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Quodlibet

quod·li·bet \Quod"li*bet\ (kw[o^]d"l[i^]*b[e^]t), n. [L., what you please.] 1. A nice point; a subtilty; a debatable point. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Also quodlibertarian and quodlibetic - purely academic!

English Spelling? Does English really work this way?

* Pronounce "ghoti".
* Pronounce "Phtholognyrrh".
* Spell "coffee" completely wrong.
Go to the bottom of the page for answers!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Wordlustitude - a Blog by Mark Peters

One of the most recently published (a year late, another story) issues of Verbatim, Vol. XXI, No 1, Spring 2006 Introduced me to Mark Peters and his Wordlustitude Blog which has many Word links, including links to aricles he has written for various publications and Posts of various coined/nonce words.

For instance:

    hobbitcest

    noun. What happens when there are two consenting hobbits and no limits.

    Real citation: “Interests: 32: aft, afting, ass full throttle, bath tubs, berries n' cream, butterflies, candles, crying, hard thrusting!, hobbit sex, hobbitcest..."
    (http://sweet-pip.livejournal.com/profile)

    Made-up citation: "If I'm elected, I will oppose all forms of filth and perversion, including hobbitcest and men who don't wash their hands after peeing."


Well worth checking out,
Don

2 comments:

Thomas Carmona said...

Don, what a pleasure going through your blog. As a word enthusiast myself (co-founder of City Dictionary) I have found it especially enlightening. Also, thanks for pointing out the wordlustitude blog, which has a wealth of coined words and phrases. Keep up the good work!

Don Ricklin said...

Thank you for posting! Do you also get Verbatim? Very worth subscribing if you are into Words!

Don

Answers:
  • ghoti is pronounced: fish, 'gh' as in tough, 'o' as in women and 'ti' as in motion! Attributed to George Bernard Shaw by some. Visit GHOTI for a rant against this "joke" about english pronuciation.
  • Phtholognyrrh pronounced: Turner, According to a Mr. Turner who insisted on signing his name that way according to Robert M. Rennick in I Didn't Catch Your Name, Verbatim® Vol. XXix, No2. Mr Turner explains: " Look, the phth is like phthisic, which is pronounced t; olo is like colonel, which is pronounced ur; gn as in gnat is pronounced n; and yrrh as in myrrh, is pronounced er. So you have Turner. Nothing could be simpler." Reader's Digest, Jan . 1941, p. 42
  • coffee spelled completely incorrectly is kauphy! or kaughy!