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#164112 12/07/06 07:25 PM
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That unfamiliar verb 'drab' somehow recalls 'drub', which seems to only ever appear as gerund form 'drubbing' and also seems to be a cast-off.


ÅΓª╥┐↕§
#164113 12/07/06 07:48 PM
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eta: Thanks for the link. Must be pretty obscure to get less than a half-dozen hits

Readily admit to laziness. But which category


dalehileman
#164114 12/07/06 08:40 PM
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>But which category

daleh, I have to say that I think your three categories are waaay too simplistic. for example, I'd have to break "snooty" into: abstruse, absurd, arcane, ambiguous, amphigoric, archaic, doubtful, enigmatic, esoteric, incomprehensible, inexplicable, inkhorn, inscrutable, jargonish, mysterious, nonce, nonsense, obsolete, occult, opaque, pedagogical, pedantic, rare, recondite, unbelievable, unclear, undefined, unfathomable, unintelligible, and vague (off the top of my head).

pundigrion, the probable forebear of pun, is merely obsolete; where used the meaning can be easily determined from context.

"A few days [we] passed at Liverpool..; and had it been quite sure that we should have found you at no inconvenient season, perhaps I might have crossed the river; in which case had there come on a storm, so as to endanger the ferry-boat, I could not have prayed to the Lord to have Mersey upon me! What a face of abomination you will make at that pundigrion!"
- Robert Southey, letter to C. W. Wynn, Esq. M.P. (1808)

-joe (snooty) friday

#164115 12/08/06 11:19 AM
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>I'd have to break "snooty" into: abstruse, absurd, arcane, ambiguous, amphigoric, archaic, doubtful, enigmatic, esoteric, incomprehensible, inexplicable, inkhorn, inscrutable, jargonish, mysterious, nonce, nonsense, obsolete, occult, opaque, pedagogical, pedantic, rare, recondite, unbelievable, unclear, undefined, unfathomable, unintelligible, and vague (off the top of my head).


And in alphabetical order, no less!!! That is some head.


TEd
#164116 12/08/06 01:01 PM
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And you thought *I* was bad!

#164117 12/08/06 01:36 PM
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> And you thought *I* was bad!






formerly known as etaoin...
#164118 12/08/06 04:28 PM
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tsu: "daleh, I have to say that I think your three categories are waaay too simplistic"

Almost any division into three can be called simplistic. The three categories are useful in deciding whether to use a particular word. The general rule is to use 1 almost anytime, 2 when its meaning is clearer but rarely 3

Thank you for the rundown on "pundigrion". Tentatively, then, I'd guess it in cat. 2c or maybe 3c


dalehileman
#164119 12/08/06 04:47 PM
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so, dal, where do you class the neos you dig up from the UD?

#164120 12/08/06 06:09 PM
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An entry in common use might qualify in 1. If it had been succeeded by a slightly more obscure but nonetheless more descriptive term then it likely beliongs in 2, etc If either were in danger of dropping out of use one might add a or b

Am I not clear or should I pursue it further--thank you for the q


dalehileman
#164121 12/08/06 07:12 PM
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And where do you stick your persiflage?


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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