h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi, Deborah... I was reading a grammar book by a man who was a bit of a grouch, and I suppose a pedant, I'll see if I can find his name. (H. Blamires, that's it). He coined the word gerciple, meaning gerund + participle. I admit I'd be hard put to it to define one, but I can recognise one now. Philoxenia is a word I learned on the language and linguistics thread. (Here it is if you're not already there...) http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F19585?thread=508032 It is the opposite of xenophobia, which you'd think would be xenophilia but apparently not... Geranium is a nice word. My sister's mother-in-law wanted my niece to be called that. but my sister refused.

I looked up Philoxenia and concluded that is might be the opposite to xenophobia but dismissed it as xenophilia seemed more likely.

philo- comb. form (also phil- before a vowel or h) denoting a liking for what is specified. [Greek philos friend]

xenophobia n. hatred or fear of foreigners.  xenophobic adj. [Greek xenos strange, stranger]

So it comes out as a friend to strangers. I'll have to remember that - that is if I can ever prounounce it correctly.

Nothing wrong with Geranium:

geranium n. (pl. -s) 1 (in general use) cultivated pelargonium. 2 herb or shrub bearing fruit shaped like a crane's bill. [Greek geranos crane]

Not to be confused with germanium:

germanium Symbol Ge. A lustrous hard metalloid element belonging to group IV of the periodic table; a.n. 32; r.a.m. 72.59; r.d. 5.36; m.p. 937°C; b.p. 2830°C. It is found in zinc sulphide and in certain other sulphide ores, and is mainly obtained as a by-product of zinc smelting. It is also present in some coal (up to 1.6%). Small amounts are used in specialized alloys but the main use depends on its semiconductor properties. Chemically, it forms compounds in the +2 and +4 oxidation states, the germanium(IV) compounds being the more stable. The element also forms a large number of organometallic compounds. Predicted in 1871 by Mendeleev (eka-silicon), it was discovered by Winkler in 1886.

Donald

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But as a name ... actually, I might have considered it (with a couple of nice middle names in case she hated it when she grew up) but my sister wouldn't have a bar of it...

I like most plant names and a lot of anatomical names; hypophyseal fossa, vesicle, lambdoid, popliteal.
I also like the sound and rhythm of a lot of non-english words; dangereuse, enschuldigung, sympathique

The only word I have a strong aversion to is the 'C' word, probably because of its connotations.
Incidentally, before it acquired these connotations, one of its denotations was 'scabbard', a place to put a sword.

Ah, enlightenment - thanks Apple/Donald. Also thanks Donald for the definition of geranium - I've often wondered what the difference was between a geranium and a pelargonium, so now I know

Apple, Geranium as a name does sound pretty - after all we have Daisy, Rose, Lily, etc.

Deb

Nice words = splendid, grace, glee, joyous, evanesce, shine, piffle, preposterous, tiger, quack, orthogonal

I have quite an irrational liking for the word "burgle"! For some reason it sounds very amusing!

Words I don't like = moist, pulsate, swab, undulate

enschuldigung sie bitte...is that excuse me in German? It does have a rather nice sound to it.

There's a lot of agreement on the 'C' word. That's interesting about the scabbard - you can see how it got it's newer meaning. Can't say I've ever thought of it's origins before. More enlightenment! I'm learning such a lot today.

Deb

Like:

Heckle

Boing (try saying it ten times without smiling)

Hate:

Performance (always makes me think of pompous 'suits' who'd rather have a pot of money than a friend)

Absolutely (Note aside to 'absolutely' users: er, I think there's already a word in the English language for your purpose and it goes by the name of 'yes')

Indeed (especially when it's tagged superfluously onto a sentence such as 'I am indeed')

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*Childish sniggering.*

I like pretty much any Latin word.

Hate:

'bling bling' (When people use it as though they're trying to say "yeah, I'm really streetwise and a savvy capitalist")

J-Lo (You don't know her. Don't use her nickname)

Hootoo

Maccy Dees

Like:

Groin/Groyne

Ivy and Laurel, nice words and nice names, althougb Ivy is an old lady's name.

Here's a nice anatomical word - buccopharyngeal membrane.

'Bling bling' is only good when Terry Wogan says it, then it's funny.

Other words that grate on me: Innit, lush, anything that's had '-isation' stuck to the end (e.g. paradigmisation... I kid you not)

I agree with some of yours, Guru.. especially hootoo. It sounds like an owl with an echo...

Like: melancholy, lycopodium, episcopalian

Dislike: udder, gouge, proselytize

I reckon the 'c-word' has just had bad publicity.

I used to not like it much; these days I think it is quite fine.

Another favourite word of mine is happenstance.


az

The c-word is horrid, as is the f-word. Some people use the f-word really superflously in conversation. I developed an aversion to the word "bloody" after considering what it means and realising how repellent it is.

Splendid words = perchance, haphazard, providence

I loathe the "c" word but have found that it is dependant on the way it's pronounced. Went to see a band recently and the Geordie lead singer used the word to describe the lead singer of another (more famous) band. Because the vowel sound was an "oo" rather than an "uh", it sounded fine!

Weird!

That would be coot:

coot n. 1 black aquatic bird with a white horny plate on its forehead. 2 colloq. stupid person. [probably Low German]

Donald

words i like: obsequious, ubiquitous

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why is it repellant?