SLAG Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 T. P., There is no "schadenfreude". (taking joy in another person's misfortune), in your rusty German. Perhaps we can help out if you can describe the German word that you have forgotten. A good synonym for l'esprit de l'escalier is the German "treppenwitz". English has not stolen that word yet The former French phrase (l'esprit…), means that brilliant comeback that comes to mind too late after the first person's jibe or caustic put down. (i.e. whilst going down the stairs leading from the room) "Schadenfreude", and "L'escalier … ), have, now, become English words. As has the German word "zeitgeist" Which means the spirit of the times English has, unabashedly, stolen good words from the majority of the Earth's foreign languages. Regards, SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HojPoj Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 6 hours ago, SLAG said: English has, unabashedly, stolen good words from the majority of the Earth's foreign languages. Or as I've better heard it described: "English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, mugs other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 According to the OED, "cist" comes from the Latin cista*, which in turn comes from the Greek κίστη, meaning "box" or "chest" (which itself has a similar derivation). It has two senses: 1. Prehistoric Archaeology. A sepulchral chest or chamber excavated in rock or formed of stones or hollowed tree-trunks; esp. a stone-coffin formed of slabs placed on edge, and covered on the top by one or more horizontal slabs. 2. Ancient Greek History. A small receptacle for sacred utensils carried in procession at the celebration of mystic festivals. However (and this is where things get interesting), the OED further states that in the first (archaeological) sense, "cist" entered the language in the nineteenth century by way of the word "cistvaen" (or "kistvaen"), which is an Anglicization of the Welsh cist faen, meaning "stone chest". Since Welsh has no soft C, the "k-" variant was used interchangeably throughout the nineteenth century with the "c-" variant, and every actual archaeologist I've heard use the term** has pronounced it with a hard C, I'm going to insist*** that pronunciation, even if it does mean depriving ThomasPowers of an otherwise excellent pun. * Keeping in mind that Classical Latin had no soft C. ** Indiana Jones mispronouncing it in the classroom scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" doesn't count. *** NOT "inkist". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 JHCC, Thank you for that erudition. Now, I shall commit those words to memory. regards, SLAG. Mr. H. Poj, wonderful quotation. Hopefully Glenn will submit it to the blacksmith sayings or 'quotationings' thread at this site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Choosing pronunciation over a pun---you *fiend*! I'm reading Mark Twain's "Roughing It" right now in preparation to sending it to my SiL for Christmas. He likes books about the old west and so I thought he might like to read one that helped "create" the old west as we know it. However I think I have recognized several people here in it; or their archetypes... (Personally I prefer treppenwitz for it's compactness, German is the acme of "sticky words" languages.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Thomas, I agree with your observation that the German language is a "sticky word " language, with many long amalgamated words. But the Inuit language, Inuktitut, has even longer monster coalescent words, and may merit that "Acme"/ pinnacle prize. Just Sayyin, SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Perhaps "Apex"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 I eat high points for lunch: I'm an apex predator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 The pinnacle of the food chain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Now you've piqued my interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Gentlemen, ZOUNDS! This conservation is getting too sophisticated for me. It is wayyy past the pinnacle of my intellect. (I confess, that I am up-stuck.) But thanks y'all for the repartee. SLAG. Do any of the site members know more Victorian mild expletives? I can only think of a few. Such as 'gadzooks', 'egad', ' zounds' , (evoe?), They are so evocative. More of them would be most appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 On 11/20/2018 at 1:35 AM, SLAG said: English has, unabashedly, stolen good words from the majority of the Earth's foreign languages. The above is a simplistic and outdated notion. Languages adopt words from other languages according to geopolitical influences of the time and in a process of hundreds if not thousands of years through usage. That is how languages are formed. Happened back and forward to and from every single language under the sun. latin French and English were used in the 15 century in England for different reason and purposes. Today, English is by far the language that exports massive number of words to other languages rather than adopt them. The merging process of languages today, is rather interesting to observe. It can be fuelled by pretenses of erudition or by plain illiteracy and poor knowledge of the person's own language, either way, the use of an english word or a bastardisation of one into a foreign language becomes common, is used ad libitum by public figures and media, and then adopted officially in their dictionary. If you are interested, and your local TV broadcasts the Philippine news, spend some time and try to listen. when a common person from the street is interviewed, you will understand nothing. Pure Tagalog used. As the social status of the person rises, say they interview a shop owner, then a teacher or a politician, the number of english words used .by the interviewee increases. If you then listen to the president speech, you will understand almost everything. The same if you listen to Maltese news. Goes from 50% arabic and 50% italian to almost all Italian. Language purism is an academic exercise that is also outdated and futile I believe from the 19 century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 8 minutes ago, SLAG said: Such as 'gadzooks', 'egad', ' zounds' , (evoe?), They are so evocative. These are all Elizabethan, not Victorian: "gadzooks" ("God's hooks") and "zounds" ("God's wounds") are swearing by the nails of the Crucifixion and Christ's wounds on the cross, respectively. Neither was a particularly "mild" expletive in its time. "Egad" ("By God") is certainly milder, both past and present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 John, You are a Gem. Thank you for that information. Do you know any more such expletives? Thank you 'en avence'. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Plenty, but I don't want to get banned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Oh, P. m. me please or direct me to a source for such terms? SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Well, I’m still waiting for my prescription safety glasses to come, but at least the reimbursement check from the insurance company arrived safely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 1 hour ago, JHCC said: at least the reimbursement check from the insurance company arrived safely Gadzooks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 I guess tumulus and tumultuous aren't that closely related then? I thought Russian had the prize for ridiculous compound words and no contractions. Basically a vocabulary of run on sentences. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 7 hours ago, Frosty said: I guess tumulus and tumultuous aren't that closely related then? Close but no cigar. Both from Latin, Tumultus (accent is on the second "u") is a loud noise and Tumulus (accent on the first "u") is a pile of dirt or stones. Yet Tumulus and Tumor are related, and no it is not that tumor sends you under the tumulus, it's that both mean swell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horse Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 I truly hope y’all are enjoying yourselves by making us common folk declare huhhhh?? Just kidding of course. I have forever been very envious of those that possess this sort of linguistic imagination and breadth of understanding. Ya just keep me scratching my already very sparse pate. So go right on. I will try to keep up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 I thought Tumor was an island south of Wetter and east of Samba? (Misspellings as revenge on the Hammer!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 Hmm...I’ve never before known you to be Timor-ous. These just followed me home, courtesy of InterLibrary Loan: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 21, 2018 Share Posted November 21, 2018 Yes; I'm more Tuberous these days Tom said starchly. Oakeshott's Topology is the generally accepted one for discussing European Swords of the periods he covers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Ewert Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 This followed me home today. A slight upgrade from my old Vulcan. I'm looking forward to having a flat surface to work on and edges that aren't all chewed up. I'm curious why they would paint the underside of the horn, and I'm wondering what effect hot iron is going to have on it (can't be good). I might have to pick up some paint remover... I'll have to do a little dressing anyway. The concrete in my new stand is curing and won't be ready for a few days, so I have a little time clean this up and make some hardie tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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