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sleigh

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:44 am
by Dr. Goodword
• sleigh •

Pronunciation: slay • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, Verb

Meaning: 1. [Noun] A light carriage on narrow runners pulled by dogs, horses, or in very northern climes, reindeer. 2. [Verb] To ride in a sleigh.

Notes: English has several words for vehicles that slide across snow or ice. A sled usually a small toy for sliding down hills though a bobsled can accommodate 4 or more people. A sledge is a work sleigh, heavily built, pulled by horses or oxen over the snow or over snowless ground. The sleigh is a light, festive vehicle that we associate with happy times around Christmas.

In Play: We are approaching that time of the year when a most famous "miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer" will sail across the rooftops of our children's imaginations, "with a little old driver, so lively and quick, [they will all know] in a moment it must be St. Nick." For a showroom of sleighs built in the United States, click here.

Word History: The reason sled and sleigh are so similar is that they come from the same source. This good holiday word is another English borrowed twice from the same language: Dutch slede, slee "sleigh", only we assigned the two words different meanings. All the Germanic languages have very similar words meaning either "sleigh" or "sled": Norwegian slede, Swedish släde, Danish slæde, German Schlitte. They are all remindful of English slide, which is where they all come from—the local word for "slide". The spelling? If we borrowed this word from Dutch slee, why to we spell it sleigh? It has been spelled slay and sley in the past but English speakers love letters that are no more than decorative curlicues, and what better place for decorative curlicues than on the word for sleighs?

Re: sleigh

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:26 am
by scw1217
A sled usually a small toy for sliding down hills though a bobsled can accommodate 4 or more people.
Ouch! The proofreader in me (I have been paid to proofread for 10 years now.) wants a verb in this sentence. :lol:

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:04 am
by Perry
Ooo. You just sleighed the Doctor with that one.

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:08 am
by Bailey
isn't accomodate a verb?

mark writing-for-more-than-ten-years Bailey

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:35 pm
by Perry
Actually, I think that scw1217 was looking for is.

A sled is usually a small toy...

And who is this Bob that up to 4 people are riding downhill in the snow?

Re: sleigh

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:50 pm
by sluggo
A sled usually a small toy for sliding down hills though a bobsled can accommodate 4 or more people.
Ouch! The proofreader in me (I have been paid to proofread for 10 years now.) wants a verb in this sentence. :lol:
Ouch! You get paid for this? Somebody buys the cow when Sluggo is cheap (nay, free)?

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:43 pm
by Bailey
Actually, the editor in me wanted a comma after the word sled and the word hills but hey, some might not like commas.
A sled, usually a small toy for sliding down hills, though a bobsled can accommodate 4 or more people.
mark comma-rich-text Bailey

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 2:43 pm
by scw1217
Actually, the editor in me wanted a comma after the word sled and the word hills but hey, some might not like commas.
A sled, usually a small toy for sliding down hills, though a bobsled can accommodate 4 or more people.
mark comma-rich-text Bailey
I get the idea, but the grammar is still off. Try:

A sled is a small toy for sliding down hills, but a bobsled can accommodate 4 or more people.
Ouch! You get paid for this? Somebody buys the cow when Sluggo is cheap (nay, free)?
:lol: Yep. It never ceases to amaze me the spelling and grammar mistakes people will make, esp. in public business forums. I tend to see them everywhere I go. Often I wish I had the peace of mind to overlook them instead.

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:08 pm
by Bailey
-Ah! a prescriptivist in our midst,
-it is Bob's sled we are talking about, of course.
-I feel if it conveys its intended meaning it's just fine.
-I kinda like the way it's written. [so there :D ]

mark more-Laissez-faire-in-my-editing Bailey

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:52 pm
by scw1217
-Ah! a prescriptivist in our midst,
-it is Bob's sled we are talking about, of course.
-I feel if it conveys its intended meaning it's just fine.
-I kinda like the way it's written. [so there :D ]

mark more-Laissez-faire-in-my-editing Bailey
Now there's a name I have not been called yet!

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:58 pm
by Bailey
It's not a 'NAME' it is a description.

mark only-partially-a-perfectionist Bailey

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:06 pm
by Perry
mark only-partially-a-perfectionist Bailey, but often a despcriptivist.

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 12:03 am
by Stargzer
-Ah! a prescriptivist in our midst,
No, just someone who believes that a clause containing an adverb patiently waiting to perform its duty usually needs a verb for self-fulfillment.
-it is Bob's sled we are talking about, of course.
Of course! Dr. Bob writes all the Goodwords!
-I feel if it conveys its intended meaning it's just fine.
-I kinda like the way it's written. [so there :D ]

mark more-Laissez-faire-in-my-editing Bailey
Sure ...

Image

Image

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 12:21 am
by Bailey
That was uncalled for Geezer, There's nothing perjorative in being a prescriptivist.
Nevertheless those 'signs' didn't fool me even way back when I first saw them at age 10, in 1958.

mark fan-of-Dr.-Bob Bailey

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:10 am
by gailr
I take it that "why to we spell it sleigh" passes muster with this group? Does this construction include a split infinitive or an unconventional prepositional phrase?

-gailr
Oh what fun it is to write in a wan hoarse oaken slay.