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#53992 01/27/02 04:47 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have to admit I was skunked until I looked this one up (came across it in the new Smithsonian).
The word is not listed in Cambridge or Merriam-Webster, and there's only 4 hits on OneLook, all pretty generic with no etymolgies. This is the best I could find, from YourDictionary.com:

mustelid n : fissiped fur-bearing carnivorous mammals [syn: musteline mammal, musteline]

Any OED'ers, or anyone, whom I could badger for more background on this word? I'm assuming Latin. But since I left most of my Latin back in 9th grade with a one-year course, "Salve magistra!," I'll have to toss this one over to Faldage.


#53993 01/27/02 07:34 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Aw, W'ON, this would have been a perfect Hogwash word. Drat!


#53994 01/27/02 08:54 AM
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M
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#53995 01/27/02 02:51 PM
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old hand
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I'll see what I can ferret out on this one. Should be able to weasel something out of my Chambers.....

stales


#53996 01/27/02 03:01 PM
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wwh Offline
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From Jackie's post about poisonous PMs we know we have a black and white striped mustelid member on the board, a cowardly character assassin, capable of discharging a vile odor caused by a sulfur containing secretion, a horrible mercaptan mephitis.

As usual, a URL http://members.aol.com/ctraisi/fundpage/skunk2.htm


#53997 01/27/02 08:46 PM
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fissiped

adj., having the toes separated from Lat. fissus p.ppl of findere, to split + ped(em), pes, foot.


#53998 01/27/02 11:44 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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So, when someone says "He smells so musty", they are refering to a musteline, not a basement, smell. Now I get it. D'oh! Not musky though. No, no, not musky.


#53999 01/28/02 12:22 AM
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wwh Offline
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fissiped Vertebrate Zoology. 1. having the toes separated to the base,
as in cloven-hooved animals.having the toes separated to the base, as in
cloven-hooved animals. 2. of or relating to the carnivorous suborder
Fissipeda, which includes cats, dogs, and bears.of or relating to the
carnivorous suborder Fissipeda, which includes cats, dogs, and bears.

Dear Faldage: does this conflict with definition you have?


#54000 01/28/02 01:28 PM
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Dr. Bill

I see, rereading my defintion, that the toes are separated from Latin. Perhaps, rather, they should have been separated from a comma.


#54001 01/30/02 05:42 PM
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mustelid comes from the Latin name for weasel (mustela) and was adopted as a genus name (Mustelidę) ca. 1758.
-joe wednesday


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