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Strong/strange verbs and spoonerisms (was RE:Ungrammaticalization?)

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Sunday, July 18, 1999, 0:54
FFlores wrote:
> Or worse, "read, read, read", or "lead, led, led".
Ah, and spelling only makes it worse. It can sometimes be impossible to tell whether /rid/ or /rEd/ is intended. (Why, oh why, can't it be spelt "red"?)
> I think I would have to carry a dictionary with me all the time > to get those right. *Right now* I don't remember the correct forms.
For me, it's not too difficult (if I'm being careful), I just have to remember "lay =3D transitive; lie =3D intransitive", but the fact that th= e past tense of "lie" is "lay" just really gets on my nerves sometimes.
> HA HA HA! I remember reading about this guy (Spooner, I guess) and some > of his most famous (attested) phrases. Said to a newly married groom wh=
o
> wouldn't react: "Now it's kisstomary to cuss the bride."
My favorite is when he made a toast "to our queer dean", instead of "to our dear queen"; and yes, the dean was rumored to be gay.
> BTW (and to justify this post) do you (pl.) have any spoonerisms > in your conlangs? Attested ones, I mean.
I've sometimes accidentally used "lusaf=ED" for "lusaf=E1i" - "lusaf=ED" = isn't an attested word (tho it might be a poetic term), but if it meant anything, it would mean "give birth" or perhaps "cause to give birth" (impregnate?); lu- =3D causative, saf=ED =3D give birth or be born; while lusaf=E1i means "create". Granted, not exactly a humorous juxtaposition, but that's the only one I've found so far. And, it's not a spoonerism since it's not a juxtaposition of segments or syllables. --=20 "[H]e axed after eggys: And the goode wyf answerde, that she coude not speke no Frenshe ... And then at last a nother sayd that he woulde haue hadde eyren: then the goode wyf sayd that she vnderstood hym wel." -- William Caxton http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Conlang/W.html http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor