Legit

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Dr. Goodword
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Legit

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Oct 16, 2022 4:33 pm

• legit •


Pronunciation: lê-jitHear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective, adverb

Meaning: 1. Legitimate, legal. 2. Genuine, true, actual. 3. Justified, fair, straight, alright. 4. (Adverb) Really, for real, actually.

Notes: Today's word is a clipping of legitimate which has taken off on its own. Usually, clippings retain the meaning of the unclipped form, like phone : telephone, chute : parachute, exam : examination. Initially, this word followed the pattern as seen in Meaning No. 1; however, since its emergence it has wandered afar.

In Play: In the second sense, utterances like this emerge every day: "Wyatt Herz seldom misses a game due to a legit injury." In the third sense above, we might hear something like this: "Siddy Hall is one of the legit politicians in office today."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a clipping of legitimate, a polished-up version of Latin legitimatus "made lawful" of the verb legitimare "to make lawful". This verb is based on legitimus "lawful", an adjective based on lex, legis "law'. Legis came from that fascinating Proto-Indo-European word leg-/log- which emerged in Greek as logos "speech, word, idea". The Greek root also gave us lexicon and lexical. The best guess as to how the meanings "word" and "law" crossed paths is that this root goes back to the day when a king's word was the law. The most interesting derivation of this word is the purely English leech, which derives from Old English laece "doctor, physician". The connection must have been with the predecessors of physicians who resorted to leeches and magic sayings and incantations to cure ailments (Now let's thank Ana Jung, a prolific contributor for the past two years, for spotting the interest in today's Good Word and sharing it with us.)
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Debbymoge
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Re: Legit

Postby Debbymoge » Mon Oct 17, 2022 12:05 pm

Would someone please oblige me with an example of "legit" as in definition 4, adverb?
I keep coming up with only adjectives.

Thanks in advance,
(slow witted) Debby
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shakespear

bnjtokyo
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Re: Legit

Postby bnjtokyo » Wed Oct 19, 2022 1:04 am

How about "He ran the marathon legit"

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Dr. Goodword
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Re: Legit

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:26 am

She welds, paints houses, plumbs legit.
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Debbymoge
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Re: Legit

Postby Debbymoge » Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:33 am

Thank you both.
I hear the correctness of the usage, but it hits hard on the ear.
Seems a bit coarse, somehow.
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shakespear

David Myer
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Re: Legit

Postby David Myer » Mon Oct 24, 2022 6:13 am

I'm with you Debby. A bit coarse. Let's raise the tone of the conversation with a good Australian equivalent - dinky-di, itself a corruption (possibly) of dinkum. And if anyone wants some fun, they might like to explore the origins of that one. It is certainly much debated here.

Philip Hudson
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Re: Legit

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Oct 24, 2022 11:29 am

David: My cousin who spent several years in Australia explored the slang used in the Land Down Under. So I was prepared for dinky-di. I see no need for the word Legit. No one says legit here in the hinterlands. We all would look askance on it.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


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