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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 2 |
A definition sorely in need of a word to match it:
"A word or phrase that one has encountered through reading but neither heard nor pronounced aloud."
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
-Carter
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
How about read letter daze? ;)
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 2 |
Hehe- a worthy pun, but not quite what I was looking for.
Now, we've all experienced this phenomenon (particularly with idiomatic or non-native terms), but I've never heard anyone name it. Don't tell me I've stumped the philologi...
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
indeed, we have all done this. :)
how about mutterence?
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
formerly known as etaoin...
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Welcome, 3003. How about "part of my passive vocabulary"?
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
But wouldn't a word you know the meaning of when you hear it but don't use yourself be part of your passive vocabulary?
TV news stories or documentaries, for example, often have words I might recognise in context but never use myself. Since I never use them, I can't give any definite examples.
Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
I suggest eruditism or literatism
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475
addict
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addict
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475 |
ignaural? innocclear? 
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Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Guessays? Could be a verb too. "Interstices", he said, guessaying the word.
Compounded from 'guess', 'say' and 'essay' (as in: to attempt).
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