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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I don't hear anything negative about factotum either. To me it is as Hyla says, someone who does a little bit of everything. I sometimes refer to my job title as factotal engineer.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
I'll admit that factotum is at one end of the spectrum of minions, but (in literature) the factotum is often a faithful manservant who not only does "a little bit of everything" for his master, but will actually do *anything.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
who ... will actually do *anything.
Well, I'll be honi-soited
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
My OED says: facare=do,make and totum = the whole factotum : a person with delegated general powers or a servant who manages all his Master's affairs.
Well now......
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
wow, I think we both got our Latin roots a bit wrong. I was in a rush and wrote fare, which is Italian rather than Latin, and only realized it when I read your "facare." Saving the true Latin mavens on the board a bit of trouble, I'll correct us both and note that it should in fact be facere.
And I think I'll go try to use "lickspittle" in office conversation and see what happens.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
A great list, Tsuwm. It says something about the human race that there should be such a large number of words to describe a certain type of person. Surely you have the same phenomenon the other way; i.e., that there are a goodly number of synonyms for a certain nice or honorable or lovable type, but it seems that words proliferate more for the bad types. Think how many there are for "busybody" or "bluenose" or "upstart" etc. Indeed, we could start a new game or contest for gathering synonyms for types of people.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
It says something about the human race that there should be such a large number of words to describe a certain type of person.
Yeah, think of all the synonyms for prostitute.
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