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FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:56 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• fissilingual •

Pronunciation: fi-sê-ling-gwêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Having a forked tongue.

Notes: Here is a Good Word that anyone knowing the Native American expression "to speak with a forked tongue" can have fun with. The adverb is fissilingually, and the world is just waiting for someone to invent the nouns fissilinguist and fissilinguistics. I'll bet you know their meaning immediately. OK, let's see how to play with this extremely Good if widely ignored Word.

In Play: Today's Good Word offers several ways of expressing frustration in the presence of others without offending anyone. First out, you can truthfully (!) say things like: "Fissilingually speaking, Marjorie, I think your new boyfriend is just wonderful." In other words, you truthfully admit that you are speaking with a forked tongue. Just make sure no dictionary is in the room and you can say: "Lucinda, I find all you say positively fissilingual."

Word History: Today's word is used in zoology and medicine to refer to reptiles whose tongues have a forked tip, such as snakes and some lizards. It is a Latin compound made up of fissus "split", the past participle of findere "to split" + lingua "tongue, speech" . Fissus, as you may well have guessed, is the root of English fissure. The root of finderei s Proto-Indo-European bheid- "split" with what we call a Fickle N, an N that comes and goes in its various forms for reasons that elude us. The N avoided the Germanic languages in this case so we find the same root in German beißen "bite" and English bite. Lingua, of course, went on to become French langue "tongue, language", which English borrowed with a suffix for its language. The word for "tongue" often doubles for "language". Russian yazyk and Hebrew lashon are two other examples having both meanings.

Re: FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:24 am
by MTC
And yet there are no "forked words" as one might naturally expect. Perhaps contranyms...

Re: FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:41 am
by LukeJavan8
This could quickly become one of my new
favorite words.

Re: FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 1:25 pm
by Perry Lassiter
How about creating a new term, fissinfinitive, a word to carefully develop?

Re: FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:22 pm
by Slava
How about creating a new term, fissinfinitive, a word to carefully develop?
Would that be an infinitive you're allowed to split?

Re: FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:50 pm
by Philip Hudson
Perry: Are you knowingly playing straight man to Slava's humor? If there is collusion going on, we have a right to know.

Since the split infinitive is no longer a bugaboo, you are allowed, "To boldly go where no man has gone before." Has anyone ever noticed this famous quotation not only splits an infinitive but ends in a preposition? It is also anti-feminist, which I understand will be or was changed in later editions.

The forked tongue was first uttered in Paradise. Old Scratch hisself, tried it out on Eve and then she tried it out on Adam. Since Eve ate the apple first why does "The New England Primer" say, "In Adam's Fall, we sinned all."

Re: FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:02 pm
by Slava
Perry: Are you knowingly playing straight man to Slava's humor? If there is collusion going on, we have a right to know.
None I know of.
Since the split infinitive is no longer a bugaboo, you are allowed, "To boldly go where no man has gone before." Has anyone ever noticed this famous quotation not only splits an infinitive but ends in a preposition? It is also anti-feminist, which I understand will be or was changed in later editions.
Long since taken care of. I believe in the first spin-off. Also, as it was nearly 50 years ago, I think some slack may be in order.

Re: FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:36 pm
by Philip Hudson
Thanks Slava. Star Trek and Star Wars are almost totally beyond my ken. I even get the two confused. Sheldon, from "The Big Bang Theory" TV show, would be ashamed of me.

Re: FISSILINGUAL

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:50 am
by LukeJavan8
Re: Adam and Eve.
Long ago learned that Eve first sinned, but Adam
was first-created and thus ultimately responsible.