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addict
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addict
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On onelook, this word only appears in one general dictionary and one botanical dictionary.
The general dictionary (InfoPlease) says it means hirtellous and that hirtellous means "minutely hirsute. Also,hirsutulous." I find "minutely" somewhat vague. Is that small hairs, a small patch of hairs, sparse hairs, ...
I liked the botanical dictionary's "slightly hirsute" better - until I found that they define hirsute as "Pubescent with rather coarse or stiff hairs." (^_^)
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journeyman
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journeyman
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What are the types that you speak of with no pretense of archaisms?
I gather that type 1 words are used in everyday verbal communications, and type 2 words are somewhat more difficult. Are the distinctions purely subjective, or is there some rubric? How many types are there?
I exist! I am a pedant! I have a foreboding signature!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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As I understand it, Type 1 words, as you say, are used in everyday verbal communications, Type 2 are words you recognize but wouldn't normally use, Type 3 are words that you have to look up in a dictionary. This categorization is purely subjective; one person's type 3 word might be another's Type 1.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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> This categorization is purely subjective
it is indeed. however, I think it works on a basic level. think three overlapping bell curves.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Fal, Cur: Yes, good. Eta has also defined the categories pretty well in http://wordsmith.org/board/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/165723/page/1/fpart/5Join me in my quest to proliferate the Type-2 which however wouldn't generally be considered "difficult". Of course the distinctions are somewhat subjective but it's fun to speculate on the divarications The last is of Type-3; bestowed herewith only for its heuristic value but in a spirit of persiflage
dalehileman
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Carpal Tunnel
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that link goes all wonky for me, try this: language taxonomiesthat's a link to the whole thread; I think it's worth reading. there are others who think it's not.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Especially not for Helen, bless her soul; but thank you for the link
dalehileman
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> Especially not for Helen
yeah, she doesn't like you.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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dale, you got off on the wrong foot with me with your original def'n of type-3 words: Snooty words not used much in everyday conversation, eg, cachinnation
for me, this is remindful of those who railed against the earliest English lexicographers (16th C) who included "inkhorn terms" in their dictionaries; that is, "dark words" or Latinate neologisms (such as employed by a variety of writers since the 14th C).
later (17th C), many inkhorn terms having been accepted (and others perforce rejected), dictionaries became the repository for "hard words." this term was far less pejorative, as it was accepted that many of our best writers used language "not used much in everyday conversation" and needing explication.
surely there is no need at this late date to revert to such a negative classification of words. I for one take umbrage at the notion that my vocabulary may somehow be thought of as "Snooty."
---
I'll be back later (hi Milo) to provide examples from this earlier age, if that would be helpful.
- joe (Chasing the Sun) friday
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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> Snooty
and I say that nearly anyone else on this forum could have used the word snooty in the same way and everyone would have known what was meant, and the connotation thereof.
formerly known as etaoin...
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