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Buccaneer

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:08 pm
by Perry
• buccaneer •

Pronunciation: bê-kê-neer • No link to "Hear it!"

Part of Speech: Noun


Meaning: 1. A freebooter, a pirate, a filibuster who preyed on Spanish shipping in the West Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries. 2. An adventuresome, irrepressible daredevil with little or no concern for others.
Notes: Little has been done with this word by way of derivation. The behavior of a buccaneer is buccaneerish. The activity is buccaneering, made possible by the use of this noun as a verb: to buccaneer along the coast of Nantucket. Keep track of the double consonants: two Cs, two Es but only one N.

In Play: The buccaneers of today are far less swashbuckling and dashing than even those of yore: "The street gangs today are crews of latter day buccaneers who sail the streets of major cities, launching raids for cars, drugs, money, and other booty." The point is, despite their portrayal in the movies, the original buccaneers were pretty grisly guys themselves, not at all romantic (see picture). In a slightly more positive light we might speak of the buccaneers of Wall Street who busy themselves with leveraged takeovers of ailing ships of commerce (companies).

Word History: The creators of this word never dreamed it would someday refer to the price of corn but, if you like to serve corn when you barbecue, the suggestion is not completely inappropriate. That is because the original meaning of today's Good Word was "barbecuer", the original sense of French boucanier, which English borrowed for today's Good Word. The French noun was derived from the verb boucaner "to cure meat on a barbeque" which French took from a Tupi Indian word boucan "barbecue frame", derived from mukém "rack". The French word (boucanier) first referred to hunters who cured their meat over a boucan. The boucaniers later switched to hunting and barbecuing larger, more profitable game at sea.


Dr. Goodword

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:08 pm
by Perry
A word that helps us to anticipate September 19. Arrrr.

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:54 pm
by gailr
arrrrr

BUCCANEER

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:53 pm
by Jeff hook
As a non-pirate, I scrutinzed your written communications with interest. I assume the very word to which I refer might be offered as an answer to my questions. (In fact, that one word seeems to comprise most of the vocabulary of this language.) I notice that Perry, you chose "Arrrr," and Gail, you chose "arrrrr." Are you speaking different dialects of Buccaneese, and can you enlighten us about the various geographic, sociological, and cultural gradients which distinguish those dialects? (Please notice, Gail: no quotation marks in that sentence; it's a start...) Are you speaking the same dialect, and is this inconsistency merely evidence of the lack of standardized orthography which was seen in most languages during the 16th and 17th centuries?

Jeff Schnook
NJ, USA

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:31 pm
by gailr
Jeff, 'tis not the season to be given' up yer hook.

The official TLAPD uses arrr. My preference is arrrrr; I don't know that it's a regional difference. (Perrrry?)

Of course, if I lived in Boston, I might be sayin' ahhh. In certain parts of the South: æjərrr.

-gailrrrrr

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:45 pm
by sluggo
Jeff, 'tis not the season to be given' up yer hook.
RRR, that's a right merry yam :lol: !
The official TLAPD uses arrr. My preference is arrrrr; I don't know that it's a regional difference. (Perrrry?)

Of course, if I lived in Boston, I might be sayin' ahhh. In certain parts of the South: æjərrr.

-gailrrrrr
Damn those non-rhotic jack-o-napes scallywags!

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:50 pm
by Bailey
I'm still hung up on the barbeque, you will be calling me in time?

mark I-like-my-chicken-blackened-not-charrrrred beyond-recognition Bailey

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:30 pm
by Perry
I thought that even pirates capitalize at the start of a sentence. :wink:

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:13 pm
by Bailey
My arrr is more like Arrrgh. I live in Illinois, does that help?

mark limps-on-me-pegleg Bailey

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 5:02 pm
by Perry
I thought that this is what Charlie Brown exclaims when his kite gets into a tree. 8)