• stevedore •
Pronunciation: stee-vê-dor • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A person who loads and unloads ships or otherwise works on the docks.
Notes: Today's Good Word is filled with e-traps: not electronic traps but traps with the letter E. The pronunciation is that of a double E, [ee], but the two Es here embrace the V: steve-. Moreover, unlike the name, Steve, the second E is pronounced "uh". Finally, the word ends on an E that is silent, -dore. Mind your Es and Es spelling today's word.
In Play: Stevedores in the US have a reputation of being tough guys: "Hey you guys! Don't romp through the house I just cleaned like a couple of stevedores!" This reputation of stevedores is probably undeserved. Most of the moving on docks these days is done by sophisticated machinery requiring more brain than brawn. However, you are still more likely to hear requests like this: "I need a couple of husky stevedores to help me move the piano to the pool."
Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Spanish estibador, which originally meant a wool-packer, a meaning that later changed to someone who stores wool for export. From there the meaning slipped to someone one who stows cargo, as in Modern Spanish estiba "loading" from estibar "to load or unload". This verb devolved from Latin stipare "to press together", a verb of undistinguished ancestry. (Today's Good Word comes from someone in a town with quite a few stevedores, Peter Melville or Rotterdam. Dutch borrowed stuwadoor and the verb stuwen "to push, stow" from French just as English borrowed today's Good Word.)
STEVEDORE
- Dr. Goodword
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STEVEDORE
• The Good Dr. Goodword
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- Grand Panjandrum
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Startin' up agin, are ye? Ovine howdy-do!Why do ewe suppose there are so few female stevedores? Apparently shear strength is not the only requirement.
-gailr
I guess the palate has run dry over in oral surgery.
Wool shucks, I've already ram yself outta puns. Baa humbug.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!
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- Grand Panjandrum
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Do we still need him?
PS at the risk of going on an off-topic "Ram" page: note that as of tomorrow (18 June), Paul McCartney actually IS 64.
{That's innersting- you can't type "6/18" in parentheses -gives a smiley}
{That's innersting- you can't type "6/18" in parentheses -gives a smiley}
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: Do we still need him?
Yeah, ya hafta leave a space between the "8" and the ")" thusly:{That's innersting- you can't type "6/18" in parentheses -gives a smiley}
(6/18 )
as opposed to (6/18).
And there's three ways to wink, too:
:wink :
and
;- )
and
; )
(A space was intereted in the penultimate position to disable the graphic)
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
Re: STEVEDORE
For the record, Today's Good Word comes from Riutaro Aida, Agora's Flaminius, who found this word on a boat trip down the Thames.. . . . (Today's Good Word comes from someone in a town with quite a few stevedores, Peter Melville or Rotterdam. Dutch borrowed stuwadoor and the verb stuwen "to push, stow" from French just as English borrowed today's Good Word.)
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