GALLIMAUFRY

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Dr. Goodword
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GALLIMAUFRY

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:37 pm

• gallimaufry •

Pronunciation: gæl-ê-maw-fri • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A hodgepodge, a salmagundi, a mishmash, a jumble, a collection of various odds and ends.

Notes: In 1836 a British magazine used the adjective gallimaufrical tongue-in-cheek "a gallimaufrical [theatre] performance",but that hardly suffices to allow this adjective into the ranks of the English vocabulary. So gallimaufry remains an odd little word meaning "odds and ends" without a living relative.

In Play: Today's word is no longer used in its original sense, a mixed stew or ragout. Its reference is, however, always an odd mixture of some sort: "Melba Crisp decorated her home in a gallimaufry of styles: Victorian, French Provincial, and American Indian jumbled together with a bit of chinoiserie here and there." We occasionally run into the odd gentleman who is such a mixture: "Sir Cumfrence is a gallimaufry of a man, a complex of investor, businessman, sportsman, playboy, and bagpipe enthusiast."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Medieval French galimafrée "sauce, ragout", probably a compound of galer "to make merry" + mafrer "to gorge oneself". Galer is not only the origin of gala, but of gallant, as well. And guess where galer came from? Galer seems to have been borrowed from some Germanic language, possibly English, from the root wel- that gave English well. Medieval French had no [w] sound, so it used the sound nearest to [w] that it had, [gw], written GU, later pronounced simply [g]. English ward was borrowed by French in the same way, as guard. English promptly borrowed back the French word, giving it a slightly different meaning.
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Perry Lassiter
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Re: GALLIMAUFRY

Postby Perry Lassiter » Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:49 pm

gallimaufry is the ideal word to describe the assortment of personalites who inhabit the halls of Alpha Agora!
pl

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Slava
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Re: GALLIMAUFRY

Postby Slava » Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:54 pm

Given the interests of our good Sir Cumfrence, it would appear he is quite well rounded.
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MTC
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Re: GALLIMAUFRY

Postby MTC » Sat Mar 23, 2013 12:11 pm

Michael Quinion of WorldWideWords has authored a book entitled, Gallimaufry, A Hodgepodge of Our Vanishing Vocabulary. http://www.worldwidewords.org/gallimaufry.htm

Dr. Goodword might have entitled this site, "Goodword's Gallimaufry."

LukeJavan8
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Re: GALLIMAUFRY

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Mar 23, 2013 12:48 pm

I label potpourri file of odds and ends with the word
on my computer.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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