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

"ps. Anyone know the derivation of "resign". Surely re-signing would mean committing to something again..."

The word comes from the Latin 'resignare', which literally means to unseal or cancel. The re- prefix in Latin had three meanings, only one of which was 'again', the other two were 'back' or 'against'. Thus, in this case the re- prefix is used in the 'go back' sense. Lots of re- words are used in this sense if you think about it, e.g. rebuild does not really mean 'build again', although that is its ultimate effect, it means 'put things back to the way they were before'. So, 'resign' can be thought of as meaning 'put things back to the way they were befoe I signed'.

What I want to know is why do 'flammable' and 'inflamable' mean the same thing when they should be opposites.

Well being a person who can't stand to miss out on an opportunity to prove herself a complete idiot I will do so now: Is everyone sure Irregardless isn't a word because I do believe I've heard it before. Or maybe its just one of those words that has such a nice ring to it that you would like to believe that maybe you have heard it before. Well I have no idea but I think I've proved my point as stated above.

The terms used to be "flammable" (meaning you can set fire to it) and Inflammable (meaning you can't), but so many people got this mixed up with "inflame" that safety associations now recommend that clothing manufacturers , for example, use non-flammable for this, so "inflammable" is on the way to obsolete.
Irregardless isn't a word (regardless of any foreign dictionaries you find it in Dunx )It sounds OK because it sounds like "irresponsible" "irreproachable"etc, but the "ir" prefix here means "not" However, I take responsibility only for my students or my family. So the rest of you can use it if you like

Gooday Dinsdale,

How is Douggie, anyway? Re 'resign'. If signare (or similar) meant to seal, resign means to unseal, to relinquish, in the sense that the 're' can mean 'against' or 'go back' as you say. And sorry, but what does re-build mean if not to build again? Take care,

Walter.

Douggie is sitting on my bed miaowing at me (we had two cats and needed names for them). Dinsdale has now passed on, but lives on in h2g2.

Rebuild means to reverse the effects of destruction. It's a subtle distinction, I know, but you can't rebuild something without it being destroyed first (probably after an encounter with Spiny Norman).

Hello Walter!

You're ALL so wise I'll just resign myself to watching for awhile

Gooday Dinsdale,

Sorry to hear about Dinsdale, but I think it is a great way to perpetuate his memory. You are right, it is a subtle distinction, but enough to win me over to your point of view.

Hey Pandora, you are the savviest cat on this block, so don't sit back, get into it - I've missed your musings.

Take care both,

Walter.

Dinsdale, sounds as though you've lost a 'family' member...so sorry!
I don't think I could be as brave as you to, as Walter put it, to perpetuate his memory, in such a way!

Please explain 'sawiest'. I've never heard it before! RE: the Tassie Devil. Many hikers have explained & sent me to sites were I have seen the buggers! Perhaps that's why I am unable to sleep tonight I even received a phone call from someone who use to live near you & now resides in the UK, telling me all about Tassie! This is either THE most elaberate joke ever pulled on me, or they ARE real! Walter?

Okay, where does the word 'reside' come from?!? I know it comes from resident. But how can the powers that be, just go 'round flipping words around so? Sheesh!

And you didn't tell me what type of dog Ben is? Other than the kind that chews By the way, that can be stopped with some hot sauce placed on an item set out for him NOT to chew! Mouse traps & or rat traps will also keep him off things. When I was young & wanted to travel I trained dogs when I didn't have my store open. (a beer & wine carry-out where I sold anything people would buy. when my mother was alive she'd say I was the only person she'd ever known that could cram ten pounds of crap into a five pound bag & then turn around and sell it )

I don't know Swahili; but I do know some words from My type of Desert which have become "English" words; like Kayak, Igloo, Mukluk...
As for "limited vocabulary" an oft-quoted example of this is how Inuktitut has One word for happy; No word for anger; and 13 different words for snow. This is (I suppose) because, tho' many don't often think much about it, there are many different types of snow appropriate for different uses under different circumstances, depending on temperature, compression, etc.
Rain, on the other hand is wet. The end.
Also, there are only numbers to five.
If you want to describe, say, 'Eleven', you say, "two fives plus one more". Beyond twenty, there is another word which essentially means, " a whole bunch".
Culturally, if you found one animal, great; see? A herd of Caribou would be a whole bunch, but you'd only harvest a couple anyway - what you really need to know is whether you've got "igloo snow" or "Quinzee snow" (2 types of shelters), right?
Just one more.
"Soona?" is a reply, like when someone calls you?
Try it! It slides right into the language very smoothly. People intrisically understand; like the inflection thing you were talking about...
"Hey, Mick!" "Soona?" It works. Groovy, Eh?
PLT, Mick (the not-a-linguist dude).

