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#161198 07/28/06 06:29 PM
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Logwood Offline OP
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happenstance

n. chance occurrence


Anyone heard about this portmanteau before? I ran into that for the first time today and I like it!

#161199 07/28/06 06:35 PM
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Anyone heard about this portmanteau before?

Yes, it's been part of the English language for quite some time.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
#161200 07/28/06 06:37 PM
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first attested by OED2 from 1897..
1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 557/1, I guess it was just a ‘happenstance’. 1911 Dialects Notes III. 544 Happenchance, happenstance, happening, circumstance. Used facetiously. Blend-formations.

#161201 07/28/06 06:55 PM
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Logwood Offline OP
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Facetiously - hah. There you go, every facetious word tingles my senses! can't believe I haven't heard it until now... can't be common though, right? I read about 30+ books and have about 10+ sites relating to weird/uncommon words on my favorites. Let alone that I have 3 dictionaries and 2 thesaurus that I browse occasionally. It's just surprising to me I haven't heard it before! arrgh!

#161202 07/28/06 10:39 PM
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Try out of print books or possibly Jane Austin and contemporaries. Or are they too early?

#161203 07/29/06 04:31 AM
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try Google[Books]: 18800 pages on happenstance

#161204 07/29/06 07:00 PM
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I've seen the word in print and heard it in conversation, logwood. It's not used very often though.

#161205 08/01/06 02:19 AM
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If the first citation from the OED is 1897 then, yes, Jane Austen is about 80 years too early.

Logwood, we all come across words from time to time, which, while not uncommon enough for hogwash (talking of which, isn't it about time for another round?), are new to us.


Bingley
#161206 08/20/06 06:35 PM
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Quote:

I've seen the word in print and heard it in conversation, logwood. It's not used very often though.




"Once is happenstance; twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action!"
-- Ian Fleming / James Bond somewhere - I think it's Goldfinger (late 1950s)

#161207 08/20/06 08:15 PM
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