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Re: Phoneme winnowing continues

From:Joe <joe@...>
Date:Friday, June 6, 2003, 17:01
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 5:47 PM
Subject: Re: Phoneme winnowing continues


> On Fri, Jun 06, 2003 at 05:38:56PM +1000, Tristan McLeay wrote: > > >Thus the seemingly redundant word "inkpen" used to distinguish the
[pIn]
> > >you > > >write with from the [pIn] you stick through things. :) > > > > > > > > Are 'biro' and 'ballpoint pen' not used in America? > > To second John's reply: I've also never heard "biro" before. > I assume it was originally a brand name that became generic? > Does it refer to all pens, or just ballpoints, or what?
Biro means a ballpoint pen. Particularly ones made of clear plastic. I think someone called Biro was the inventor of the ballpoint pen.

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Tristan McLeay <kesuari@...>