What is this business of tacking 'aholic' on to a noun to mean addict?

If an alcoholic is one addicted to drink, surely your high flying City man is a 'Workic', and your sweetie gobbling obese is a chocic?

Or conversely, should the drink one be 'alcoholaholic'? And in any case, why is it 'aholic' and not 'oholic'?

I'm not sure that I follow you entirely, but I agree that it sems odd that we use part of the word, alcohol in order to form the various spin-off terms.

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And in any case, why is it 'aholic' and not 'oholic'?

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But it's a chocOholic, isn't it? Since it's chocOlate...

A subject dear to my heart! (chocolate, that is!)

Ros

A subject dear to my heart! (chocolate, that is!)
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And waist, and hips, and thighs and...

Ah, yes, chocaholism isn't exclusively a woman's addiction!

The word "alocoholic" being incorrectly divided to create a suffix for "chocoholic", "workaholic" and so on isn't unique.

After all the word "hamburger" derives not from the word "ham" but the word "Hamburg" so a cheeseburger should derive from cheeseburg, a chickenburger from chickenburg and so on.

Can anyone think of more examples of "bad" derivations of suffixes or stems ?

Non curo ! Si metrum no habet, non est poema.

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Toy library (unless it means a model of a library, of course)

Richard English

"A subject dear to my heart! (chocolate, that is!)" You and me both, Ros!

And Bob Hale said: "After all the word "hamburger" derives not from the word "ham" but the word "Hamburg" so a cheeseburger should derive from cheeseburg, a chickenburger from chickenburg and so on."

But, Bob, as previously discussed, a hamburger is derived from the town of Hamburg (not word "hamburg") that claims the origin of it!

If most parents can't tell you that "colic" is defined as "the severe abdominal pain caused by spasm, obstruction, or distention of any of the hollow viscera such as the intestines," they probably could tell you that a 3 a.m. colicky baby is one of life's special joys.

Might an infant who seems addicted to this particular malady be considered a "colicaholic"?? I say yes, if for no other reason than I like the way the word sounds. (Yet another entry for my updated OED!)

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Originally posted by BobHale:
Can anyone think of more examples of "bad" derivations of suffixes or stems ?

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What about the -gate usage? First we had Watergate, but then we had Camillagate, Cheriegate etc.

Good one, Paul. In trying to find a Web site with "gate" words, I came acoss this:

"This is a familiar progression: the rash of '-gate' words spawned by the Watergate scandal (Irangate, Contragate and so on) finally reached its logical conclusion when Oliver North faced allegations of using public money to pay for a security gate at his own home – a cause célèbre that became known as 'Gategate'."

The entire article discusses "linguistic inventiveness" and is interesting. The "new black"?

While I haven't heard them in some time, "-nik" words were popular for a while. The Russian satellite "Sputnik" prompted "beatnik," "peace-nik," "no-good-nik" (a favorite) and many others.


Might a person who enjoys eating meals outdoors sitting on a blanket spread over the ground be known as a "picnic-nik"?

(No, I suppose not...)