A Conversation for Ask h2g2

mater matris

Post 15001

Cheerful Dragon

All I've been able to find for kurg is that it's a geographical term (source: merriam-webster online dictionary). Zerg seems to be an alien race in the Starcraft game. Can't find anything else for either word.


mater matris

Post 15002

Wand'rin star

I was hoping to be up early enough to post that number.smiley - starsmiley - star


To my leet friends

Post 15003

Wand'rin star

I am loth to disagree with ~jwf~,but since "bus" definitely has an accepted second meaning,I see no reason why "camp" shouldn't acquire another.
I don't think coining of new words or new meanings for old words is the same as textspeak,although that too seems to have spawned a few neologisms -"cumu" is an accepted swearword in our drama society.
I am always on the lert for additions to my idiolect ; I've reached level 60 on freerice.
(Sorry if this isn't clear to users of English as a foreign or second language;I'm showing off)
It was post 15000 I was aiming for smiley - starsmiley - star


To my leet friends

Post 15004

IctoanAWEWawi

best resource as ever:

zerg:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Zerg

kerg:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kerg

(although no etymology for kerg unfortunately)


oh!

Post 15005

Maria


I'd love to read an explanation or an example or a synonym for those interjections (?) you usually do in oral or/and informal communication.
I'm not sure when to use them. I'm afraid I'm using them wrong because I may be mixing with Spanish.

Uses in Spanish:
Ah!: you remember something
Oh!: surprise
Hey!: we use it to call the attention of someone
Blimey!: not sure if it is Vaya! a word to show surprise, pleasant or not.

Hum: it shows that you are thinking about something
Um: something is tasty.

...


oh!

Post 15006

IctoanAWEWawi

>Ah!: you remember something
Or realise something, accompanies the when you figure something out, or someone points something out (not literally pointing though)

>Oh!: surprise
yes, although mostly used for mild surprise. Especially when you didn;t realise that such and such was the case. Can follow 'Ah' as in 'Ah. Oh!' as firstly you realise something for the first time and then figure out that it has a surprising meaning.

>Hey!: we use it to call the attention of someone
Yep, that's right.

>Blimey!: not sure if it is Vaya! a word to show surprise, pleasant or not.
Used to show you are currently trapped in a hollywood film set in the east end of london in some sort of mythical heyday (cf. Mary Poppins). Can only be said with a mockney accent.

>Hum: it shows that you are thinking about something
Yep. Or that you are a bee.

>Um: something is tasty.
Ah! A difference. Mmmm is something tasty. Um is expressing doubt about something which could be true but you think probably isn;t. Such as British Airways offering free flights to every 5000th passenger.
Can also be used when you admit something that doesn;t necessarily show you in a good light or that you realise the other person isn;t going to like - eg "Where's that book I lent you?":"Um, I kinda lost it. Sorry".
Or even to express doubt about ones actions "I put the bread there, um, should I have done that?"


oh!

Post 15007

IctoanAWEWawi

"Yep. Or that you are a bee."
Bees? Hum? No, they buzz. Dunno what I was talking about there.


oh!

Post 15008

Maria



Mmmm! I like your explanations, thank you.

Could you give another example for Blimey! please?


oh!

Post 15009

Maria


but their sound is hummmmming

the big ones


oh!

Post 15010

IctoanAWEWawi

blimey - oh ok then! But don;t put 'Cor' in front of it. Or 'guv'nor' after it smiley - winkeye

blimey! Expression of surprise, not unpleasant surprise though. Like hearing that a long term single friend who has just got married out of the blue - 'Blimey! Really?'. So there is an element of incredulity there too. 'I just got a refund of £1000 pounds from the taxman' - 'Blimey!' type thing. More surprised than 'Oh!'.

'Oh!' by the way can also be a qwuery to elucidate more information.
'Just got myself a new car' - 'Oh?' - 'Yeah, got it last sat, one of them new Mazda thingies'.


oh!

Post 15011

Maria



And what about growler? (a big jug) I thought that the object was named after the sound produced by it on getting full by pouring beer or another liquid in.


oh!

Post 15012

IctoanAWEWawi

My turn!

I've long had an interest in metasyntactic variables.
I.e. words such as 'thingy','wotchamacallit','doobrie','whatsit' which one uses to stand in for a concept or object that one either cannot remember the name of or which one doesn;t have a proper word for.

'Have you got the doobrie? The bit that goes on the end, you know, with the hole in it'

What words does Spanish use? Do they have particular meanings? Obv. the english ones are derived from general terms (thing) and general enquiries (what do you call it).


oh!

Post 15013

Maria


thanks , it's clear that of blimey"
smiley - cheers


oh!

Post 15014

IctoanAWEWawi

"growler? "

I'm afraid that the only way I have heard the term 'growler' used is in reference to an unnattractive female. To denote a heavyset, perhaps hirsute, aggressive, masculine female.
Not that I use it


oh!

Post 15015

Maria



thingy

We usually improvise the word. It can be just phonetically atractive or silly.
We use also the word tema, and it is used also like an euphemism.
tema, topic, theme.
or asunto, affair. But it always depend on the context.

For objects we use chisme, cacharro
for people, fulano, mengano and cetano ( fulana may means whore)


oh!

Post 15016

Cheerful Dragon

I associate 'growler' with icebergs (a growler is "a small iceberg or ice floe just large enough to be hazardous for shipping"). That's what popped into my head when somebody suggested 'growler' as a cup size.


oh!

Post 15017

KB

A growler is (or was) a small barrel of beer you could buy and take home with you.


oh!

Post 15018

Maria


yes, it is. Happy Nerd said that in the bra thread.


But... could it be a onomatopoeic word?

When I was a child I use to go to fetch water. When the recipient was getting full it made a kind of growling sound.


oh!

Post 15019

~ jwf ~ scribblo ergo sum

Growlers are also buoys. smiley - lighthouse
Canada's Coast Guard stations these in deep waters off our ragged Atlantic coastline (in a relatively straight line Souwest to Noreast - they may be 1 to 50 miles apart) to mark the entrances to many (almost all) the larger navigable coves and bays along the way.

They growl because they are like huge trumpets and the rising swells blow air up thru them in a huge growly honking sound which changes pitch according to the height and frequency of the waves.

peace
~jwf~


oh!

Post 15020

Maria



Hey! I love that marine picture.
Lovely!!!smiley - cheers


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