0
Usenet Posted 20 years ago
English in UK
Greetings all - and a question on word division
Hello everyone
I am new to this group, but I post regularly (i.e. 5-10 times per day) in a danish language group. There we have discovered an awfully funny way to waste time. We try to come up with words that can be divided in different ways making different meanings - often complete nonsense, but nevertheless seeming to make sense.
An example (in danish) is 'Antikrist', meaning of course 'Antichrist'. It is divided Anti+krist. However, if you divide it 'antik+rist' it means 'antique grating'.
I know of only five English words that work that way, namely 'coworker' (cow+orker), 'nosecone' (no+secone), 'scarcity' (scar+city), 'therapist' (the rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An)
Do you know the phenomenon at all? Can you come up with more (better) examples?
best regards
Anders Søe Plougsgaard
I am new to this group, but I post regularly (i.e. 5-10 times per day) in a danish language group. There we have discovered an awfully funny way to waste time. We try to come up with words that can be divided in different ways making different meanings - often complete nonsense, but nevertheless seeming to make sense.
An example (in danish) is 'Antikrist', meaning of course 'Antichrist'. It is divided Anti+krist. However, if you divide it 'antik+rist' it means 'antique grating'.
I know of only five English words that work that way, namely 'coworker' (cow+orker), 'nosecone' (no+secone), 'scarcity' (scar+city), 'therapist' (the rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An)
Do you know the phenomenon at all? Can you come up with more (better) examples?
best regards
Anders Søe Plougsgaard
Top answer
At 21:30:36 on Sat, 18 Mar 2006, Anders Søe Plougsgaard wrote in : [nq:1]I know of only five English words that work that way, namely 'coworker' (cow+orker), 'nosecone' (no+secone), 'scarcity' (scar+city), 'therapist' (the rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An)[/nq] I wouldn't consider most of your examples to be valid, though - cow-orker is a Usenet joke, and there is no English work "orker"; neither is there a word "secone", nor an English name "An". There are some good ones available, though, and the best (like your other two) involve differences of pronunciation - for instance, manslaughter (man's laughter). )
- At 21:30:36 on Sat, 18 Mar 2006, Anders Søe Plougsgaard wrote in : [nq:1]I know of only five English words that work that way, namely 'coworker' (cow+orker), 'nosecone' (no+secone), 'scarcity' (scar+city), 'therapist' (the rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An)[/nq] I wouldn't consider most of your examples to be valid, though - cow-orker is a Usenet joke, and there is no English work "orker"; neither is there a word "secone", nor an English name "An".
- There are some good ones available, though, and the best (like your other two) involve differences of pronunciation - for instance, manslaughter (man's laughter).
- )
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
16 Answers
0
At 21:30:36 on Sat, 18 Mar 2006, Anders Søe Plougsgaard wrote in :
[nq:1]I know of only five English words that work that way, namely 'coworker' (cow+orker), 'nosecone' (no+secone), 'scarcity' (scar+city), 'therapist' (the rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An)[/nq]
I wouldn't consider most of your examples to be valid, though - cow-orker is a Usenet joke, and there is no English work "orker";
[nq:1]I know of only five English words that work that way, namely 'coworker' (cow+orker), 'nosecone' (no+secone), 'scarcity' (scar+city), 'therapist' (the rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An)[/nq]
I wouldn't consider most of your examples to be valid, though - cow-orker is a Usenet joke, and there is no English work "orker";
00
[nq:1]Hello everyone I am new to this group, but I post regularly (i.e. 5-10 times per day) in a danish ... rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An) Do you know the phenomenon at all? Can you come up with more (better) examples?[/nq]
Ho that's a good one. Of course 'orker', 'secone' and, possibly, 'an' shouldn't really be acceptable as they aren't real words, but I like the idea. I'll try and think of
Ho that's a good one. Of course 'orker', 'secone' and, possibly, 'an' shouldn't really be acceptable as they aren't real words, but I like the idea. I'll try and think of
00
[nq:1]I know of only five English words that work that way, namely 'coworker' (cow+orker), 'nosecone' (no+secone), 'scarcity' (scar+city), 'therapist' (the rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An) Do you know the phenomenon at all? Can you come up with more (better) examples?[/nq]
With the caveats that others have expressed about some of your examples, I offer 'atone' versus 'at one' and 'begone' vs '
With the caveats that others have expressed about some of your examples, I offer 'atone' versus 'at one' and 'begone' vs '
00
[nq:1]Ho that's a good one. Of course 'orker', 'secone' and, possibly, 'an' shouldn't really be acceptable as they aren't real words, but I like the idea. I'll try and think of some.[/nq]
No, quite often only one of the new syllables/parts make a real word such as 'uncle'. That also goes for many of the, say, 40 Danish words I know.
