Ship of Fools: Heaven: Best Back-formations

Thread: Heaven: Best Back-formations Board: Limbo / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :

A word is said to be back-formed if it was coined by someone assuming another word had been formed from it. For instance, burgle is a back-formation from the (much older) burglar -- the word burglar was around for a while, then someone (wrongly) assumed it was the agent noun of a verb burgle and started using the verb, which is now a staple of British and some varieties of American English. (Q: Do others use it?)

Anyone heard any good back-formed words recently?

This summer, I'm spending a lot of time with people who speak English as a second language, so I'm hearing a few goodies. A great one I heard today was eucharisty -- in eucharistic adoration, one exposes the eucharisty, right?

[ 02. July 2010, 18:32: Message edited by: Belisarius ]

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I decided some time ago that anyone who didn't own an i-Pod was inpodulate.

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

I remember one of my university tutors encouraging us prior to exams, if not to revise, at least to vise.

(I'm sure I'll think of more in due course).

Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :

I work with Indians who use words that have evolved and demonstrate how illogical or restricted the English language can be when we limit ourselves to the current dictionaries - they take a word to the next sensible step when compared to other words and I love seeing the language evolve. For example "updation" - and why not? If delete becomes deletion why can't update become updation?

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

When our baby would wake up and become active, my husband and I used to say that she was 'ert'.

ETA: There are many other such words, like 'kempt', 'gruntled', 'ept'.

Moo

[ 17. July 2008, 11:38: Message edited by: Moo ]

Posted by Zealot en vacance (# 9795) on :

The natives aren't backward at this either. The UK's blood donor service has ventured both 'doning' and 'doned' in some of its' material in the past few years. Sooner or later they are bound to reach 'donee'...

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

What is the function of a usher? Why, to ush, of course.

Not exactly a back formation, but I refuse to accept "text" as a verb. If a person can't be bothered to say "send a text message" then there's no hope for him.

Posted by Hugal (# 2734) on :

One I use is Themeing. As in to Theme (the themeing on that ride was excellent). I noticed it wasn't in Oxford on line but I use it.

As this is title Best Back formations I wondered if it was about modeling with bacon.

[ 17. July 2008, 14:57: Message edited by: Hugal ]

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Zealot en vacance:
The natives aren't backward at this either. The UK's blood donor service has ventured both 'doning' and 'doned' in some of its' material in the past few years. Sooner or later they are bound to reach 'donee'...

Others have got there first.

Posted by Gracious rebel (# 3523) on :

Not a proper example but I do remember once years ago hearing in a sermon 'What is the point of deacons if they don't deac?'

(it may have been Tony Campolo at Spring Harvest ... but on the other hand it may have been someone else, although I do hear it in my mind with an American accent!)

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :

I just thought of another one. I have a friend whose dad has a very close male friend who's been something of a mentor to her. He's not her uncle, so what is he? Her cle (pron. "cull"), of course!

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gracious rebel:
Not a proper example but I do remember once years ago hearing in a sermon 'What is the point of deacons if they don't deac?'

Which reminds me of the Rector's wife who was having a bad hair day, harassed by many callers at the Rectory door. The last of whom, confused between Rectory and Vicarage, asked 'is this the Wreckage?' to which the good lady replied, 'Yes, and I'm the wreck.'

Posted by Hugal (# 2734) on :

(May be slightly off topic) What about mate as in a lad's friend or a builder's mate. I am sure they are not planning to have kids together. I often wondered how the 'lad's best friend' meaning came about.

[ 18. July 2008, 08:14: Message edited by: Hugal ]

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
What is the function of a usher? Why, to ush, of course.

Not exactly a back formation, but I refuse to accept "text" as a verb. If a person can't be bothered to say "send a text message" then there's no hope for him.

In normal English that right. In txtspk I think it should be sndtxt.

Don't start "verbing" which is a back-formation in itself.

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
When our baby would wake up and become active, my husband and I used to say that she was 'ert'.

ETA: There are many other such words, like 'kempt', 'gruntled', 'ept'.

Moo

'Couth' for instance. Or possibly 'combobulated'.

