January 2004 Archives:
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go: moirologist; tachygrapher; accoucheuse/accoucheur; visagiste
Pronunciations / Mispronunciations: cacoepy (orthoepy); sigmatism; epenthesis (troilism); hirrient; lambdacism (lallation); mouillé, rhotacism (pararhotacism; paralambdacism)
Words from the Comic Strips: wimpy; worrywart; dagwood; jeep; zilch; goon; yellow journalism
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go (Week
of Jan. 5, 2004)
As the long weekend closes and we return to work, let's look at some names of occupations.
Unusual ones; we are unlikely to have illustrative
quotations this week.
moirologist
– a hired mourner
You need have no fear that your funeral will be
ill-attended.
The root -log- traces back to legein "speak"; hence a "death speaker". The moirologist might sing appropriate funeral songs, called myriologues.
tachygrapher – one who writes shorthand; a stenographer
accoucheuse
– midwife
accoucheur
– male midwife; obstetrician
At least that's what the dictionaries say. Rather sexist, do you think? Interestingly, although neither word is used frequently, the latter gets far greater use than the former.
Thou eunuch of language; thou
pimp of gender, murderous accoucheur of
infant learning, thou pickle-herring in the puppet show nonsense.
– Robert Burns, to an anonymous critic.
visagiste
– a make-up artist
I wonder if they use this term in
How much time, and how much
trouble should a woman take in preparing herself for an evening with her
fiancé? We have already addressed this problem several times is our column, but
we are prompted to address it again after the publication of this little book,
probably the work of a famous international visagiste
who has coyly chosen to hide behind the pseudonym of Pauline Réage.
– Umberto Eco, draft of a review of L'Histoire
d'O, published in Misreadings
(1993)
Pronunciations and Mispronunciations (Week of Jan. 12,
2004)
This week presents words about how we pronounce or mispronounce words. Some are extremely specific, but let's start with a general one.
cacoepy
– incorrect pronunciation
The antonym is orthoepy – correct pronunciation of words
sigmatism
– defective pronunciation of sibilant sounds. Some sources say the term is
synonymous with "lisping", but I would think it is broader, and would
include hissing.
A further meaning:
sigmatism – the intentional repetition of words with sibilant speech sounds, as in She sells sea-shells by the sea shore. That is, a particular form of alliteration.
Later follow-up: Perhaps there was a circularity in defining sigmatism as "defective pronunciation of sibilant sounds". It should be added that sibilant means "characterized by a hissing sound". Sibilant sounds include the consonant sounds s, sh, f, z, and both versions of th: as in then, and as in thin.
epenthesis – the
addition of extra sounds in the middle of a word, as when nuclear is
pronounced "nukular" and when athlete
is pronounced "athalete." Words can
legitimately change by epenthesis: for example, the d in thunder
and the b in nimble are epenthetic.
One might think the word troilism
relates to the character in the old story of Troilus and Cressida, a story
used by Shakespeare, among others. In fact, however, troilism
comes from the French trois = three (in which
the final s is not pronounced) – which lacks the l. So how did troilism acquire its l-sound? I suggest the l
came in by epenthesis, for without an extra letter a word troi-ism would look awkward and be difficult
to pronounce.
Thus, there is a neat symmetry in that there is
"an extra element added" both in the word troilism,
and in the act that word names.
Bonus word: troilism
– a ménage à trois; sexual
relationship involving three people
hirrient
– of a sound: heavily trilling
In phonetics, think of the rolled French r-sound. Apart from phonetics, think of the sound of a cat purring.
lambdacism – a speech disorder involving faulty pronunciation or excessive use of the l-sound.
A reader notes: see also lallation
mouillé
– a consonant sound that is softened and liquid, pronounced as a palatal sound
If I understand it correctly:
Wordcrafter's word of
today
Is a sound which we find on display
In million and canyon
And billion and banyan
The "l" and "ny" are mouillé.
rhotacism – mispronunciation or overuse of sound r.¹
compare lambdacism,
which is essentially the same as to the l-sound.
This creates a question. A Chinese person will tend
to substitute l for r, calling a
The authorities seem to agree that it is lambdacism. Conversely, the Japanese tendency to substitute
r for l, calling a Brit an "Engrishman",
is rhotacism. Apparently we chose between the two
terms based on the sound added, not based on the sound dropped.
If an overuse of r is rhotacism, what is an underuse of r, substituting a different sound (not necessary the l-sound)? It is pararhotacism. Similarly, an overuse of l is lambdacism, and an underuse of l is paralambdacism. (One authority takes contrary view that "paralambdacism" is this overuse of the l-sound, the other authorities disagree.)
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¹also, in linguistics, the tendency of the s-sound to change to the r-sound over time
Words from the Comic Strips (Week
of Jan. 19, 2004)
Last Saturday was the 75th birthday of Popeye, a
gnarly, one-eyed cartoon character who butchered the English language. The
Popeye comic strip contributed several words to our language - as best I can
tell, more words than any other strip except Li'l Abner. This seems an appropriate week to enjoy words that
came from the comics. (I should add that all the etymologies I give are
supported, but not all are universally accepted.)
wimpy – weak and
ineffectual
After J. Wellington Wimpy in the Popeye strip by Elzie Segar. You'll see Wimpy on the right below.
Many of Segar's characters
were inspired by residents of his home town of
worrywart or worry
wart – one who tends to worry unduly, especially about unimportant things
from The Worry Wart,
character in the Out Our Way comic strip by
While anything can be overdone, in general obsessing
about details is important. No, you don't want to get a reputation as a prissy worrywart,
but worrying about details in private isn't a bad idea at all. Truth is, process beats substance. You may think you're the world's
greatest speaker with a message of the utmost urgency, but if the auditorium's
air conditioner is on the fritz and the sound system is singing static -- well,
forget it.
– Tom Peters, The Pursuit of Wow!
The picture doesn't seem to be showing, so here is the link.
dagwood
or dagwood sandwich (also capitalized)
– a multilayered sandwich with a variety of fillings
after Dagwood Bumstead, a character who made such sandwiches in the comic strip Blondie by Murat Bernard ("Chic") Young (1901–1973)
The Popeye comic strip featured a bizarre pet named
Eugene, who first appeared on March 13th or 20th,
1936 (the sources differ), is pictured elow. You'll
also find him in the forefront of the picture that illustrated our word
"wimpy".
Five years later the
jeep – a small, durable, general-purpose motor vehicle
zilch – nothing; a quantity so insignificant as to amount to nothing
Origin obscure, but may well be from the comic name
Zilch in the 1930's humor magazine Ballyhoo. Quinion discusses
the origin well, and this word is prominent in this hilarious Ballyhoo editorial
that seem equally applicable today.
goon – a thug hired
to intimidate or harm opponents, particulary as a
strikebreaker; also, a stupid or oafish person [The former sense may
trace to
yellow journalism–
sensationalistic journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to
create sensations and attract readers
[From the use of yellow ink in printing the
"Yellow Kid" cartoon strip in the New York World, a newspaper noted
for sensationalism. The original related to 1898 agitation for war with