Metutials

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Grogie
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Metutials

Postby Grogie » Fri Nov 07, 2008 3:56 pm

A small, irritating chore which must be done before other work can begin. ''Most of us prefer to dispense with the metutials and get to the main job.''
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:30 pm

Interesting word. Any thoughts on etymology?

I did a web search and found this odd link:

http://yu-shin.de/googleresults.pdf

I have no idea what this list is, unless it's rare words on Google, but it looks like real words. 20 pages worth!
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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Grogie
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Postby Grogie » Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:49 am

Hi Slava. I,m not really sure about the etymology.
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:24 pm

If this link (http://books.google.com/books?id=RRLWjL ... &ct=result) has any truth to it, this would seem to be a made-up word.

Something that bothers me about it is that none of the dictionary links I've seen so far has a pronunciation. Is the "ti" elided, or not?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:49 pm

I haven't found any direct references yet, but I suspect that Metutial is related to Matutinal, "Of, relating to, or occurring in the morning; early," which comes from Latin. The link gives three different pronunciations for matutinal, and I suspect metutial would have the same three pronunciations.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:08 am

Yuck, I hate the idea of that third pronuncification. Ick. Tfoo, tfoo!
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Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Mon Nov 10, 2008 1:47 am

Well, that's from the AHD, which I think is The Good Doctor's favorite, or at least it used to be. Since the "A" in AHD is for American, mayhaps the third pronunciation is a British one, or an older, obsolete one. It certainly has a "affected" sound to my ear.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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Cacasenno
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Postby Cacasenno » Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:32 am

Brings to my mind the Latin minutia 'minute' or 'little part'.
Could it be related?
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