imbroglio

by **uncronopio** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:57 pm

n 1. A confused or perplexing political or interpersonal situation. 2. Obsolete a confused heap, jumble.

Etymology: from Italian imbrogliare to confuse, embroil.

From Collins, paper edition.

by **Brazilian dude** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 10:03 pm

There's something I don't understand. We also use that word in Portuguese, pronounce it like Italian and spell it imbróglio. To me that's ridiculous. If we were to keep the g in Portuguese, we should pronounce it. This is a half-Portuguesefied word, we decided to add an accent to it because it's a proparoxytone but have kept the Italian g. Go figure!

Brazilian dude

by **Apoclima** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:36 am

Wow! Proparoxytone! That sounds flammable. I prefer antepenult(imate).

BD, I couldn't agree with you more. Get those foreign word to conform to Portuguese spelling and pronunciation as soon as they creep into the language, or your going to end up with a horrible hodgepodge as we have in English.

Apo

by **Brazilian dude** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:45 am

Good words, Apo.

Brazilian dude

by **tcward** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:31 pm

Proparoxytone sounds like a facial skin cleanser... LOL.

Don't just tone your skin -- PROPAROXYTONE it!!

-Tim

by **M. Henri Day** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:45 pm

tcward wrote:Proparoxytone sounds like a facial skin cleanser...

Or a hormone....

Henri

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