GENRE

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7419
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

GENRE

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:14 pm

• genre •

Pronunciation: zhan-rê • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A category of artistic work (art, music, literature) distinguished by style, form, or content, as poetry, short stories, novels are genres of literature. 2. A class, type, or category of anything that is distinguished by particular features.

Notes: The trick in successfully employing today's Good Word in your conversations, of course, is pronouncing it correctly. If you know a little French, you're golden but if you don't, follow our pronunciation advice above carefully. The plural is genres [zhan-rez] and, like any recent arrival from another language, genre has no derivational family as yet.

In Play: Genre is still most closely associated with the arts: "Enrico, is that old car you've been working on a means of transportation of a new, comic genre of junk-yard sculpture?" Despite its newness, though, the today's word is already spreading outside the world of art: "Belle O'Donnaugh brought her own genre of management practices to the office of the president and we are all still adjusting to them."

Word History: Today's Good Word seems to be related to words like genus but it isn't pronounced like them (see Pronunciation). The reason is that genre was borrowed only recently from French (the late 18th century) and hasn't acquired an English pronunciation yet. This word comes ultimately from PIE gen- "give birth to", which is why we see it in gender, generate, and gene. In English we would expect the [g] to become [k] and it did as it became kin, king, and kind—all words referring to families. (We are happy to welcome Marie Geesa to our family of Good Word subscribers and thank her for the kindness of suggesting today's word for our genre of literature.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Palewriter
Lexiterian
Posts: 291
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:59 pm

Postby Palewriter » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:52 pm

A wonderful word. So much nicer than any attempts to Purify English by coming up with something of more Anglo-Saxon hue.

Interestingly, when it's pronounced in Swedish (where it's also a French loan word) a hard "g" somehow intrudes, giving approximately "d3æ'ngr". (Golly, I'm missing a lot of IPA rederings.)

In my mind, though, I always relate genre to another neat French loan: metier, which is, of course, an interesting word in its own right.

-- PW
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:42 pm

Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else. -- Ogden Nash
so old age is when you can't remember who they are when you meet them again?

mark incroaching-dotage-approaching Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









skinem
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:33 pm
Location: Middle Tennessee

Postby skinem » Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:53 pm

Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else. -- Ogden Nash
so old age is when you can't remember who they are when you meet them again?

mark incroaching-dotage-approaching Bailey
Right! Old age just means that every person you meet is new to you!

Huny
Lexiterian
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:38 pm
Location: Georgia

Postby Huny » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:41 pm

Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else. -- Ogden Nash
so old age is when you can't remember who they are when you meet them again?

mark incroaching-dotage-approaching Bailey
Right! Old age just means that every person you meet is new to you!
You know your getting some age on ya when you can hide your own Easter eggs. :D

Huny --who is only 36 and already wakes up stiff in the back in the A.M.'s :roll: and experiences the phenomenon of pre-senior moments.
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compaired to what lies inside us." R.W.E.

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:27 pm


Right! Old age just means that every person you meet is new to you!
Huny --who is only 36 and already wakes up stiff in the back in the A.M.'s :roll: and experiences the phenomenon of pre-senior moments.
Y'all may be thinking of the upside of Alzheimer's- you're always meeting new people.

Huny, and others, for them stiff muscles I gots three words: tart cherry juice. I just started and call me Micky Dolenz 'cause I'm a believer.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

Perry
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2306
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:50 am
Location: Asheville, NC

Postby Perry » Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:39 pm

Huny, and others, for them stiff muscles I gots three words: tart cherry juice. I just started and call me Micky Dolenz 'cause I'm a believer.
Or call him Neil Diamond, if you prefer to reference the source, rather than monkey around.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:40 am

Cherry juice, the concentrate? It's good for gout I know.

mark a-little-crazy-whatcha-gotfer-that? Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









Palewriter
Lexiterian
Posts: 291
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:59 pm

Postby Palewriter » Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:05 am

Cherry juice, the concentrate? It's good for gout I know.
Does one drink it or simply smear it on?

-- PW
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:26 pm

I guess it depends on what side of the pond you're from. If you are Eastpondian you could just put it on your body and rely upon that famous stiff upper lip.
If you've ever had gout you'd know you wouldn't want to touch it with the gentlest of smearings.

mark drinks-it-for-maximum-effect Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb










Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 36 guests