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OGLE

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 12:51 pm
by Slava

• ogle •

Pronunciation: O-gêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb

Meaning: To stare at something as though you have intentions toward it, to stare at amorously or lecherously depending on the point of view: the ogler's or oglee's.

Notes: Today's Good Word presents a problem of spelling. We have a tendency, especially in the US, to double the G, spelling the word 'oggle'. English once possessed a word 'oggle' which meant "to shudder with fear". This word hasn't been heard from since the latter half of the 16th century. Today's Good Word comes with the standard retinue of derivations: 'ogler' and 'ogling', which serves both as an adjective and noun.

In Play: We may ogle things inanimate: "If Melba Toste is on such a diet, why is she ogling the dessert tray so." We may also ogle people: "I don't like the way the way Harry Wormser-Goode is ogling Stella Dorro; he looks as though he would like to devour her."

Word History: This word came to English via Low German oeglen, frequentative of oegen "to look at, to eye" from oege "eye". This word comes from a Proto-Indo-European word whose remains are strewn throughout today's Indo-European languages: okw- "eye, to see". We find it in Russian as oko "eye" and, indeed, English eye. Latin oculus "eye" is present in several English borrowings, including ocular and oculist. The Ancient Greek word for "mirror" was katoptron, literally "a back looker". Even English window comes from this PIE word. Window was brought into England by Vikings, in whose Old Norse language the word for window was vindauga. This compound noun comprises vindr "wind" + auga "eye", which is to say, "wind eye". (Albert Skiles doesn't come to alphaDictionary just to ogle the contributions of others, he comes to make intriguing suggestions like today's Good Word himself.)

Re: OGLE

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 1:13 pm
by misterdoe
It's amazing how common it is to misspell this word as oogle.

Re: OGLE

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 1:39 pm
by MTC
Not really a misspelling, but a visual enhancement of the meaning, e.g., "OO"gle like a pair of eyes, and also the lascivious exclamation, "oo!" Thinking outside the orthographic box is fun.

And that brings up the following headline from the Times of Israel: "Anti-ogle goggles for the modest set." "Ultra-Orthodox organization develops products to help men avoid temptations of the eyes." See or ogle (http://www.timesofisrael.com/what-you-d ... cant-hurt/)

P.S.
Just remember, ogle is an anagram of lego.

Re: OGLE

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 5:14 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Log it.

Re: OGLE

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:27 pm
by gailr
This reminds me of cartoon teenager (Drabble) and his friend sitting with a girl, who complained about a creep at the next table ogling her. Drabble objected that it's not so much an ogle as a stare, demonstrating. His friend objected that a stare looks like [this] and it's more of a gape. Drabble then objected that a gape is more like [this] and his friend is doing more of a leer... until the final panel when the girl decided to go sit with the creep.
:wink:

Re: OGLE

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:00 pm
by Slava
I must say, I'm a tad surprised that no one as yet has mentioned Barney, and his goo-googly eyes.

Re: OGLE

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:58 pm
by misterdoe
Well, Barney Google, the Google site, and "googol" (the number) are a post unto themselves, methinks. In fact, I think there may be one here somewhere...

Re: OGLE

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:19 am
by MTC
Gailr, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but your word pictures lower the exchange rate. Very funny description of a very funny cartoon!

Re: OGLE

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:03 pm
by LukeJavan8
There is a lot of staring in "Drabble". I love Dad's 'glare'
and the cartoon "Diamond Lil" makes use of her
glare that melts cement, often.

Re: OGLE

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:37 pm
by gailr
*checks the googles*
How about that -- Drabble is still going strong!

MTC or Luke: do you remember the series where his dad is taking banjo lessons? In one strip he asks his dad if that's the only song he knows. Dad puts down the banjo and eyeballs* him. Drabble then hastily adds that he sure hopes so, because it's a great song!



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* eyeball
verb - transitive
to stare at

Re: OGLE

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:48 am
by LukeJavan8
I do remember that! thanks for the memory.
The cartoonist gets that eye just perfect too.

Re: OGLE

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:33 pm
by MTC
My online search for the particular Drabble strip you describe came up empty, gailr. But as a consolation prize I discovered drabble the short, short story:http://www.squidoo.com/drabble