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USAGE: "hoor" (Was: My wedding pictures)

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Thursday, August 7, 2003, 2:58
Tristan McLeay scripsit:

> If I were to read a word spelt 'hoor', I would interpret > it as homophonous with 'whore' and rhyming with 'poor', 'door', 'floor', > 'snore', 'four'/'for' and 'lore'/'law'.
If you've ever read Heinlein's _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, which is written mostly in Russian-influenced archaic Aussie jargon (more or less), you saw it there, in a Swedish flavor: "tousands and tousands of hoors". It appears in Hiberno-English as well, and (ironically) as an alternative spelling of the Arabic word usually spelled "houri" in English: the maidens provided for the entertainment of the faithful in Paradise. -- John Cowan www.ccil.org/~cowan www.reutershealth.com jcowan@reutershealth.com In might the Feanorians / that swore the unforgotten oath brought war into Arvernien / with burning and with broken troth. and Elwing from her fastness dim / then cast her in the waters wide, but like a mew was swiftly borne, / uplifted o'er the roaring tide. --the Earendillinwe