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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
It’s funny how easy it is to remember some things from school and not others. We used to have a test on a Friday of general knowledge. I was an expert at capital cities (although I couldn’t place some of the countries on a map). Anyway, it certainly increased my chances of winning (but not making) my first £1,000,000.
Here’s some of the proper terms (collective nouns) that were regulars in the test.
a shrewdness of apes
a destruction of wild cats
a skulk of foxes
an exaltation of larks
a paddling of ducks (on water)
a team of ducks (in flight)
I’ve just looked them up and realised that they didn’t teach us:
a superfluity of nuns
- I wonder why?
Which words stick in your mind from long ago and why?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Pythagoras, Jo--
I remember being awed by the fact that someone from so
long ago had such a long-lasting effect on what is taught.
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 112
member
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 112 |
I remember mispronounciations, which usually caused some embarrassment: "civil" was "kivil", and try saying "unfed" with the stress on "un".
"Dad, what does 'unfed' (as above) mean?"
"YCLIU" pre-empting tswum
That's how I got started with dictionary and Thesaurus.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
yes! mispronunciations... epitome I read as EP i tome paradigm was PAR a DIG em another word I remember is career, used as a verb, as in to career down a mountain road -- I used this on an English paper and got marked down for making up a word! http://members.aol.com/tsuwm
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
> got marked down for making up a word!
Same problem. I used "oderous" (in the sense of smell) for "odious" (unpleasant) in the same way that Shakespeare had in the play we'd been studying the week before (poss the Scottish play) and got marked down for an incorrect word - I was cross - if it was OK for Shakespeare then...
It hastened my enthusiasm for giving up English at the earliest opportunity.
(It took me ages to work out epi-tome too).
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 112
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 112 |
"Persephone" was some sort of communication instrument at first glance! Never could quite master Greek mythology...
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
When I was in the eighth grade (13 yrs old) I was a finalist in the school's spelling bee. I lost on "aeronautics." The English teacher reading the words to us pronounced it "ar-E-o-nau-tics." I knew the ae combination form, but went with his pronunciation. I have never recovered from that :-)
PS Jo - is it bad luck in your parts to utter the word "Hamlet" when you are in rehearsal for said play?
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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Jo, VERGES Yes, I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an old man and no honester than I. DOGBERRY Comparisons are odorous... Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, Scene v 8-D http://members.aol.com/tsuwm
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Got my Danes and my Scots mixed up. Jo, is it considered bad luck to utter the word "Macbeth" etc, etc???
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 28
newbie
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newbie
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 28 |
Yes, I too was marked down for making up a word: I used fracas in an essay and was told it didn't exist. Clearly it still rankles, as this was a wee while ago!
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