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epicaricacy is by now *almost accepted (it remains to be seen if OED3 will add it). 3870 ghits and it's come up many times here, but this is the original thread. it looks as though the Dictionary of Early English was Mrs Byrne's source -- at least that's listed in her Bibliography. - joe (there's no Schadenfreude in this for me) friday edit: the mystery now is how should one pronounce this veeblefetzer.
Last edited by tsuwm; 08/30/07 12:22 PM.
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"Isn't this where I came in? Hello, I must be going."
My main objection to epicaricacy still stands. I've have yet to see it in the wild, outside of lists of inkhorn terms. I've seen the Greek word, επιχαιρικακια (epikhairikakia) 'schadenfreude' in Aristotle and (still in Greek letters) in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, but never in the supposed form it occurs in, earliest, in a later, posthumous edition of Bailey's Dictionary. Of course, if folks really begin to use it, I'll have no problem with its wordhood. I don't see why a Greek loanword is any more English than a German one.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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I assume by "in the wild" you mean an "olde" usage, rather than something recent.
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I assume by "in the wild" you mean an "olde" usage, rather than something recent.I mean something which was written before it appeared in Bailey's / Shipley's / Mrs Byrne's. For me, it's like the word dord 'density' in the 2nd Merriam-Webster. It wasn't a word, i.e., it didn't exist before, but it got added by mistake. After that, sure if somebody wants to use it, go ahead and use it. The funny thing is I don't see a society for promoting dord, but perhaps I should start one à la Bob the Angry Flower's infamous rant or the APS.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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ONE day in 1527, Paracelsus let it be known that he would reveal the greatest secret of medicine to the inhabitants of Basle. The esteemed doctors and academics of the university, dressed in their rich robes and fur hats, gathered to hear his words of wisdom. Secretly they hoped the roving physician and alchemist would make a fool of himself; already they could feel the warm glow of epicaricacy. When Paracelsus appeared he was dressed, as usual, not in the costly clothes of a respected academic, but "in the plain smock of an artisan, stained and smeared with the residues of the chemistry laboratory". In his hands he bore the great secret - a dish which he held aloft for all the learned company to see. It contained "steaming human excrement". As the outraged audience hurried away in disgust, Paracelsus's words echoed after them: "If you will not hear the mysteries of putrefactive fermentation, you are unworthy of the name of physicians!" He did indeed believe that the essential truth of alchemy was expressed in the axiom "decay is the beginning of all birth". Confronting his enemies with "a bowl of crap" carried a less esoteric but equally eloquent message.
- Phillip Ball {with a steaming bowl of poetic license}
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Ooh, yes: long live the APS!
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I don't see why a Greek loanword is any more English than a German one. has been englished. When you see shaddenfroyde then you can complain.
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englished
It remains to be seen. As soon as you can use it, like schadenfreude, without glossing it, then I'll be convinced, but unhappy with it all.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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englished... convinced, but unhappy with it ... That would please me.
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... convinced, but unhappy with it ...
That would please me.
Omigawd--[shouting with laughter e]!
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