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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 218
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 218 |
sextet - nothing to do with sex. Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day, the possibilities for sex without two partners notwithstanding.
This reminded me of a writing technique, used by several well-published writers, where the author created the plot of a book by configuring a plot around several randomly chosen words. The magic, they often said, was in the subconscious. A much more interesting story could be had if you start with such an odd (or random) framework.
We could look at sextet and think of a hundred fascinating etymological ways it could relate to sex.
Brandon
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>Which leaves me to wonder about the rest of Anu's "unrelated" words. Anyone know? okay, let's look at commode (the noun) and discommode (a verb) to start with, commode comes directly from French and can be thought of, generally, as a convenience of sorts. in turn this comes from the F adj. commode, from L commodus convenient, accommodating. discommode, meaning to inconvenience, comes from the obsolete verb commode, to suit, to put in order, to accommodate. QED2  [gyrovague is also easy, the L root -vagus means wandering and gyrus means circuit]
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
According to Charles Funk, in A Hog on Ice:
Red herring is nothing more than herring that has been cured by smoke, a process that changes the color of the flesh to a reddish hue. The herring is intended to be eaten after such curing, but dog trainers learned long ago that red herring had a peculiarly persistent odor and was very useful, if trailed over the ground, for training a dog to follow a scent.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
Which leaves me to wonder about the rest of Anu's "unrelated" words. Anyone know? My faith in Anu lies broken upon the rocks.
Not too fast now. He never said that they were completely unrelated, he just said that they weren't what they appear:
This week's AWAD visits these red-herring words, words with meanings that are not the first things that come to mind.
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