Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
#10498 11/22/00 08:14 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
Mildly astonished by the waves created in these august circles by the use of to composit, I should like to hypothesize that if to compose is allowed to descend from to pose then why shouldn't posit give birth to composit?


#10499 11/23/00 02:41 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
F
veteran
Offline
veteran
F
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
why shouldn't posit give birth to composit?

Good point, wsieb.

Hang on, wouldn't posit imply a noun representing something that had been posited, i.e. a positition ?

That's where I have to start ing.





#10500 11/24/00 01:00 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
R
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
R
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
I had not thought of this provenance for the term - in all of the Tu conferences that I have attended, the word used was "compositE", which, I assumed, referred to the fact that a number of similar motions were amalgamated into one which combined the worst features of all of them.
(pardon my cynicism - it's a common disease among those who have moved in TU circles for anything over twenty years)

But I can see merit in wseib's approach - and it is certainly more elegant.


#10501 11/24/00 03:13 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
Hang on, wouldn't posit imply a noun representing something that had been posited, i.e. a positition ?

Or presumably (too obviously?), simply a position?

Speaking of awful regularisations, any opinion on burgle versus the americanoregularisationalistic burglarise ?


#10502 11/24/00 03:25 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
F
veteran
Offline
veteran
F
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
>wouldn't posit imply a noun representing something that had been posited, i.e. a positition ?
Or presumably (too obviously?), simply a position?


But position derives from pose rather than posit, no?

It can't derive from both. Or maybe it can.

Oh, I give up!



#10503 11/24/00 03:32 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
I hadn't noticed that wsieb's note had dropped the final 'e'. Elegant it may be, but if there's no infinitive version in evidence (look up the corpus dammit), then it ain't a word.


#10504 11/24/00 03:50 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
R
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
R
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
When has that ever been a bar to its use in this forum?


#10505 11/25/00 06:47 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Technically speaking, burglarise is a back-formation, like "edit", which derived from "editor" rather than the other way round. I agree it's an ugly and unnecessary one.

Bingley


Bingley
#10506 11/26/00 09:53 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
M
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
M
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
"Burgle" is such a lovely-sounding word; it would be a pity to replace it with "burglarize". Mind you, it's a waste to apply it to house-breaking - it should be used for something more onomatopoeically appropriate than the sound of breaking glass and splintering wood!


#10507 11/27/00 03:00 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Just realized why 'burgle' sounds so ridiculous to me--
it makes me think of a bugle gurgling.


Page 2 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,580
Members9,187
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Karin, JeffMackwood, artguitar, Jim_W, Rdbuffalo
9,187 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 332 guests, and 0 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
wofahulicodoc 10,713
tsuwm 10,542
LukeJavan8 9,931
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5