Thank you all for your sympathies regarding Dinsdale the cat.

About 'reside', it would be more correct to say that 'resident' comes from 'reside'. On the Merriam-Webster site, the etymology of this word is thus:

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French resider, from Latin residEre to sit back, remain, abide, from re- + sedEre to sit.

*puts on woolly hat and starts walking about in weird places* Aren't dictionaries brilliant?

I'm a bit confused about the Basque language (has it got a proper name?). Its nothing like the French or Spanish languages, but it has a passing resemblance to Maltese, and more than a passing remeblance to Hungarian. Or am I just talking rubbish?

I think I prefer;
"Hey Wazungu" "Later!" - this would usually be more accurate and a lot of different inflexions can be used on later. But I'll give "Soona?" a try.

Been trying to think of other words and phrases for rain. So far; drizzle (just enough to get you damp and miserable)
downpour (too much)
cats and dogs (rain is bouncing off the pavement)
its "torrential" (results in flash floods)
stair rods (as above)
There's more to rain than wet.

Gooday Pandora,

Hey that's SAVVIEST - it looks like a 'w' in the text, but it is supposed to be v plus v. Ben is a Labrador. We've tried all sorts of supposedly foul-tasting things to deter him from chewing, but nothing seems to fuss him. As I said, would we pull your leg: the Devil is one of creation's elaborate jokes, but the little bugger does exist. I've tried hard to find something nice to say about them, but dipped out. Now, Pandora, have you checked out wombats and echidnas? You take care,

Walter.

Got into pidgin Englishes from Spanish and French (sabe/savoir - know,understand) and is a really useful word
Noun - "He's got a lot of savvy" (like nous)
Verb- "Savvy?" d'you get it?
Adjective "That pandora's a savvy bird" ("she knows,ya know")

Gooday Wandrin'star,

Thanks for the back-up, but then I should have known to expect it, after all, with you from Leigh OS and me from Colne, we are ALMOST family, in an extended, figurative and comradely way. Take care,

Walter

*Savvy Pandora throws herself into the line of fire!* G-Day ALL
Sounds like Ben has Walter trained beyond hope

With regard to resign...guess it depends what dictionary you check. My
Webster's New Dictionary & Thesaurus for Home & School has it back to front...'reside' [ri-zid'] vi to dwell permanently; to be vested (in); to inhere (in).-ns residence, act of dwelling in a place; period of dwelling;ahouse where one lives permanently; the status of a legal resident, etc. Tamato-taamaatoe

Did someone say Hungarian? Egan? The doctor (etc,), I think I can still count to twelve: egy,ketto,harom (a dot over the a), negy,ot,hat.het(slash above the e),nyolc,kilenc,tiz,tizengy, tizenketto. Egan?!? (a bit of brain strain) My paternal Grandparents were Hungarian & even though I'm also 1/2 Cherokee, I grew up in an ethnic area...loved ever minute of it too!

Pidgin English has got to be one of the most beautiful languages in the world, as well as the most imaginative.
I am reliably informed these are correct:

Miximaster Him Belong to Jesus Christ = Helicopter

Two Piecey Swim-Swim = Two portions of Fish

Does anyone know how to get hold of an English-Pidgin Dictionary?
Ta.

There are a large number of dialects of pidgin, of which the "Cameroon" version is the only one I know anything:
"Pikin" - child / offspring
"Beef" - Animal (of any kind..which can get confusing)
"Choppin" - Eat

Also I'm not sure "belong to" would be a pidgin construct, as the "to" is dropped - for example "Number one pikin belong misus queen" would be pidgin fopr "Prince Charles".

Look for stuff by Loretta Todd. She did lots of stuff on both West African and New Guinea pidgins

I'm amazed at the discussion from such a little question (re: resign/resignare). Thanks to you, Dinsdale, for your kind help! Filled me with warm feelings of acceptance... Sorry to hear about your loss, as a recently approved cat owner (had the visit from Cats' Protection League this weekend!) and looking forward to adopting a stray couple, I feel for you.

Doctor: Basque is one of those untraceable languages, like Welsh, the word for which escapes me currently. Fascinating, but unfortunately not widely learned for the reason that it exists solely in the Basque country.

I like the whole "Hey, Wazungu!", "Soona!" idea, too!

*Nerdy wanders off in exuberant excitement at the prospect of so many linguistic avenues to pursue*