1:48 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 6,511 |
Would this have anything to do with Canadian geese? And that's why we USns and others don't (yet) know the expression?
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#92921
01/31/2003 2:00 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
USns and others don't (yet) know the expression?I use this all the time. (well, not all the time...…) 
formerly known as etaoin...
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#92922
01/31/2003 2:19 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Yeahbut® you don't count, eta. You're 'borderline.'
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#92923
01/31/2003 2:28 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Do you Canadian geese have to use honkin' + big together to indicate that something is very big or can honkin' solo by itself?
Also, is honkin' used with any word other than big?
I think it's a very funny word and I plan on using it today--if I can find a place--at the faculty lunch table just to see whether anybody notices. And I suppose the word developed in Canada because something that honks is loud. So, if something is big but in a big, big way, that something "honks" its bigness.
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#92924
01/31/2003 2:58 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
'borderline.'
I don't really consider myself 'borderline,' but I wouldn't have even commented on the usage it seems so natural to me. I'm pretty sure I've heard it used in Arizona.
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#92925
01/31/2003 3:28 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Oh my gosh, I have laughed out loud, all the way down this thread, you-all! Honkin' Canadian geese! (Look out--Bean and mg might get their feathers ruffled, over that!) A-and, I notice you didn't specify that etaoin is borderline what! <eg> Oh oh OH, my stomach hurts!
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#92926
01/31/2003 4:57 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Sometimes I can't believe the nits we pick here! mg uses, in an offhand way, a little expression, two words long, and lo and behold! we find out that it's not well-understood everywhere. This is what I love about the Board - we discover that all these things we take for granted are not the same everywhere, and that's what makes life interesting. My Canadian Oxford says honking: also honkin' N. Amer. slang very large So apprently it's not strictly Canadian. HOWEVER In looking up honking I ran across hork spit, the act of spitting, according to the dictionary, with the additional qualifier added by me that it usually refers to the type of spitting preceded by the sound "hork" which is marked as Canadian slang. Well, that's another one I thought everyone knew. Live and learn. Edit: For WordWind: I was going to add that yes, things can only be honkin' big, not honkin' small or honkin' smelly or anything else...[\red]
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#92927
01/31/2003 10:03 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Honkin' is surely an expression that had its origins in Detroit ... ?
- Pfranz
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