But the really confusing pair is 'flammable' and 'inflammable' which are not actually opposites but synonyms. Someone messed up there...

Posted by Gladly The Cross-eyed Bear (# 9641) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gracious rebel:
Not a proper example but I do remember once years ago hearing in a sermon 'What is the point of deacons if they don't deac?'

(it may have been Tony Campolo at Spring Harvest ... but on the other hand it may have been someone else, although I do hear it in my mind with an American accent!)

Yes, indeed. All our deacons deac, and the term is used in our Cabinet meetings.

Children often come up with back-formations. My son was three years old and I was teaching him how to clean the room. I told him to put his dirty clothes in the hamper. "Hamper?" he asked, "Does that mean it hamps things?" I was that proud of him. [Yipee]

Gladly

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :

Out driving this morning, I ended up behind a car whose vanity plate read "PAMNED". It first struck me as the past tense of the verb to pamn, and I spent several seconds trying to figure out what being "pamned" means. Is it like "pwned?" Maybe its opposite? Anyway, I'm sure Pamela and Edward would have found me slow on the uptake.

Posted by Hugal (# 2734) on :

Looking Mate up on Oxford on line it seems to derive from the navel usage, as in lower rank on a ship.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
When our baby would wake up and become active, my husband and I used to say that she was 'ert'.

ETA: There are many other such words, like 'kempt', 'gruntled', 'ept'.

I just looked up "disgruntled", on the grounds that "gruntle" sounds more like what you expect of a pig. Actually, it is. It's a word that's been around since the 1400s and means "a little grunt". And in that sense, means mildly put out as opposed to a full grunt when you're completely cheesed off.

I can't now work out from this whether "disgruntled" really means that you're not gruntling at all, and are quite happy. Or whether (like "flammable" and "inflammable") it means the same as "gruntled".

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Hugal:
As this is title Best Back formations I wondered if it was about modeling with bacon.

Well, I did manage to get pigs into my last post... we'll get there yet.

Posted by Trudy Scrumptious (# 5647) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Esmeralda:
But the really confusing pair is 'flammable' and 'inflammable' which are not actually opposites but synonyms. Someone messed up there...

Famous quote from Woody on the TV show Cheers, when talking about two words that mean the same thing: "...like flammable and inflammable. Boy, I sure learned that the hard way...."

My husband says this every time someone uses either of those words.

Posted by East Price Road (# 13846) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
When our baby would wake up and become active, my husband and I used to say that she was 'ert'.

ETA: There are many other such words, like 'kempt', 'gruntled', 'ept'.

Moo

This reminds me, and no doubt others, of the famous New Yorker article: "How I Met My Wife", which can be found many places on the internet, including here.

Posted by cattyish (# 7829) on :

Awww.... [Big Grin]

How sweet! "I have given her my love, and she has quited it." Romance it seems is ad.

Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :

Two that really give me a pain reaction are

signage: First I heard that was when corporate HQ sent a memo to all the branch offices saying that 'new signage' would be arriving via truck- to replace the old sign that hung over the store front for many years. When I complained about 'signage' I was told it was perfectly good business language.
dialogueing/ dialoging: I ran afoul of this one at son1's elementary school, where they started having "dialog groups'. Again, I complained, and was told all the best educators were using this word now.

Posted by musicalpenguin (# 12275) on :

"dialogueing"? Really? Ugh. My flabber is well and truly gasted.

Posted by East Price Road (# 13846) on :

I'm not pained, but just bewildered at the recent new use of "build" instead of building, as in edifice, especially "new build". To me a "build" still describes a person's body size - slight, medium, or heavy!

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

ferriage horrid word, it means provision for a ferry, or the fare paid for it.

PG Wodehouse has a lovely passage

quote:
“He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”

which comes from the Code of the Woosters and online from a discussion on unpaired opposites.

Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :

quote:
Originally posted by East Price Road:
This reminds me, and no doubt others, of the famous New Yorker article: "How I Met My Wife", which can be found many places on the internet, including here.

quote:
So, after a terminable delay, I acted with mitigated gall and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong givings.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

"... He has authored a book..."

