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#83448 10/12/02 01:09 AM
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Hello
I'm a new subscriber. I teach English in NZ. Do you know where that is? (Just checking he he!)
My question:

do you think these words are related:

generation
gene etc
genocide
genetic
generator
Genesis
genital

??

Also, for people who read French: a very interesting book about "the love affair between the English & French languages" : Honni soit qui mal y pense.
Written by a very nice French lady, Henriette Walters.
Jeanette



#83449 10/12/02 01:21 AM
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Welcome, Nettie!

In reply to:

do you think these words are related


Yes.

Best regards,
WW, who usually doesn't give smart-A answers to questions, but I couldn't resist this time!


#83450 10/12/02 03:18 AM
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Welcome aBoard, Jeanette. I am delighted that another Zilder has joined us (no, I'm not one, but I sure have a high opinion of the ones I've come to know here)! I'd like to try reading that book some time, though I expect I've forgotten too much French to really take it in.



#83451 10/12/02 03:37 AM
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Welcome nettie01. I found a good link on the Indo-European roots of words containing gen.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE143.html

The entry itself doesn't copy and paste well, but here's the meat and potatoes of it:

ENTRY:gen

DEFINITION:Also gen-. To give birth, beget; with derivatives referring to aspects and results of procreation and to familial and tribal groups. Oldest form *gen 1-, becoming *gen 1- in centum languages.

Reading about the etymology of words always makes me wonder about the early people that first came up with these sounds to denote things. Did they evolve from grunts and hoots, or was there some divine intervention? If those early people could see us now, would they be amazed at how some arbitrary choice for a word is still in use in some form today? Ah, but I ramble. It's late. Time for bed...



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Alex, you've never heard of the Ding Dong Theory and the Bow Wow Theory of language? As is obvious from the names, these related theories posit that many words (or nouns, at least) came into being from the sounds which things make. Of course, this doesn't account for hippopotamus .


#83453 10/12/02 09:32 AM
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Thanks for that Alex.


#83454 10/12/02 01:52 PM
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And a nonsequitur:
"Gen - Gen means information. If you have the gen then you know what is going on. "



#83455 10/13/02 08:23 PM
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Kia ora, Nettie, kei te pehea koe? It's lovely to have another person from the non-penal side of the Tasman join us. My presence here is somewhat illusory at present, so until I'm back for real, enjoy yourself, and stick around. Noho ora mai.


#83456 10/13/02 08:37 PM
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Hi Nettie01 (there are more of you?). I, too, hail from Helengrad. Welcome to our somewhat battered sanctuary. What part of the country do you inhabit?



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#83457 10/14/02 01:26 PM
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Gen means information

Isn't that from "General Knowledge", Bill? In which case it would be a sequitur.


Welcome to Godzone's fourth* island, nettie!

(I knew we shouldn't have left those two together.)


* I'm including Stewart Island, but discounting anything smaller.



#83458 10/14/02 01:32 PM
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Welcome, welcome!
Do stick around. You'll find us all a bit batty now and then,but basically good hearted. Hang in with us.


#83459 10/14/02 08:14 PM
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Fourth island? What you on, Shona?



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#83460 10/14/02 09:03 PM
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Thank you for your replies and messages and advice.
Maori even! on this list.
Ka kite ano! (see you later)
Jeanette


#83461 10/14/02 10:19 PM
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virtual islands i think... stewart island is a virtual island... and Kiwi might even be another... and eventually NZ might be an archipeligo at least a virtual one, with some of its geography here


#83462 10/15/02 03:45 PM
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Fourth island? What you on, Shona?

Another planet, apparently.
Just checked here:
http://nz.com/quiz/quiz.html
and apparently there are 5. How's that then? Counting some of those teeny islands in the north?




#83463 10/15/02 08:58 PM
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There are only three islands worth mentioning. That's the North Island (Te Ika e Maui for those of you with PC genes), the South Island (Te Wai Pounamu, yadda) and Stewart Island (Rakiura, likewise). The rest don't count. Dunno where that quiz got the other two from. Probably from pissing up on Waiheke Island.



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#83464 10/16/02 10:38 AM
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WOW, shona, how did you ever find that cool quiz? I scored 6. When I checked my score against others', I learned that an ELVIS GARG scored a perfect 10...
[whine]Now, how the heck was I supposed to know that rugby was THE sport, when all you-all ever talk about are the football teams?[/whine]


#83465 10/16/02 12:31 PM
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There are only three islands worth mentioning

Exactly. And AWADtalk is implicitly defined in my first post as Godzone's fourth island.

Phew. Thought I'd really lost it there.

As if.



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