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#47212 11/08/2001 5:28 PM
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enthusiast
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Howye all

I'm new here and I'd like ta make all yer acquaintances. The thing is that I'm classified as a "stranger" and whereas the dictionary denotation of this word is a bear who is not known or new, the connotation is more of an intruder or someone who may not be trusted. Like a dirty old man in a raincoat or somethin. Ammen't I right?

I'm looken fer yer suggestions on a new word ta describe new comers ta this site. What about that wonderful recent word of the day - "neophyte?"


#47213 11/08/2001 5:44 PM
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The answer is that "strangers" are just very welcome new contributors. We need a lot of new ideas. I hope you have a gratifyingly large number, to which I may have the pleasure of replying. Howdy, stranger!


#47214 11/08/2001 5:45 PM
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an intruder or someone who may not be trusted

Only to the truly paranoid.

Some of us is stranger nor others. And don' outgrow it.


#47215 11/08/2001 5:57 PM
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this cross thread is in honor of the Lone Stranger:

http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=24811


oh... wait... that was the Lone Ranger. never mind.


#47216 11/08/2001 6:14 PM
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Dear GallantTed: now that you have been adequately welcomed, may I without giving offence, be so rude as to ask you where you got that etymology for stranger involving bears?


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GT:

You must be very careful which of my acquaintances you try to make. Some of them are married; some are spoken for. Some are both. And whatever you do, don;t come on to HoT!!!

There's a few of them, though, who are fair game. Or fairly game. Can't remember which.

Welcome aboard my eponymic friend.



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[indignant rant]And whatever you do, don;t come on to HoT!!!

and what may i ask brought that on? i am a model of decorum! I gently flirt--(M-W 10th-- 2b-- to behave amorously without serious intent but i have no favorites-- every man here has received sweet affectionate notes.. and no one has been singled out for secret messages in white..and i think, none slighted..

i haven't left a sting of broken hearts, not am i likely too..
dear sir, you sully my good name!
[/indignant rant]



#47219 11/08/2001 6:50 PM
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a bear who is not known or new

Would you be a Mahony, then?


#47220 11/08/2001 7:05 PM
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Nor a Pug A. Mahone.


#47221 11/08/2001 7:10 PM
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Well, Stranger, if you're a bear, I hope you're a Kodiak. Also, are you the one who wears gold beneath your fur who loves either Snow White or Rose Red, can't remember which?

By the way, I think you'll enjoy the synonyms for strange, particularly the ones I put in red:



Synonyms: strange, peculiar, odd, queer, quaint, outlandish, singular, eccentric, curious.

I think it would be a wonderful thing to be an outlandish, curious Kodiak bear!

Happy growling,
I wouldn't know what a flirt would be if one hit me smack dab in the middle of my face
WW


#47222 11/08/2001 7:36 PM
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>Synonyms: strange, peculiar, odd, queer, quaint, outlandish, singular, eccentric, curious

w, your thesaurus is woefully *weak! without half trying I could add selcouth and tramontane (but I wouldn't want you to think of me as weird or eerily eldritch).


#47223 11/08/2001 8:07 PM
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Or anomalous, exotic, and (coined) xenogenetic


#47224 11/08/2001 8:31 PM
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Bill:

Think person instead of bear. I interpreted the ursal growl as referring to a generic whom he called bear.

TEd

As in Ted D Bear, perhaps.



TEd
#47225 11/08/2001 10:02 PM
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What about that wonderful
recent word of the day - "neophyte?"


Well, GT, it's my belief that since that word literally means something that's newly planted, it really refers to the newest occupants of a cemetery. But if you really dig it...


#47226 11/08/2001 10:19 PM
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Curiouser and curiouser. Have you talked to Alice yet? There are some that say I'm Alice.............heh heh.


#47227 11/09/2001 1:05 AM
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Thank ye all fer yer marvellous wellcome.
So many name ta remember and some of them don't even have vowels - how is a bear ta cope at all?

Wwh - I got that explanation about stranger bears from me tedasaurus. Being the most educationest bear around here I'll give ya a little lesson in Gaelic. (Prudes and the faint hearted, please look away now) It's Pog Mo Thoin (sounds like hone) which litterally means "kiss my bottom". Of course around here it sounds better if ya say "kiss me arse."
Mahony is actually pronounced Mahon-y, not Ma-hone-y. I appreciate yer efforts all the same.

TeD and Troy - do I feel a bit of tension between ye here? I'm not here fer love - unless ya mean the love of words and all things wordy.

Wordsmith - Thanks fer looken up "strange" fer me, but ya seem ta be getten yer aggitives and noums mixed up. Me mind is bogglen at the names ya were tryen ta call me - a curiousity? an oddness? Terrable altagether.

I see I'll have me work cut out fer me around here. Still, it'll be worth it, if I manage ta pick up a soupcon or two.

Which one of ye was tryen ta call me a grave digger? I assure ya that all me digging is done in a very jolly manner. Jovially and jocundly even.

