Check the Dilbert comic strip for Sunday, 19 February for a fun word comment!

My paper is gone. Any hints? Speaking of comics, I loved For Better or for Worse today. I will post it in the "Why use one word..." thread because it's quite appropo there.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

A link to the strip in question.

Thanks, arnie. It wasn't archived yesterday when I posted about it.

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Originally posted by Asa Lovejoy:
Check the Dilbert comic strip for Sunday, 19 February for a fun word comment!

"Oil is a fungible commodity…" Lovely neologism, but what on earth might it mean? It vaguely sounds like something that degrades or rots, perhaps like a fungus. It reminds me of the famous 'runcible' so widely used by Edward Lear, which was dignified by an entry in the OED, though admittedly as a nonsense word. There was
in the Owl & Pussy-Cat a runcible spoon; the Dolomphious Duck, who caught Spotted Frogs for her dinner with a Runcible Spoon. Also in Laughable Lyrics, Aunt Jobiska's Runcible Cat with crimson whiskers! And in Nonsense Songs & Stories, He weareth a runcible hat. Later the runcible goose and so forth.
I hope fungible likewise flourishes. I like it.

Lovely neologism ... I hope fungible likewise flourishes.

I guess this is an example of British humor which I just don't get. Fungible has been around, in its current meaning, since the middle of the 18th century. It was borrowed from Medieval Legal Latin. It means interchangeable or exchangeable.

quote:

Originally posted by zmjezhd:
Lovely neologism ... I hope fungible likewise flourishes.

I guess this is an example of British humor which I just don't get. Fungible has been around, in its current meaning, since the middle of the 18th century. It was borrowed from Medieval Legal Latin. It means interchangeable or exchangeable.

You are right Zmj. I have rectified my ignorance. The OED says: med.L. fungibilis (‘res fungibiles’ Du Cange), f. fung (with sense as in fungi vice, to take the place, fulfil the office of). The adj. belongs to Civil Law and to the general theory of Jurisprudence; the n. is in addition a current term of the law of Scotland.] My earlier speculations are rubbish and should be ignored. Must be more careful. Thanks.

My earlier speculations are rubbish and should be ignored. Must be more careful. Thanks.

Not a problem. You're welcome. I'm trying to remember the first time I heard fungible. I think my wife, who was taking an accounting class at the time, mentioned it casually, and I was sent to the dictionary.

I've had a chance to look at a Latin etymological dictionary, and here's what's under fungor (fungi, functum, which last form is where we get English function) 'to perform, carry our, undergo': from a nasalized PIE *dheugh- 'work (at), keep or make (close)'; OE dohtig, English doughty, Greek τευχω (teukhō) 'to make'. Latin fungus, OTOH, comes from a different root: *bhengh- 'open out, swell out, be big'; English bunch, (although this etymology seems to be disputed by AHD), also an s-form spunk 'tinderwood'.

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I think my wife, who was taking an accounting class at the time, mentioned it casually, and I was sent to the dictionary.

Hmmm, this happens to me so rarely, but every so often I will come up with a word that Shu doesn't know. On the other hand, he does that all the time with me!

Back to fungible...we had an interesting discussion of this word when the board first started. Time Magazine reported that "loyalties" were fungible, which I disagree with. I think fungible relates to units that are exchangeable, but not abstractions, such as loyalties. As you can see, Tinman concluded that it has become a fad word and has taken on a range of meanings.

Oil is most emphatically not a fungible commodity. It comes from the ground in differing thicknesses, or viscosities, and differing level of impurities, particularly sulfer. Those who buy an oilfield are well-aware of differences like that.

In a previous life I worked for a financial corporation that created and managed synthetic options. As part of that job I wrote a program that managed fungible trades, which were trades that could be added up or cancelled out, for example, options at a particular strike price that expired on the same day.

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My earlier speculations are rubbish and should be ignored.

That would take all the fun out of it.