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