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

> 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

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