Goldilocks isn't an Irish woman - she's a universal parvenu. And I'm not an Irishman - I'm an Irish teddy bear- there's a huge differance, ya know. Me Muse is a lovely lady altagether.


#47228 11/09/2001 2:11 AM
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Dear GT: I hope occasionally to beg the benefit of your knowledge of Gaelic to help me with some bits of pronunciation. I did know how to pronounce Samhain, but most of the other words I once could pronounce I have now forgotten.


#47229 11/10/2001 12:38 PM
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The association of strange = foreign and strange = enemy is common enough in languages, but of course we also have stranger = guest.

The words 'guest' and 'hostile' are related, being the Germanic and Romance reflexes of PIE *ghost-, 'stranger', acquiring in Latin especially the sense 'enemy', thus a host = an army.

It is unrelated to ghost = spectre, or to host = eucharist.

It is probably related to host = one who receives you, from Latin stem hospit- (so also hospital, hospice, hotel), which is probably from hosti-pot- 'guest master', the second bit being from the root pot- 'power'. The same second part appears in Greek des-pot- 'house master'.

:-)


#47230 11/10/2001 1:17 PM
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Au contraire, dear teddy, I offered some adjectives for you to swipe up with your paw for the fun of them.

And, tsuwm, I never intended that woeful list to be comprehensive--just bear-baiting, actually. Eldritch is a familiar stranger to me; your other two curiosities are brand new.

Always grateful for the kindness of strangers,
Blanche


#47231 11/10/2001 9:51 PM
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I'm looken fer yer suggestions on a new word ta describe new comers ta this site. What about that wonderful recent word of the day - "neophyte?"
I was a "Stranger" here once myself and I asked the very same question as you did for the very same reasons. (As I recall, I also proposed "neophyte" and also the more shop-worn "newbie".) I was welcomed as warmly as you were (and are) by all, but no-one confronted the issue directly. I can't exactly explain why, GallantTed. I guess there are 'mysteries' here that one only penetrates with time. (There aren't any secret handshakes that I know of.) For some, these 'mysteries' may enhance the allure. Perhaps being a "Stranger" is thought of at some level as an initiation period. Perhaps that's a good idea. Who knows? In any case, welcome to AWADtalk.






#47232 11/10/2001 10:13 PM
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Dear plutarch: it is my understanding that the titles of participants was part of a package that Wordsmith bought, and would require some painful and expensive software re-write to change. I'm sure no putdowns were intended, or should be perceived.


#47233 11/10/2001 10:23 PM
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>I'm sure no putdowns were intended, or should be perceived.

that's right bill -- those have come from the participants.


#47234 11/10/2001 10:37 PM
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Well, well, well... if it isn't time for a heads-up, ther'll never be one...

http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=animalsafari&Number=3265

There was a time when I played the advocate of the devil 'imself (NTTAWWT)... and now my intentions are completely clear... alwaysHi, tsuwm...

However, not to confuze my reasons fer posting the above link... it was one of my all time faverits 'til a virus spread thru the last 16 posts or so and my 'puter woodn't load it anymore...

A hartie welcome to moss (again), milum, plutarch, wordminstrel and my sertain-to-be spellcheck buddie GallantTed.

As to the suggestshun that yer in fer an "initiation" period... well, ask anyW'ON pivately... and to suggest that there are hidden rules means ya ain't lookin' hard enough (not to suggest that you should, but since yer aksin'Hi, Keiva)... you should send archie a private message and see what (s)he thinks... or better yet, ask Alice. (BTW, beware of emoticons... they're pure evil, I tell ya!

TEd - You prolly alreddy thawt of this one, but, I think you've been G-Ted. (I'm still giggling about "Flockhart"...)


#47235 11/11/2001 1:39 AM
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the titles of participants was part of a package that Wordsmith bought, and would require some painful and expensive software re-write to change
Thank u, wwh, and tsuwm, both. Explication lifts the veil of 'mystery'. Aside to GallantTed: We both have our answer now. I don't know about you, but think I preferred the intrigue.


#47236 11/11/2001 1:51 AM
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ask anyWO'N privately

Privately schmivately! Here's what my good buddy Hyla had to say in public when I ventured to launch my first major thread here: Whitman - you definitely merit the "stranger" appellation under your name, but I applaud your resolve. remember Froggy Daddy?

"initiation" period

Aha! So my "frat hazing" crack back on the Nautical thread was on the mark after all! all in good fun, insel!

you should send archie a private message and see what (s)he thinks...

Better, yet, send a PM to the immortal Vixey...whoever, whatever, and wherever she (he, it?) may be!

#47237 11/11/2001 7:59 AM
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>There aren't any secret handshakes

Nope. Just pull my finger.



TEd
#47238 11/12/2001 12:16 PM
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fingerpulling: any meteorolgists here, TEd and dr. bill?


#47239 11/13/2001 2:50 AM
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Here's an outtake from a similar discussion on an old "memory lane" thread recently referred to. It just had to be here!

I agree, FS, "stranger" doesn't seem right. My perception is that the longer one sticks around here, the stranger one's posts get.



Moderated by  Jackie 

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