tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post6950886125198250536..comments2024-03-28T15:01:21.285-04:00Comments on SleuthSayers: I don't Think That Word Means What You Think It MeansLeigh Lundinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-35139270669121385322017-04-19T23:47:10.795-04:002017-04-19T23:47:10.795-04:00Velma, sounds like you've been binge-watching ...Velma, sounds like you've been binge-watching those CSI episodes again!John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-33893314472468053962017-04-19T23:03:37.854-04:002017-04-19T23:03:37.854-04:00Bobby, I always thought livid meant purplish. For ...Bobby, I always thought livid meant purplish. For example, medical examiners check for lividity. They know if lividity occurs other than the lowest part of the body, the body has been moved.Velmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12922496600366632604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-74227230065897355502017-04-19T20:04:39.139-04:002017-04-19T20:04:39.139-04:00According to Websters, livid means (1) discolored ...According to Websters, livid means (1) discolored by bruises; (2) ashen; (3) red; and (4) enraged. I love that it can be pale AND red. <br />As a kid, I knew the word unique when I heard it, but I didn't recognize it when I read it, pronouncing it un-q, which didn't go over well with my fifth-grade teacher. Barb Goffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16013123434790272424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-64168865463453657902017-04-19T15:50:58.194-04:002017-04-19T15:50:58.194-04:00Thanks for this post, Rob. Among other things, I j...Thanks for this post, Rob. Among other things, I just discovered that I've always misunderstood "livid." I didn't think it meant "flushed red," though. Like Elizabeth's mother, I thought it meant "enraged."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17673578800047888317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-20310483256338771132017-04-19T12:22:36.901-04:002017-04-19T12:22:36.901-04:00Re "livid," I don't get along with m...Re "livid," I don't get along with my mother very well & it was a lot worse when I was a child. She used to holler at me & say "I'm livid with you" ... her face was bright red.Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00239163766419735693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-16029701852863012682017-04-19T11:31:48.145-04:002017-04-19T11:31:48.145-04:00One of my favorite word derivation stories, stumbl...One of my favorite word derivation stories, stumbled upon because I spent a lot of my life as a transportation lawyer, involves the word "posh."<br /><br />In England during the 19th century wealthy folks took steamers to the Mediterranean to avoid the English winters. Rooms were not air conditioned, and in order to ensure that your room was as comfortable as possible during the southerly trip and the northerly return you wanted morning, not afternoon, sun on each leg of the trip. So the best round trip tickets were marked P.O.S.H., which abbreviated "port out, starboard home," that is, a cabin that would always face east for morning rather than afternoon sun. Dale Andrewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10553503281187956955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-41674687850207526562017-04-19T10:41:36.113-04:002017-04-19T10:41:36.113-04:00To move away from pronunciation and back into spel...To move away from pronunciation and back into spelling/word-choice dilemmas, here are a few word mix-ups I encounter regularly at the magazine were I'm managing editor:<br /><br />Use of "insure" for "ensure."<br /><br />Use of "draught" for "drought."<br /><br />And here's one that bugs the bejeezus out of me as a reader: The use of "ground" for "floor." For example: Our hero is fighting the bad guy in the living room of the victim's home and then he knocks the bad buy to the ground. I'm immediately thrown out of the story because I don't know how and when they took the fight outside.Michael Brackenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01072019804281421944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-18754443753588922592017-04-19T10:37:18.031-04:002017-04-19T10:37:18.031-04:00I, too was stumped by sallow for a long time.
Re...I, too was stumped by sallow for a long time. <br />Re pronunciation, I remember I was talking about how much I liked Euripedes' "The Bacchae" (yes, seriously), and pronounced it "back-eye" and was told, somewhat snootily (I thought) it was pronounced "bach-ee". Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-52912627550457733982017-04-19T09:45:24.023-04:002017-04-19T09:45:24.023-04:00Funny how this has morphed from spelling to pronun...Funny how this has morphed from spelling to pronunciation. <br /><br />Steve, I had a friend in college who, in high school, went on a field trip to New York. The gym coach who was chaperoning them warned them to watch out for the "drunken dialects" on the street. He meant derelicts, of course, but linguistically speaking, he had a point.Robert Loprestihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08844889305615182897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-41388604580587489992017-04-19T09:32:24.993-04:002017-04-19T09:32:24.993-04:00I'm with John on calliope and Penelope, and le...I'm with John on calliope and Penelope, and let me add "Yosemite." I never understood the name of the cartoon character Yosemite Sam (Seventy Sam? whatever) in the Bugs Bunny cartoons.<br /><br />I had an early teacher who pronounced "bourgeoisie" to rhyme with "New Jersey," and got corrected rather directly when I got to a government class in high school. That same teacher pronounced composer REE-kard Vahg-ner as "Richard Wagner."<br /><br />I also remember thinking that Titleist golf balls and clubs had a short "i" in the first of two syllables. I was probably about twelve, so maybe that's understandably Freudian...<br /><br />Sin-ek-dosh, instead of Synecdoche. It's like the city in New York State...<br /><br />On a completely different note, my Facebook account has been hacked and I've been unable to restore it so far. In the next couple of days, I may be posting here that I've dumped my old page and started a new one. If you get a friend request from me, it's real. If that happens, I'll need someone to invite me to the SS Fb page again, too. Always something, innit?Steve Liskowhttp://www.steveliskow.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-22225758136296644342017-04-19T09:07:28.909-04:002017-04-19T09:07:28.909-04:00I remember thinking calliope was pronounced calley...I remember thinking calliope was pronounced calley-ope and Penelope was penny-lope. Beatific also didn't mean what I thought it did.<br /><br />A good way to remember "nauseous": if you're nauseated you're sick, and if you're nauseous you're making me sick.John Floydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04001712728130488485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-31533339714485160322017-04-19T08:44:13.035-04:002017-04-19T08:44:13.035-04:00"Genre" did me in. I read and understood..."Genre" did me in. I read and understood the word (I was, after all, a voracious reader of genre fiction) but had never said nor heard anyone say the word aloud. During an oral presentation in a high school English class, I pronounced it as "jen-er."<br /><br />The teacher corrected me in a most unpleasant manner.<br /><br />I dropped out of her class.<br /><br />(By the way, does anyone know whatever happened to Bruce Genre?)Michael Brackenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01072019804281421944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-57756845323203313892017-04-19T08:21:35.670-04:002017-04-19T08:21:35.670-04:00O'Neil, no "e'" in "useing....O'Neil, no "e'" in "useing." Heh.Robert Loprestihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08844889305615182897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-65405060534735007282017-04-19T07:53:16.287-04:002017-04-19T07:53:16.287-04:00I'm with you on livid- which was such a favori...I'm with you on livid- which was such a favorite of Victorian novelists!janice lawnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-21047171344434180132017-04-19T07:44:20.824-04:002017-04-19T07:44:20.824-04:00OK. Back to school. I think I'll follow Heming...OK. Back to school. I think I'll follow Hemingway on this. Faulkner mocked Hemingway for never useing a word someone had to look up in a dictionary. Something like that. Uh, did I use 'mocked' correctly? Damn.O'Neil De Nouxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03142721824657611738noreply@blogger.com