I wasn't sure if you knew the game at all, because i
No, quite often only one of the new syllables/parts make a real word such as 'uncle'. That also goes for many of the, say, 40 Danish words I know.
I wasn't sure if you knew the game at all, because i
00
[nq:1]Hello everyone I am new to this group, but I post regularly (i.e. 5-10 times per day) in a danish ... rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An) Do you know the phenomenon at all? Can you come up with more (better) examples?[/nq]
There are countless mundane examples in English - probably so many that the game doesn't really work as well as it may in Danish. E.g. words beginning with "car..." - car
There are countless mundane examples in English - probably so many that the game doesn't really work as well as it may in Danish. E.g. words beginning with "car..." - car
00
[nq:2]Ho that's a good one. Of course 'orker', 'secone' and, ... I like the idea. I'll try and think of some.[/nq]
[nq:1]No, quite often only one of the new syllables/parts make a real word such as 'uncle'. That also goes for ... the same way as 'scar city'. In danish, you can actually see two meanings just by looking at the word.[/nq]
Well one suffix that did come to mind was -ring (and s
[nq:1]No, quite often only one of the new syllables/parts make a real word such as 'uncle'. That also goes for ... the same way as 'scar city'. In danish, you can actually see two meanings just by looking at the word.[/nq]
Well one suffix that did come to mind was -ring (and s
00
[nq:2]I know of only five English words that work that way, namely 'coworker' (cow+orker), 'nosecone' (no+secone), 'scarcity' (scar+city), 'therapist' (the rapist), og 'unclean' (uncle An)[/nq]
[nq:1]I wouldn't consider most of your examples to be valid, though - cow- orker is a Usenet joke, and there ... ones available, though, and the best (like your other two) involve differences of pronunc
[nq:1]I wouldn't consider most of your examples to be valid, though - cow- orker is a Usenet joke, and there ... ones available, though, and the best (like your other two) involve differences of pronunc
00
[nq:1]I offer 'atone' versus 'at one'...[/nq]
That's more or less what it was originally, being a back formation from 'atonement', which was a specially coined biblical phrase meaning being at one with Christ.
That's more or less what it was originally, being a back formation from 'atonement', which was a specially coined biblical phrase meaning being at one with Christ.
00
[nq:2]I offer 'atone' versus 'at one'...[/nq]
[nq:1]That's more or less what it was originally, being a back formation from 'atonement', which was a specially coined biblical phrase meaning being at one with Christ.[/nq]
I thought it was originally an Eskimo word, taken from "The Agenbyte of Inuit".
Paul Burke
[nq:1]That's more or less what it was originally, being a back formation from 'atonement', which was a specially coined biblical phrase meaning being at one with Christ.[/nq]
I thought it was originally an Eskimo word, taken from "The Agenbyte of Inuit".
Paul Burke
00
[nq:2]I offer 'atone' versus 'at one'...[/nq]
[nq:1]That's more or less what it was originally, being a back formation from 'atonement', which was a specially coined biblical phrase meaning being at one with Christ.[/nq]
Not really - the verb is Middle English.
John Briggs
[nq:1]That's more or less what it was originally, being a back formation from 'atonement', which was a specially coined biblical phrase meaning being at one with Christ.[/nq]
Not really - the verb is Middle English.
John Briggs
0
Related Questions