Interesting Words (moved from Games)

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Etaoin Shrdlu

Guest

'Sad' is cognate with German satt and originally meant 'full' or 'solid', a meaning that still exists in the phrase 'sad iron', not that the object itself is in much use nowadays. Nobody seems to know how the prevalent meaning develope from this, but it did so quite early.
 
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Etaoin Shrdlu

Guest

I'm puzzled by why 'capnography' isn't in the OED, or any dictionary in OneLook apart from Merriam-Webster. Obviously there are any number of specialist scientific terms that can't be found in non-specialist dictionaries, even the OED, but I'd have thought this word was on a par with, say, 'oximetry', which generally makes the cut. I'm also puzzled as to why the Greek word for 'smoke' was chosen for carbon dioxide; you'd think there would be something less jarring, not that I can think of it.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
Knuffelcontact (Dutch), literally "hug-contact", that is a person whom you are allowed to hug as per COVID measures.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
Anderhalvemetersamenleving (Dutch), literally "meter-and-a-half society", that is a society where people keep a meter and a half away from one another (still in reference to COVID measures, of course).
 

BrianBerbati

Member

Location:
Illinois, USA
Interdigitation (from Latin inter and digitus)

You might be able to guess what it means.
 

Quasus

Civis Illustris

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Location:
Águas Santas
Priusquam lexicon quoddam consulerim, conjiciam hoc verbum significare collocationem cujusdam rei inter digitos.
 

Quasus

Civis Illustris

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Location:
Águas Santas
LTL PECTINATIM
Plin. 28. Hist. nat. 6. 17. (59). digitis pectinatim inter se implexis
Ovid. 9. Met. 299. digitos inter se pectine junctos (h. e. ita complicatis manibus, ut digiti invicem inserantur - Forcellini.)
 

Pacifica

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Location:
Belgium
@Pacifica, what would you say is the most confusing English word to a non-native speaker? Am curious.
Hmm... That would depend on the non-native speaker and what their native language is, obviously, but as far as I'm concerned I remember being a little confused by "get" as a beginner.
 

Callaina

Feles Curiosissima

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  • Patrona

Location:
Canada
Hmm... That would depend on the non-native speaker and what their native language is, obviously, but as far as I'm concerned I remember being a little confused by "get" as a beginner.
In expressions like "to get drunk" or "to get arrested", I guess?
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
Not those in particular. I guess it was more its polysemy as a whole: you can get drunk, get an idea, get milk from the store, get the bastard. I got over it quickly enough (no pun intended), I think, but I remember being uncertain how to interpret or translate it on a couple of occasions.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

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Location:
Belgium
Trying to recall more about my basic English learning, I think "over" and "off" were a little difficult to grasp at first, too.
 
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Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
"Mollibus in pratis admugit femina tauro:
Femina cornipedi semper adhinnit equo."
 

Quasus

Civis Illustris

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Location:
Águas Santas
Quoad Anglicam linguam, mihi articuli maximam difficultatem praebent, quia sermo meus paternus iis caret.
 
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