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Re: USAGE: Dutch v or f (was: Grimm's Law)

From:Maarten van Beek <dungeonmaster@...>
Date:Wednesday, April 24, 2002, 9:15
> Van: John Cowan > Onderwerp: Re: Dutch v or f (was: Grimm's Law) > > > These last are very odd. It seems to be rare for truly new > "invented" words > > to arise. Acronyms, contractions, humorous deformations-- yes. > > When Calvin (of _Calvin and Hobbes_) is asked to explain Newton's > First Law in his own words, he writes "Yakka foob mog. Grug pubbawup > zink wattoom gazork. Chumble spuzz." But most people are not so quick > to make up "their own words". > > > IIRC one of > > the few without any known etymology in modern times is "gas", > Fr. "gaz"(?) > > Another is "kodak", evidently invented directly by George Eastman. > This is not so common a common noun as it used to be, to be sure.
In Dutch, we have a very famous invented word, namely the word "fiets" for bicycle. It was invented by the participant of a contest in the first half of this century, where the contest was specifically intended to yield a new word for this invention. Maarten

Replies

John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>