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

Moving swiftly.. erm, back. Fertig ring a bell, anyone?

How did you find it?

I know TC was having a lot of work done on her house,but didn't realise there was enough room in the shower for all of you meercatting

I googled 'word turkish german train'.

7th hit.


Back to animal verbs...Otter.

As in 'I otter go now'.

crab

To crow

To cock

Parts of animals?

To pigeonhole.

to dragon - to take more time than you think it should.

To slug

To clam (up)

To winkle (something out)

And while we're on the molluscidae...

To mussel (in)

Well I'll be buffaloed!


~jwf~

To hog
To hawk
To beaver
To steer
To ram

...now, any animals which *aren't* verbs?

Well I see you're all still having a whale of time and nobody has yet made an ass of themselves.
Now don't be chicken, there is no pecking order here, only a bit of animal husbandry, a bit of bull and an endless hamster wheel of creativity.

Just remember:
FROG PARKING ONLY
Others will be toad!

~jwf~

Oh BTW about buffaloed:

First, it is, in a specific way, very sorta plural. It takes a lot more than one buffalo.

Unlike being on the horns of a dilemma (singular) or taking the bull (singular) by the hornies, to be buffaloed means to be stopped, stumped or stayed in a very definite way for an indefinite (but longish) period of time by a seemingly infinite number of the beasties.

It used to be part of the great western adventure to encounter herds of said creatures passing across your trail for literally days on end.

Not unlike 'snow-bound' or 'storm-stayed'.

peace
~jwf~

I was informed yesterday, in discussion with a colleague with a linguistic bent, that the term 'meh' much favoured of the web2 generation is actually a term in an eastern language. I think it was chinese but the term he used began with 'h' I think.
Anyway, apparently it is an emphatic used to modify other words - which is odd as in english usage it signifies lack of enthusiasm or interest.

Anyone able to pick any bones of truth out of that?

See 1st comment:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=855

On the radio this morning, they were talking about insulating rooves.

When I was quite little, it was drummed into me that the plural of 'hoof' is 'hooves' but the plural of 'roof' is 'roofs'. Lately. though, I've noticed that most people say 'rooves'.

I see on teh interwebs that 'roofs' is cited as correct. I don't much care - I'm not a prescriptivist. But:
- Does anyone else remember being taught the rule?
- What do you say?

Ta for t'link, seems another one of these derivations that'll keep linguists gainfully employed for a while yet.

As for rooves/roofs. I say roofs (when I say it at all) and it does sound different to saying 'rooves'. However I do know of those who would pronounce 'roofs' sufficiently similar to 'rooves' and thus I can see how a back formation from pronunciation to spelling would be possible.

It's an interesting fact about English that as people forget the old irregular words (such as work, past tense wrought), they start inventing new irregularities. While the plural of roof used to be roofs, the new word rooves is catching on.

Similarly, the plural of dwarf was always dwarfs, (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, remember) but Tolkien invented the term dwarves to try and distinguish his race of creatures from humans who happen to be small. Now most people would insist that the correct plural for dwarf is dwarves.

There seems to be a space in our brains for irregular forms, and we need a certain number of them in the language.