|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Settle an argument. I wrote a post to a group in which I participate in which I reported that the maple trees outside my window are deciduating at a great rate. Several of the wags in the group challenged the existence of the verb deciduate. I assumed a straight face and responded that it descended from the Latin "deciduare" meaning to lose one's leaves. This, of course, I made up out of whole cloth. But isn't there such a word and, if not, shouldn't there be?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
strangely enough, when I orient myself around it, I like it. just may use it today...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
OED:
Deciduate. adj.,
a. Possessing a decidua; belonging to the Deciduata.
b. Of the nature of a decidua: said of a placenta which is cast off at parturition.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Hey, I do pretty good at making stuff up! Thank you, Fal.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I don't find any deciduo, -are but I do see decido, -ere, fall down, fall off, die.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
From the title of your post, Father Steve, I guessed "losing leaves." So it is a great word, IMHO!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Thank you, Anna. I tried it out on some people at church this morning and every one of them knew what I/it meant. That's a pretty fair test for a proposed word.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
every one of them knew what I/it meantI can hardly wait for it to show up on the TVRWorstWords list ( http://www.vocabula.com/VRworstwords.htm). In fact, if it doesn't show up within the week I shall submit it myself: "Oh what a horror that this perfectly good adjective, of which not one in a thousand of us would know the meaning much less have need, has been ruthlessly verbed and dragged from its pristine meaning into one of a completely unrelated field and, what is worse, be given a meaning that is instantly understandable and eminently useful."
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,397
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
579
guests, and
1
robot. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|