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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13 |
Are you as annoyed as I by the promotion of every useless knick-knack or piece of junk as a "collectable" (alternate spelling, "collectible")? Seems to me the word has some value when used as an adjective in referrence to bills as collectable or uncollectable, but seems rather meaningless in its noun usage noted above, except as an indication that the item being promoted is not worth one's attention. Do you know of better words which can be used to distinguish items of real value and items which have been produced for the sole purpose of sale to a gullible public? (Please pardon the trite phrase.) Should we eschew use of the noun "collectable" altogether?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Hey, fellow Kentuckian! Didja know there are three of us signed up now?  Before I get to the use of the word, I'll reiterate my gripe about the spelling. One way or t'other, and preferably the right one!  Danged confusing, mutter... I would also like to see its use as a noun dropped, if all it's going to mean is that somebody wants you to spend your money. Danged greedy people, grumble, mutter... But then again, maybe we should keep it, for, as you suggested, it already has the connotation of something manufactured to be marketed as such. I can't think of a single-word term for something valuable that one can collect.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
Jackie said I can't think of a single-word term for something valuable that one can collect.Mathom 
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
OK, Max, I'll bit. What in expletive is Mathom?
I'm unoriginal enough to want to collect pictures of dead presidents. wwh
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
N.B. the earlier wink: From The Lord of the Rings: "anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom."
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Jeffrey asks, "Do you know of better words which can be used to distinguish items of real value and items which have been produced for the sole purpose of sale to a gullible public?"
The problem is, as soon as a word becomes sufficiently common in use, with positive connotations, it will be usurped by the sales sharks. The very same who gave us the abomination, "free gift."
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 140
member
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member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 140 |
The very same who gave us the abomination, "free gift."
Would he be the one who also gave us "forward planning"?
lusy
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
"Mathom"--excellent indeed. What a great pleasure to incorporate a word from _The Hobbit_! (One of my most cherished childhood memories is of my mother reading that book to my brother and me each night before bedtime.)
I have a word that I use to describe many things that pass for items of value worth collecting--"trash." I have an even stronger word for Beanie Babies in particular but I shouldn't post it here.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
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Long ago, i read somewhere, (and stole for personal use) the quip-- Collectables? you buy something to collect? I find things tend to collect all by themselves!
I am like the Hobbit, and find there are many things i have trouble throwing away-- odd gloves --when you've lost one good leather glove, or odd earings (ditto) playbills (and ticket stubs) Moving is the only way to get rid of things! and even that is not a fool proof method.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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items which have been produced for the sole purpose of sale to a gullible public?"
Gullectibles?
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