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SQUELCH

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:52 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• squelch •

Pronunciation: skwelch • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb

Meaning: 1. (Transitive) To quash, put an end to suddenly, curtail abruptly and firmly. 2. (Intransitive) To make a sucking sound like pulling your foot out of soft mud.

Notes: This interesting Good Word has few relatives. Squelchy, the adjective, is derived from the second sense of the noun, "making or apt to make a squelching sound." The noun, on the other hand, belongs to the first sense of squelch. A squelcher is someone who or something that squelches in the sense of "quashes".

In Play: We all know the familiar meaning of this word: "I tried to lighten up the party by doing my impression of the Queen Mother with a lampshade on my head, but my wife squelched it." It's the second meaning that we are not accustomed to hearing very much: "After squelching through the soppy field for a half hour, Milka Macau's boots full of mud."

Word History: The origin of today's Good Word is somewhat murky. Most etymologists think it is onomatopoeic. However, there are enough related words in English to bring that interpretation into question. First of all, it works as well without the initial S: quelch means about the same thing. This fact parallels the situation with squash. It, too, can do without the initial S: quash. The third peculiarity is that quell is very similar in spelling and meaning to quelch, but we would have to explain the CH to trace it back through this word. So, its ultimate source is left in the dark. (I wouldn't want to squelch John Young's enthusiasm for suggesting Good Words like today's, so thank you, John.)

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:52 am
by MTC
Not the most scholarly offering perhaps, but...

Urp a burp and die in shame.
Squelch a belch and live in pain.

(author unknown)

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:00 pm
by LukeJavan8
I have an early police band radio somewhere in the attic.
But it has a button on it called "squelch". Listening to
it does not interest me, but that button always intrigued
me as to why it was named that.

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 4:40 pm
by Perry Lassiter
We discussed squelch in the discussion of another word recently. Its radio usage involves tuning the channel more clearly and cutting back on static. It works. I had a cb back during the craze and used it regularly. May be worth adding as definition 3. I've certainly used and heard it in relation to radios more than for squishy situations.

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:40 pm
by MTC
Now if we only had a squelch knob to turn down the static in political speech---well, our lives would be quite different.

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:46 pm
by LukeJavan8
Hear! Hear!

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:20 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Guys, we do have such. Two in fact, called remote and mute.

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:39 pm
by Slava
Guys, we do have such. Two in fact, called remote and mute.
Three. Off.

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:00 pm
by Philip Hudson
Perhaps the Good Doctor would like to write a sequel to the 100 most beautiful words and title it "The 100 most disgusting words." Urp, burp, squelch, belch, puke, etc. My ancient uncle opined that the nastiest word in the English language is nasty.

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:02 pm
by misterdoe
My ancient uncle opined that the nastiest word in the English language is nasty.
Your uncle is redundant. What's the word? :D

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:35 am
by Philip Hudson
You are right, misterdoe. To be clear, I should have said, "My ancient uncle opined that the nastiest word in the English language is the word nasty."

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:19 am
by misterdoe
I knew what you meant. :)

It was a bad attempt at a joke. There was an old one of a high-school English teacher who told his class that "there are two words people use entirely too much, so much so that they've lost meaning. One is 'swell,' and the other is 'lousy.'" A student raised his hand and asked, "OK, what are the words?" :mrgreen:

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:24 am
by Philip Hudson
No, the joke was fine. I just want to be as clear as possible.

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:44 am
by MTC
I could not squelch a laugh at misterdoe's joke!

Re: SQUELCH

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 1:11 am
by misterdoe
I've always liked playing with words like that. At the same message board where I posted the "what hath Lil Jon wrought? Image" comment, the moderator asked "Is southern rap garbage?" I replied with "Is southern rap garbage what? You didn't finish the sentence." :mrgreen: