Facebook-Word Quizzes-51-75

51-What do these surnames have in common? Haddad, Kovacs, Kowalski, Kuznetsov

52-What NHL Stanley Cup finalist's surname is an anagram for an old name for a Middle East country?

53-Name a city in Massachusetts comprised only of letters in the first half of the alphabet?

54-What do the following sets of words have in common? diver, landing, pierce, sales

55-What do the following sets of words have in common? appeases, happenchance ,intestines

56-Name a world capital and US state capital that are girls' names?

57-Name someone whose first and last names are comprised only of letters that appear twice?

58-Name an author wh0se name is an anagram for Dare shun islam

59-Name 2 US cities and 1 state comprised of letters only worth 1 point in Scrabble?

60-Name an actor whose name is an anagram for Genuine class

61-What do these words have in common? mail-regalia-pure-serial-chain-rain-moan-pains-braise

62-Name the nicknames of the first 2 pro teams to compete in a championship?

63-Name an actress whose surname is an anagram for a European country?

64-Name a 7 letter word that spells another word in reverse order?

65-Name an anagram that is its own antonym?

66-Name an anagram that is its own synonym?

67-Name a word with 5 consecutive consonants?

68-Name a nine letter word with only one vowel?

69-Name a word with three consecutive letter pairs?

70-Name 2 9 letter words of 1 syllable?

71-Aside from typewriter name a word made up only with letters from the top line of a keyboard?

72-Name a 15 letter word where no 2 letters repeat themselves?

73-Name a word made up of only letters that are even in the alphabet? e.g. b=2, d=

74-Name a 9 letter word made up of only letters that are odd in the alphabet? e.g, a=1 c=3

75-What do the following sets of words have in common? horseshoer, intestines, reappear, redder

(A version of this article appeared recently in Arts & Opinion).

Linguistic mishugass redux

by

Howard Richler

Recently the Journal of Animal Ethics advised us to refer to our pets as companion animals and to remember that as we are also members of the animal kingdom, we should call our animals “non-human” animals; ergo your pet should really be called a companion non-human animal. We are also advised that the term vermin and pest are politically-incorrect as is the expression “stubborn as a mule,” regardless of the recalcitrance level of the ass. This is reminiscent of some of the preposterous terms proposed by the quasi-oppressed in the late 80s, early 90s. For example, in Language, Gender and Politics, authors Francine Wattman Frank and Paula A. Treichler suggested the addition of the word “ovarimony” to our lexicon to reference statements that women give under oath, because of the supposed etymological link between testimony and testes. This neologism was topped by poet's Betsy Warland suggestion thar "dictionary" should be respelled as “dicktionary,” because DWEMs (Dead White European Males) such as lexicographers James Murray and Samuel Johnson exemplified patriarchal thinking that was controlled by the first four letters of the revised spelling.

I will admit, however, that there is a place for sensitivity in one's choice of words. For those people who find terms such as cerebrally-challenged too euphemistic, I remind them that it wasn’t that long ago that words like “cretin” and even “moron” were used in polite society without compunction. Given a choice, I’d rather be oversensitive than not sensitive enough. Increasingly, “ethnic” verbs such as “to welsh” (to avoid payment); “to gyp”(to cheat) and “to jew” (to bargain) are also avoided. Also, because for some people the suffix -ess denotes inferiority (it's difficult to think of a manageress running a Fortune 500 company), I understand why a female thespian would rather be called an actor than an actress. I even can comprehend why ESPN commentator Max Bretos was suspended in February for saying that the New York Knicks loss to the New Orleans Hornets revealed “a chink in his {Chinese-American basketball phemon Jeremy Lin's} armor.” For some people of Chinese lineage the term “chink” is as offensive as the word “nigger” is to blacks.

