| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1035.1 | | JIT081::DIAMOND | Pardon me? Or must I be a criminal? | Thu Mar 25 1993 18:36 | 4 |
| And why "inflation", "deflation", and "reflation" don't synonymously
oppose, uh, something or other?
And why "inflammable" is still flammable?
|
| 1035.2 | burning question | RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER | Human. All too human. | Fri Mar 26 1993 05:48 | 7 |
| "Inflammable" means "capable of becoming inflamed". While no one seems
to be think that "inflammatory" means "cooling, quieting in effect",
lots of people get thrown by "inflammable" and, what's worse, attempt
to douse their torches with "inflammable" gasoline. In order to
curtail this practice, the word "flammable" was created.
The "in-" syllable is there to intensify, not to negate.
|
| 1035.3 | My friend, Mr. Dictionary | RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER | Human. All too human. | Fri Mar 26 1993 05:52 | 5 |
| I never thought about it before, but from W9NCD the derivation of
"untoward" appears to be quite simple, and, as you suggest, meaning
"not toward". The main definition is "difficult to guide, manage, or
work with", which not far from "difficult to point toward something".
|
| 1035.4 | | NOVA::FISHER | DEC Rdb/Dinosaur | Wed Mar 31 1993 07:39 | 1 |
| that reckless and wreckless are opposites...
|
| 1035.5 | Poignant remarks | FSOA::BERICSON | MRO1-1/L87 DTN 297-3200 | Wed Mar 31 1993 08:54 | 3 |
| I heard a radio announcer and another recenly use "poignant" as being
sweetly touching.. rather than "Keenly distressing to the mind "
American Heritage
|
| 1035.6 | Reminds me of an old Smothers Brothers Schtick | TELGAR::WAKEMANLA | You Bloated Sack of Protoplasm | Wed Mar 31 1993 11:15 | 3 |
| She was 9 months "poignant", since poignant was defined as pregnant
with feeling.
|
| 1035.7 | poignant, but true | RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER | Human. All too human. | Wed Mar 31 1993 11:27 | 13 |
| Well, Hallmark has been moving toward a takeover of "poignant" for
years. The "sharp" part of its meaning is on the way out, the
"feeling" part of its meaning is taking over.
For instance, I don't think one of the examples in W9NCD -- "poignant
satire" meaning "cutting satire" -- works at all any more.
"Deeply affecting: touching" and "pleasurably stimulating" are winning
and "pungently pervasive" and "painfully affecting the feelings:
piercing" are losing.
We still have its cognate, "pungent" and a number of other words we can
use.
|
| 1035.8 | | JIT081::DIAMOND | Pardon me? Or must I be a criminal? | Wed Mar 31 1993 18:32 | 2 |
| Seems that most of the remaining participants in this conference are
pungents.
|