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CHAT: autological linguistics terms; faux amis

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Friday, November 17, 2000, 16:51
I have been trying to collect autological linguistics terms (those which
apply, or can be applied, to themselves).  So far I have:

        savarabakhti < svarabakhti 'a vowel inserted
        into a consonant cluster to ease pronunciation'

        haplogy < haplology 'the omission of one of two identical
        consecutive syllables.

Any inspiration?  I'm working on something for "folk etymology"
right now; so far the best I have is "fork etymology".

Another to add to my ongoing list of Strange Reversals between
English and French.  (So far the best is the churchly pair
_cure_ 'vicar' and _vicaire_ 'curate').  The new one is:

In English, "kind of" reduces the strength of an insult,
but in French, "espece de" increases the strength:  "kind of
stupid" is weaker than "stupid", but "espece d'ordure" is
stronger than mere "ordure".

--
There is / one art                   || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
no more / no less                    || http://www.reutershealth.com
to do / all things                   || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
with art- / lessness                 \\ -- Piet Hein