But where does it end? Some years ago when I wrote A Bawdy Language: How a Second-Rate Language Slept Its Way to the Top, I included a section on word play where one of the chapters was titled “'Definitions depend on how you split 'em” Here, I featured a puzzle I called “Animal Split Definitives” where words were defined by their constituent parts. Hence, “aspire” was defined as “venom” by breaking up the word into “asp” and “ire”; similarly “heathen” was defined as “barbecued chicken” by dividing the word into “heat” and “hen.” One of the “animal” words I included was “hippocampus” that I defined as “'university for fat people” and my editors wanted me to exclude this definition as they felt is was insensitive to the horizontally-challenged. While normally I'm fairly open to editorial suggestions, in this instance I dug in my heels and after great hesitation the editorial board at my publisher caved into my intransigence and left my definition unedited. ( I'm not sure if my calling their objections “fatuous” helped sway them.)

Must we avoid the word niggardly that means stingy or miserly because someone might associate it with the dreaded N word notwithstanding it having no etymological connection to it? If I say that I find a “penal institution (and pronounce the first word “penile”’) to be barbaric,” I’m sure there’s somebody out there who thinks I have cast aspersions on the practice of circumcision. If I use the word “pithy” will someone feel I’m mocking lispers? Must I avoid the word “judicious” when among Jews, “dyspepsia” when among French-Canadians and “nervous titter” when in the company of women? Must everyone, except white Protestants, avoid “waspish comments?”

The mind boggles.

hrichler@gmail.com

Howard Richler's latest book is Strange Bedfellows: The Private Lives of Words. Linguistic meshugas redux

by

Howard Richler

Recently, the Journal of Animal Ethics advised us to refer to our pets as companion animals and to remember that as we are also members of the animal kingdom, we should call our animals “non-human” animals. Ergo, Fido should really be called a companion non-human animal. We are also advised that the term vermin and pest are politically-incorrect as is the expression “stubborn as a mule,” no matter the recalcitrance level of the said ass. This is reminiscent of some of the preposterous terms proposed by the quasi-oppressed in the late 80s, early 90s. For example, in Language, Gender and Politics, authors Francine Wattman Frank and Paula A. Treichler suggested the addition of the word “ovarimony” to our lexicon to reference statements that women give under oath, because of the supposed etymological link between testimony and testes. This neologism was topped by poet's Betsy Warland suggestion that “dictionary” should be respelled as “dicktionary,” because DWEMs (Dead White European Males) such as lexicographers James Murray and Samuel Johnson exemplified patriarchal thinking that was controlled by the first four letters of the revised spelling.

I will admit, however, that there is a place for sensitivity in one's choice of words. For those people who find terms such as cerebrally-challenged too euphemistic, I remind them that it wasn’t that long ago that words like “cretin” and even “moron” were used in polite society without compunction. Given a choice, I’d rather be oversensitive than not sensitive enough. Increasingly, “ethnic” verbs such as “to welsh” (to avoid payment); “to gyp”(to cheat) and “to jew” (to bargain) are also regarded as improper. Also, because for some people the suffix -ess denotes inferiority (it's difficult to think of a manageress running a Fortune 500 company), I understand why a female thespian would rather be called an actor than an actress. Recently, after their constituent parts. Hence, “aspire” was defined as “venom” by breaking up the word into “asp” and “ire”; similarly “heathen” was defined as “barbecued chicken” by dividing the word into “heat” and “hen.” One of the “animal” words I included was “hippocampus” that I defined as “'university for fat people” and my editors wanted me to exclude this definition as they felt is was insensitive to the horizontally-challenged. While normally I'm fairly open to suggestions by editors, in this instance I dug in my heels and after great hesitation the editorial board at my publisher caved into my intransigence and left my definition unedited. ( I'm not sure if my calling their objections “fatuous” helped sway them.)

But where does it end?Must we avoid the word niggardly that means stingy or miserly because someone might associate it with the dreaded N-word notwithstanding it having no etymological connection to it? If I use the word “pithy” will someone feel I’m mocking lispers? Must I avoid “judicious” when among Jews, “dyspepsia” when among French-Canadians and “nervous titter.” when in the company of women? Might not “enigma” offend? Must everyone, except white Protestants, avoid “waspish comments?”

The mind boggles.

hrichler@gmail.com

Howard's next book From Happy to Homosexual will be published by Ronsdale Press in 2013,

HOT DOG

(This article appears in the July/August edition of Lexpert with the title "Who Named the Dog?")

Putting the dog back in hot dog

by





Howard Richler









On July 4^th the attention of all gourmands will be turned to the most All-American of all sporting competitions. I speak, of course, about Nathan's Hot-Dog Eating Contest held annually on Coney Island, New York. Legend states that on July 4, 1916 four immigrants partook in a hot dog eating contest at Nathan's Famous stand on Coney Island to settle a dispute as to which of the voracious gentlemen were most patriotic to their adopted land. Last year, American Joey Chestnut won his fifth title by consuming 62 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes. Over 40,000 spectators attended this cholesterol-imbibing orgiastic event and an additional 1.949 million viewers watched it live on ESPN.

As we approaching the dog days of summer and this momentous event, this is a good time to discuss the origin of one of the most quintessential American words – hot dog.

Lore has it that in 1900 sports cartoonist Thomas Aloysius “Tad” Dorgan was ingesting a sausage at the New York Polo Grounds, the baseball Giants’ home park. Since there had been rumours that canine meat was prevalent in the sausages, he dubbed his bunned lunch “hot dog.” His subsequent caricature of a dachshund on a bun got the goat of the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce who instituted a policy of banning the term “hot dog” by concessionaires, insisting instead on the use of PC terms such as “Coney Islands,” “red hots” or “frankfurters.” The Dorgan etymology has been repeated by many language writers including Bill Bryson in Made in America.

There are, however, some problems with this account. Dorgan was working in San Francisco in 1900 and did not move to New York until 1903. Also, no one has uncovered the Dorgan cartoon in question. He did, however, sketch some “hot dog” cartoons in 1906 from a bicycle race in Madison Square Gardens.

The first printed references to “hot dog” occur in the 1890s. On Sept 28, 1893, Knoxville (Tennessee) Journal displayed the term and earlier on May 20, 1893, New Brunswick (New Jersey) Daily Times, had an article that related how the shore town of Asbury Park has passed a by-law to fine “hot-dog peddlers.”

The term “hot dog”, however, only became popular due to a reference in Yale Record of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1895; apparently the word “dog” had been a university slang term for “sausage” for at least a decade. A lunch wagon that operated nightly at Yale was dubbed “The Kennel Club” as the humble sausage represented its specialty. A poem was written in the aforementioned newspaper entitled ECHOES FROM THE LUNCH WAGON:

“Tis dogs' delight to bark and bite,”

Thus does the adage run.

But I delight to bite the dog

When placed inside a bun.

But decades before the 1890s, there had been accusations that sausage-makers were “dogging” their product. An article in New York Commercial Advertiser of July 6, 1838 quipped, “Sausages have fallen in price one half, in New York since the dog killers have

commenced operations."

Due to the supposed connection between sausages and dogs, by the middle of the 19^th century it is not surprising that earlier refernces to the term “hot dog” are found. In fact, lexicographer Ben Zimmer reported in his Word Routes column last year that a law librarian Fred Shapiro of Yale University found this entry in the December 31, 1892 edition of Paterson (New Jersey) Daily Press: “Somehow or other a frankfurter and a roll seem to go right to the spot where the void is felt the most. The small boy has got on such familiar terms witth this sort of lunch that he now refers to it as “hot dog.” “Hey Mister, give me a hot dog quick,” was the startling order that a rosy-cheeked gamin hurled at the man as a Press reporter stood close by last night. The “hot dog”was quickly inserted in a gash on a roll, a dash of mustard also splashed on to the “dog” with a piece of flat whittled stick, and the order was fulfilled.”

Zimmer did some sleuthing and unearthed the identity of this hot dog purveyor – Thomas Francis Xavier Morris, known in Paterson as “Pepper Sauce” Morris. Morris had previously lived in Germany where he may have learned his frankfurter flavouring formula. His 1907 obituary stated that “Besides peddling hot frankfurters Morris made pepper sauce that he supplied to many families the condiments being much sought after.”

For a while the term hot dog competed for supremacy with frankfurter, red hot and wiener but by 1910, largely due to its Ivy League connection, hot dog became the definitive term for this food.

Enjoy this July 4th gentlemen; don't forget to bring lots of antacids.

hrichler@gmail.com

Howard's next book From Gay (Happy) to Gay (Homosexual) and other mysterious semantic shifts is being published by Ronsdale Press next Spring.

SEMANTIC SKUNKING

(This article first appeared in the June issue of the legal magazine Lexpert.)

 

Semantic Skunking

by

Howard Richler

If my Lexpert editor gives me fulsome praise should I be a)bemused, b)disinterested or

c)nonplussed?

Lexicographer Bryan Garner in Garner's Modern American Usage states that “when a

word undergoes a marked change from one use to another – a phrase that might take ten

years or a hundred- it's likely to be the subject of dispute.” He adds that “a word is most

hotly disputed in the middle of the process: any use of it is likely to distract some

readers.” A good example of this process is the word “fulsome.” Until recently this

word's dominant meaning was “offensively excessive” but increasingly it is used by

many erudite people, even Bay Street attorneys, to mean “extravagant.” Garner

characterizes such a disputed word as “skunked” and as best avoided. Hence, although

there might be some ancient pedant who believes that “egregious” should still mean

remarkably good as it literally means in Latin, “above the flock,” the fact remains that it

has not been used in a positive sense since 1845. Ergo, by Garner's dictum, egregious

would not qualify as a skunked word.

The reality, of what qualifies as a “skunked” word is not as clear-cut as Garner

pretends.

Can anyone say definitively when a word has been “skunked”? Garner includes in his

list of skunked words, “decimate” and “hopefully” whereas I, and many others, regard

the use of “decimate” to mean “kill one-tenth and the exclusive use of “hopefully” to

mean only “in a hopeful manner” and not “one hopes,” to be hopelessly moribund.

Some prescriptive language commentators decry the use of “jejune” to mean “childish”

and point out that change in meaning stemmed from the mistaken belief that the word

stemmed from the French word for “young” jeune and the Latin juvenus.

Notwithstanding this mistaken belief, dictionaries accept “childish” as one of the meanings of “jejune.” Similarly, some language purists argue that the word “dilemma''

should only be used to refer to a choice between two unpleasant alternatives and not a

plight or predicament, but most dictionaries allow for this latter sense.

Also, we must acknowledge that some usages that might not be acceptable in British

English are acceptable in North American English. Examples of such are the verbs

“careen” and “aggravate.” The former (notwithstanding that it should be “career”) is

common in North America English just as using aggravate to mean “annoy” is well

established in both Canada and the USA. Relative to the use of aggravate to mean

“annoy,” Wynford Hicks advises in Quite Literally, “Use with care since purists

disapprove of the second {annoy} usage.” The reality, however, is that this usage has

been entrenched in North America for many decades.

And who is to be the final arbiter as to what qualifies as proper English? According to

Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and other American dictionaries “infer”

means the same as “imply,” “peruse” means not only to “examine carefully” but to “read

over in a casual manner,” “disinterested” can mean “not interested” as well as

“impartial,” “enormity” can mean the same as “enormousness.” and “bemused” can

mean “mildly amused” as well as “bewildered.” I do not agree with all these laissez-

faire attitudes. For example, I believe the distinction between disinterested and

uninterested is important and, I use enormity only to mean “wickedness” not “size.”

This being said, I believe that when an overwhelming majority of people use a word in a

certain way, (80% to 90% I believe constitutes an overwhelming majority) that we must

recognize the newer sense of the word, notwithstanding that an erudite minority regard it

as “wrong.” On the other hand, when the newer sense of a word is not entrenched I

believe we should be loath to accept it. For example, many people use “non-plussed” to

mean “unfazed” rather than “perplexed,” but since this newer usage is found currently in

no more than one-half of cases, I propose that at least for the moment it should be

avoided lest your meaning be misunderstood.

Recently deceased language commentator William Safire started out as a rigid

prescriptivist but even he acknowledged in his book In Love With Norma Loquendi that

the masses represent the final arbiter of language: “The rules laid down by elites are to

be respected, but in the end democracy, which goes by the name of common usage, will

work its will..When the population challenges the order over a period of time, Norma

Loquendi - the everyday voice of the native speaker - is the heroine who changes the

order and raises a new standard.”

hrichler@gmail.com

Howard's next book From Gay (Happy) to Gay (Homosexual) and other mysterious

semantic shifts is being published by Ronsdale Press in Spring 2013.

WEDDINGS IN DIFFERENT CULTURES

A cross-cultural analysis of bondage in marriage

by

Howard Richler

Ever since cavemen stopped dragging away unwilling partners by the hair, marriage has been a knotty situation. For example, the climax of a Hindu ceremony arrives when the garments of the bride and groom are tied together and, bound in this manner, the knotted couple walk round a holy fire. Chinese Buddhists revere the deity Yue-laoum who unites all predestined couples with a silken cord insuring that the union will be consummated. Since 1275, “tying the knot” has also been a symbol at weddings in England. Traditionally, the ribbons in a bridal bouquet would be knotted as a symbol of the solemn bond of marriage. John Ray, a 17^th century naturalist quipped, “He had tied a knot with his tongue he can’t untie with his teeth.” It seems to me that Ray was equating bonding with bondage.

Bonding, however, ocurs in other marriage rituals. Before my daughter Jennifer was married some years ago in a traditional Jewish ceremony, a ketuvah “marriage contract” was signed by the couple and witnessed by two friends. This contract is ordained by Talmudic law and according to some authorities dates back to Biblical times.The ketuvah, written in Aramaic, details the husband's obligations to his wife: food, clothing, dwelling and pleasure. It also creates a lien on all his property (there is even a reference to the shirt from the husband’s back) to pay her a sum of money and support should he (OY VAY!) divorce her, or predecease her. The document has the standing of a legally binding agreement that in many countries is enforceable by secular law.

In the marriage ceremony itself, Jennifer and her spouse Noah repeated their vows underneath a chuppah, a Hebrew word which means “canopy.” The chuppah is a decorated piece of cloth held aloft as a symbolic home for the new couple. With so many terms from Hebrew and Yiddish being recorded in the OED, I wasn’t totally surprised to find an entry for the word “chuppah.” What was surprising, however, was the first citation of the word coming from George Eliot’s 1876 novel Daniel Deronda.
Noah intoned to Jennifer these Hebrew words: Harei at mikudeshet li, b'taba'at zo k'dat Moshe v'Yisrael which translates as “Behold, you are consecrated to me by this token according to the laws/traditions of Moses and Israel.” In turn, Jennifer announced to the throng, Ani l'dodi v'dodi li “I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.”

I remember cringing at the wedding when an inebriated relative asked me if I was comfortable in my penguin suit. This lexicographically-challenged chap was obviously not aware that the tuxedo’s origin is not tied to a puny penguin but to a wild wolf. A tuxedo is so named because in 1890, the dress code at the local country club in Tuxedo Park, 65 kilometers from New York City, dictated that gentlemen wear a tailless dinner jacket at most nightly affairs. This was known as a tuxedo coat until matching trousers were added to the ensemble which came to be known as a tuxedo. The connection to the wolf does not relate to the lasciviousness of these posh men but rather to the manner in which Tuxedo Park acquired its name. The P’tuksit were a subtribe of the Delawares who lived along the western shore of the Hudson River and the name literally means “round-footed,” an allusion to the wolf. In the 18^th century American settlers gave the name of the P’tuksit, anglicized as Tuxedo, to a village in southeastern New York and by 1880 Tuxedo Park on the shore of Tuxedo Lake became a fashionable resort of the very wealthy.

Let me conclude by hoping that all of this summer's brides and grooms are bound together in happiness.

Howard's book From Happy to Homosexual and other mysterious semantic

shifts will be published by Ronsdale Press next Spring.

hrichler@gmail.com

FACEBOOK QUIZZES 26-50

26- What do the words caucus-skunk-squash have in common?

27-What do the word acronym, flowery, praising, simplicity have in common?

28-What do the word cares, needles, princes, timelines have in common?

29-What do the words aching,attribution,deliverance,monoselenide have in common?

30-Name another word that starts with an F and ends UCK?

31-What do Austin-Sausalito- San Antonio have in common?

32-What European city is found in the heart of this defunct European country?

33 Nam ea Russian diver, a tennis star and a former QB whose surnames are anagrams?

34-Name a country with a string of 3 consecutive letters in the alphabet?

35-What country is an angram of prison age?

36-Name 2 states that feature 2 professional sports teams whose names are colors?

37-Which entertainer’s last name is the past tense of a synonym for his first name?

38-Name a former ballplayer whose surname is an anagram to a country in eastern Europe?

39-Name an NBA star whose surname is an anagram to a large African city?

40 What celebrity's full name is an anagram to nerd amid late tv ?

41-What member of the Clinton Cabinet's surname is an anagram to a European country?

42- What former movie star;s full name is an anagram to deliberated ?

43-What singer's name is an anagram to general?

44-How do turn new door into one word?

45-What do these words have in common? appeasement,arpeggio,bedchamber, fortunately

46-What do the following places have in common? :Belarus, Iraq, Malawi,United Arab Emirates

47-What Montreall suburb is anagram for this South American resident?

48-Name Middle East city that is an anagram to this designation for an Israeli?

49 F-What country is an anagram of “lizard newts?”

50-What do the words anime-noninates have in common?

Language Quizzes 1-25

1-What Olympic athlete's name is an anagram for ablutions?
2-What is the only US state that doesn't share a letter with its state capital?
3-Name a Micronesian palindromic resident?
4-Name a professional sports team whose placename & nickname are composed solely of letters worth 1 point in Scrabble?
5-Name a city in North America of at least 10 letters where every letter has an odd alphabetical position?
6-What do these words have in common? barometer-comparison-cybernetics-timberline?
7-Name a word with 5 consecutive vowels?
8-Name 2 words that are antonyms & homophones to each other?
9-Name an American city whose last 5 letters are an anagram to its first 5 letters?
10-Name these 2 anagrammed musicians?   ascertains-narcoleptic
11-Name these 2 anagrammed directors? Old West action- On set sir, scream
12-Name these 2 anagrammed actorrs?  costumier -semolina
13-Name these 2 anagrammed US VPs?    grow a penis- I need job
14-Name these 2 anagrammed Canadian PMs?   pure, truer idea-I mourn blarney
15-Name these 2 anagrammed poets?   toilets-best way
16-Name a country and a country's capital that are anagrams?
17-What do these words have in common?  tangerine-raincoat-manger
18-What do these 2 words ahve in common?   foregone-remained
19-Name 2 placenames with 3 consecutive dots?
20-Name 2 European cities that are anagrams to each other?
21-What SW US city and Midwest city are anagrams to each other?
22-What country is named for its geographical position?
23-What do these words have in common?   defeat-menopause-first
24-What do these words have in common?  Dixielander-interregnum-transmigration
25-What do these words have in common?   pram-pants-piano