Perry Lassiter found an old GW in the archives in which I lay out what I am looking for in Good Words that bears repeating here:
I try to find words that we have not used before (look in the Good Word dictionary), and that tell a story about us and where we come from, how we really think, what we are currently up to, what our ancestors did, and our ancestors' opinion of what we are still doing.
I also like words that stand out because special properties: pronunciation problems, spelling peculiarities, accentuation issues. I am especially fond of "garden path" words, words that lead our semantic machine in the wrong direction, like fartlek.
Other words of the day only aim at vocabulary building—and most of our GWs are chosen for that purpose, too. However, the words of a language draw a map of the peoples who speak them and provide a map of each word's journey through a thousand doors. The more turns and twists that journey has (or is having) the better.
What is a good Good Word?
- Dr. Goodword
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What is a good Good Word?
• The Good Dr. Goodword
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: What is a good Good Word?
Why does it not surprise me that there are two blank posts, one from you, Doc, and
the other is slava's.
the other is slava's.
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: What is a good Good Word?
6:00 PM Monday 13 August.
Still nothing.
Still nothing.
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: What is a good Good Word?
Maybe because they are merely informative, describing what makes for a Good Word; not much to discuss about them.
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: What is a good Good Word?
My comment was back when something on the
site was broken. I was not receiving posts.
site was broken. I was not receiving posts.
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- Grand Panjandrum
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Re: What is a good Good Word?
Slava, I do like your pleonasmic addendum to the Good Dr's contribution!
The Good Dr has rather poetically journeyed through a thousand doors and used old English words - twists and turns. Your equivalents are 'intriguing' and 'convoluted'. I wonder though if that is tautological or pleonasmic?
But whatever, the words with interesting etymology are amongst the most interesting in the series because the history often adds nuances of meaning. If we know what it meant originally, we can use it more accurately in future.
Well done, all round.
The Good Dr has rather poetically journeyed through a thousand doors and used old English words - twists and turns. Your equivalents are 'intriguing' and 'convoluted'. I wonder though if that is tautological or pleonasmic?
But whatever, the words with interesting etymology are amongst the most interesting in the series because the history often adds nuances of meaning. If we know what it meant originally, we can use it more accurately in future.
Well done, all round.
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