General Chat

What's the male equivalent of distaff? (I could have done with it when posting a message relating to my family tree). Is there a word for the pile of crumbs that inevitably collects at the bottom of Weetabix packets? There seems to be no word in English that means something for which there's no word in English. Is there a word that describes the feeling of indecision you get when you would like to post on a message board, but you're not sure whether anyone else is going to take an interest? PS. Would someone tell me what 'lol' means? I always assumed 'lots of love', but people often use it in places where that makes no sense.

Hi Neil. I dont know the answer to anything! so thats a good beginning! The indecision bit I understand, the Weetabix I dont....SO..... sorry what was the question? LOL (laugh out loud) BC

Thanks for replies so far. I was also hoping people would put up some of their own questions of the sort 'what's a word that means ...'

Mandy - I think the word is 'GenesReunited'. N.

Well thanks folks, I too was wondering about LOL AND I have problems with the Weetabix packs too, don't they just go everywhere when you open them, AND I have become a Genes Reunited JUNKIE - I've even stayed up to 6 a.m. following up a family name. Aren't there some great people on GR who will help you out - Gary H, who helped with my Merry line back to 1500, and Stephen with my Woodfords, and Ruth who helped too. MANY THANKS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT ( a twist on the Night before Christmas rhyme). Bye everyone, I'm off to bed, I miss my hour from last night.

from the net: A distaff is a staff with a cleft for holding wool, flax, etc. from which thread is drawn while being spun by hand. In olden times, spinning was considered a woman's work, so distaff figuratively referred to women. Distaff side (also spindle side) refers to the female side of a family. The corresponding male equivalent of the term is spear side (also sword side). .................................. There is a thread with abbreviations such as lol. I'll have a search. :-) Joy (with bouncebackability)

People regularly ask what 'lol' means. I tend to type haha instead as its a bit more obvious - also lol to me means a nickname for a certain rugby player. I am sure you can create your own neologisms Neil, the Greek/Latin language can be split and added to make just such words. Personally I have enough difficulty retrieving le mot juste from my brain's hard drive these days, with words that there are words for, never mind things there are no words for!!! Re: Weetabix - I have some storage containers which are just right for one tower of weetabix and I think Lakeland Limited do similar ones. Woolworths is another place to check. nell

Thank you, Kentish Maid and Little Nell, for erudite replies. Nell, the Kentish Maid seems quite good at creating neologisms - look at her signature in the post just above yours in this thread. You're quite right of course, but Greek & Latin are not the only source of roots for creating these. The Gaelic, Celtic & Saxon fields contain rich veins - or you can just invent words yourself. My brother and I used to do this sort of thing endlessly when we were younger (he went on to do his PhD in linguistics and has held a number of senior academic posts, but I became an electronic engineer and remain an amateur linguist). Among other things, we invented a word for the slimy muck that collects just below the metal fitting that forms the plug hole in the kitchen sink (flaxid). Also, at times we would use a highly convoluted reasoning process to arrive at an unlikely adaptation for an ordinary everyday word. In the mornings for instance, members of the family would have to take it in turns to use the bathroom, and often the timing was quite tight. Whenever the one using the bathroom was finished, he would announce to the rest of the family 'bathroom's boiling', meaning that it was now ready for the next person. Can you see our line of reasoning at all? N.

I love words and meanings of them, Neil. I found this on the net: bouncebackability Football Anorak and My Football News are supporting the campaign by Soccer AM to get bouncebackability into the Oxford Concise Dictionary. Bouncebackability is a word invented by ex-player and now manager of Crystal Palace FC Iain Dowie - used in the quote: 'Crystal Palace have shown great bouncebackability against their opponents to really be back in this game'. I did nudge the abbreviations thread for you. :-) Joy (life-long Crystal Palace supporter - with bouncebackability)

Spearside Len

Joy - honest of you to admit your source of bouncebackability. I think campaigns of the sort you mention to get words into dictionaries, especially the OED and its derivatives, are really wasted effort. English is perhaps unique among the major world languages in that it is totally democratic. There is not, and never has been, any form of state appointed authority to regulate word usage, spelling or any other aspect of the language. Consequently all we have are (a) self-appointed authorities, like the Fowlers, and (b) people generally using the language in the way they see fit. In regard to (a), as Bill Bryson points out in 'Mother Tongue', these authorities instruct us in all sorts of intricate ways on grammar, spelling, usage etc, and ... 'from the highest offices in the land they are ignored'. In regard to (b), English has evolved in a way unlike any other major world language. However most invented words remain in vogue for a short time - only a few take up permanent residence (every few hundred years we get a Shakespeare who successfully introduces them in quantity). A new word like bouncebackability will only find its way into a dictionary once it has become established and gained the force of idiom, and this may take years. N.

So using the laws of Abreveation We are all GENORACKS Genes=Anorack