SQUELCH

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Dr. Goodword
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SQUELCH

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:52 pm

• squelch •

Pronunciation: skwelch • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb

Meaning: 1. (Transitive) To quash, put an end to suddenly, curtail abruptly and firmly. 2. (Intransitive) To make a sucking sound like pulling your foot out of soft mud.

Notes: This interesting Good Word has few relatives. Squelchy, the adjective, is derived from the second sense of the noun, "making or apt to make a squelching sound." The noun, on the other hand, belongs to the first sense of squelch. A squelcher is someone who or something that squelches in the sense of "quashes".

In Play: We all know the familiar meaning of this word: "I tried to lighten up the party by doing my impression of the Queen Mother with a lampshade on my head, but my wife squelched it." It's the second meaning that we are not accustomed to hearing very much: "After squelching through the soppy field for a half hour, Milka Macau's boots full of mud."

Word History: The origin of today's Good Word is somewhat murky. Most etymologists think it is onomatopoeic. However, there are enough related words in English to bring that interpretation into question. First of all, it works as well without the initial S: quelch means about the same thing. This fact parallels the situation with squash. It, too, can do without the initial S: quash. The third peculiarity is that quell is very similar in spelling and meaning to quelch, but we would have to explain the CH to trace it back through this word. So, its ultimate source is left in the dark. (I wouldn't want to squelch John Young's enthusiasm for suggesting Good Words like today's, so thank you, John.)
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Re: SQUELCH

Postby MTC » Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:52 am

Not the most scholarly offering perhaps, but...

Urp a burp and die in shame.
Squelch a belch and live in pain.

(author unknown)

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby LukeJavan8 » Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:00 pm

I have an early police band radio somewhere in the attic.
But it has a button on it called "squelch". Listening to
it does not interest me, but that button always intrigued
me as to why it was named that.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby Perry Lassiter » Wed Oct 10, 2012 4:40 pm

We discussed squelch in the discussion of another word recently. Its radio usage involves tuning the channel more clearly and cutting back on static. It works. I had a cb back during the craze and used it regularly. May be worth adding as definition 3. I've certainly used and heard it in relation to radios more than for squishy situations.
pl

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby MTC » Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:40 pm

Now if we only had a squelch knob to turn down the static in political speech---well, our lives would be quite different.

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby LukeJavan8 » Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:46 pm

Hear! Hear!
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby Perry Lassiter » Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:20 pm

Guys, we do have such. Two in fact, called remote and mute.
pl

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby Slava » Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:39 pm

Guys, we do have such. Two in fact, called remote and mute.
Three. Off.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:00 pm

Perhaps the Good Doctor would like to write a sequel to the 100 most beautiful words and title it "The 100 most disgusting words." Urp, burp, squelch, belch, puke, etc. My ancient uncle opined that the nastiest word in the English language is nasty.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby misterdoe » Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:02 pm

My ancient uncle opined that the nastiest word in the English language is nasty.
Your uncle is redundant. What's the word? :D

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:35 am

You are right, misterdoe. To be clear, I should have said, "My ancient uncle opined that the nastiest word in the English language is the word nasty."
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby misterdoe » Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:19 am

I knew what you meant. :)

It was a bad attempt at a joke. There was an old one of a high-school English teacher who told his class that "there are two words people use entirely too much, so much so that they've lost meaning. One is 'swell,' and the other is 'lousy.'" A student raised his hand and asked, "OK, what are the words?" :mrgreen:

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:24 am

No, the joke was fine. I just want to be as clear as possible.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby MTC » Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:44 am

I could not squelch a laugh at misterdoe's joke!

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Re: SQUELCH

Postby misterdoe » Sun Oct 14, 2012 1:11 am

I've always liked playing with words like that. At the same message board where I posted the "what hath Lil Jon wrought? Image" comment, the moderator asked "Is southern rap garbage?" I replied with "Is southern rap garbage what? You didn't finish the sentence." :mrgreen:


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