Re: CHAT smite (was: Performative verbs)

--- David Peterson <ThatBlueCat@...> wrote:

>
> In one of the classes I TA'd for a list of the
> rarest irregular verbs in
> English.   I can't remember a lot of them, and when
> I find the handout,
> I'll post some, but one I *do* remember is "beshit"
> (whose past tense
> is formed with an "a").   Certainly that one won't
> be in the Bible and is
> probably *much* rarer than "to smite", which is now,
> I'd argue, quite
> frequently used for its humor value (i.e., it's
> archaic, and therefore
> funny).

What about "squeeze"  In a recent argument, which I
lost, I contended that "squozen" is an archaic past
participle, which is now "squeezed". Unfortunately,
the abridged OED that I have shows only some
etymological info, so I can't tell for sure.

Does anyone know?

(btw, my mother, who is known for her strange words,
uses squozen all the time, as a sort of jocular form)

Other words she uses:
 huzzybin "husband"
 ninner "dinner"
 loo    "to love"  (past participle: loon)
 arriven (past participle of "arrive") /@rIv@n/
 squozen (past participle of "squeeze")
 sossia  "sorry" /sAssija/
 sometimes:  jont "dont"  /ZAnt/

There are more, but I haven't made a complete list

Elliott Lash

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