gazump

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
uncronopio
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gazump

Postby uncronopio » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:35 pm

From All Words v. (British informal derogative, normally used as passive voice) Said of someone selling a property: to raise the price that has already been verbally agreed with (a prospective buyer), usually because someone else has offered a higher price.

Example: My offer to buy the house was gazumped.

In Australia is some times used when someone goes over you without any request. For example: I booked this meeting room several weeks ago, but I was gazumped by the CEO (i.e. the CEO used the room despite of my booking).

Etymology: from Yiddish gezumph to swindle.
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." -- Mark Twain

tcward
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Postby tcward » Thu Jun 02, 2005 11:36 pm

Cool word! Never heard it before, but I have run into many an opportunity in the past when I could have used it!

-Tim

uncronopio
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Postby uncronopio » Fri Jun 03, 2005 1:36 am

Tim, my example with the CEO is a real case!
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." -- Mark Twain

anders
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Postby anders » Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:54 am

Made me think of Lewis Carroll (my bold statement).

A quote like

"portmanteau word"

This term for "blend word" comes from "portmanteau", "a leather travelling case that opens into two hinged compartments" (from the French for "carry cloak") by way of Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's _Through the Looking-Glass_: "You see it's like a portmanteau -- there are two meanings packed up into one word." Although most modern blends are simply the first part of one word plus the last part of another ("brunch" = "breakfast" + "lunch"; "smog" = "smoke" + "fog"; "Chunnel" = "Channel" + "tunnel"), Carroll himself formed his portmanteau words in a more subtle manner: "slithy" = "lithe" + "slimy"; "mimsy" = "miserable" + "flimsy"; "frumious" = "fuming" + "furious". Carroll's coinages "chortle" (which is now in most dictionaries) and "gallumph" (which is in the OED) are generally understood as "chuckle" + "snort" and "gallop" + "triumph" respectively, although Carroll himself never explained them.

from, for example, http://www.saigon.com/~tuan/english/problems.htm

might yield several Good Words.
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