|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
From today's W.A.D.:
This week's guest wordsmith, Dr. Mardy Grothe (drmgrothe@aol.com), writes:
...
In an oxymoron (like pretty ugly, old news, or sweet sorrow), words that are incompatible or that contradict one another are joined together in a way that ends up making a lot of sense....
This got me to thinking: how have we come to use pretty as an adverb in this sense?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Pretty < ME prety 'clever, fine, handsome' < OE prættig 'cunning' < prætt 'trick' (cf. pratfall). Very 'truly'; rather 'quickly'; quite 'clear, free'. There's nearly and pretty near from proximity. Somebody can be pretty far gone. And can leave pretty soon. I think that pretty ugly became popular because it is an oxymoron.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Pretty as an adverb, meaning to a considerable extent dates back to 1565 according to the COED.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
How about fairly?
... and who's this coed??
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 67
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 67 |
who is this coed?I dunno...sounds kind of sketchy to me...but she must be pretty ugly herself to know so much about the matter... 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
sounds kind of sketch
Not in the least bit sketchy, just all squoz down so you need a microscope to appreciate her depth of knowledge.
For those of y'all who really don't know, COED is the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the edition that has everything in the full up bookshelf wide edition but shrunk down to four pages per page and stuck in to two volumes.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Isn't that the Compact Edition? My Concise Oxford Dictionary (affectionately known as COD)is a separate work based on the OED.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Yup. Compact. My bad. Thanks, Bingley.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 81
journeyman
|
|
journeyman
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 81 |
A jolie-laide is a woman "whose ugliness is part of her charm" (Chambers). I've just looked up my French dictionary and discovered I was wrong all this time, as I had thought jolie meant "jolly" as well as "pretty". I liked the idea that she was both pretty ugly and jolly ugly.
(I can't think of a good laide pun, sorry.)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I can't think of a good laide pun, sorry
Thank you for your restraint.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
(I can't think of a good laide pun, sorry.)
Well, better laide than laie. Au lait! quoth the picador. Laissez faire sez me. My ancient Cassel's also glossed laide as 'a plain girl; a naughty girl'.
Laid back and lying down ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Hi Jenet,
If we say joliment laide it does mean that the woman is jolly ugly. Jolly as the synonym for "very" not "gleeful."
I'm not sure they use it the same in France, but it is used this way here in Québec.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