And in a few months from now, someone will have editored it, typesettered it and printered it, after which it will be booksellered.

Posted by cor ad cor loquitur (# 11816) on :

quote:
Originally posted by daisydaisy:
I work with Indians who use words that have evolved and demonstrate how illogical or restricted the English language can be when we limit ourselves to the current dictionaries - they take a word to the next sensible step when compared to other words and I love seeing the language evolve. For example "updation" - and why not? If delete becomes deletion why can't update become updation?

Some of these Indian constructions are lovely -- for example, to prepone a meeting, meaning to bring it forward: the opposite of postpone. Perfectly logical. I don't think that's a back formation but it's a similar construct. Or reversely: the meaning is similar to conversely but the contrast is stronger.

Both of these show up in the OED, by the way; prepone as opposed to postpone is labelled "most frequent in Indian English".

Posted by mrs whibley (# 4798) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gladly The Cross-eyed Bear:

Children often come up with back-formations.

Indeed - I hear that my stepson once asked "Can I help you hoove, Daddy?" and the verb has stayed in the Whibley household vocabulary since.

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :

quote:
Originally posted by mrs whibley:

quote:
Originally posted by Gladly The Cross-eyed Bear:

Children often come up with back-formations.
Indeed - I hear that my stepson once asked "Can I help you hoove, Daddy?" and the verb has stayed in the Whibley household vocabulary since.

I think he was misnoming.

Posted by Gill H (# 68) on :

My friend's daughter can't have been the first to say when told to behave 'but I am being have!'

But she may have been the first, when told not to use blasphemy, to say 'It may be blas for you, but it isn't blas for me!'

Ah, moral relativism in one so young.

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :

I'm completely pervious to criticism.

Posted by Gill H (# 68) on :

Lovely one today from Shipmate John Donne over in Purg, where he used the word 'fiasco' and added 'and I don't want to be there when it fiasses'.

I'm going to nick that!

Posted by Alaric the Goth (# 511) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Esmeralda:

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
When our baby would wake up and become active, my husband and I used to say that she was 'ert'.

ETA: There are many other such words, like 'kempt', 'gruntled', 'ept'.

Moo
'Couth' for instance. Or possibly 'combobulated'.
...

'Couth' is perfectly good (Old) English: 'cuth' pronounced the same, meaning 'known, recognised'. So 'Cuthbert' is OE 'Cuthbeorht': 'known-bright'.

'Uncuth' would therefore originally be someone who was an outsider or socially uncacceptable.

Posted by Nicolemrw (# 28) on :

When talking about an exciting adventure movie, I have been known to say "Many swashes were buckled".

Which is actually, incorrect, as the term "swash-buckle" actually refers to bucklers, small shields. So it would be more appropriate to say "many buckles were swashed". But it doesn't sound as good for some reason.

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gill H:
Lovely one today from Shipmate John Donne over in Purg, where he used the word 'fiasco' and added 'and I don't want to be there when it fiasses'.

Brilliant!

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :

It has occurred to me that someone with benevolent feelings towards humanity could be an anthrope. Or if it was just towards women, an ogynist.

Posted by John Holding (# 158) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
When our baby would wake up and become active, my husband and I used to say that she was 'ert'.

ETA: There are many other such words, like 'kempt', 'gruntled', 'ept'.

Moo

Kempt is real -- an early pronunciation of combed.

Ept is real -- an early pronunciation of apt.

Don't know about gruntled, though.

John

Posted by Wilfried (# 12277) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
"... He has authored a book..."

And in a few months from now, someone will have editored it, typesettered it and printered it, after which it will be booksellered.

Right. Properly it should read, "He authed a book..."

And "edit" is in fact a back formation.

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Wilfried:
And "edit" is in fact a back formation.

My boss at Third Way magazine used to hit me on the head with a rolled newspaper, claiming that he was after all the 'ead 'itter. [Big Grin]

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :

I also use "mentee", as in the person who is mented by their mentor.

Posted by Grits (# 4169) on :

Does anyone remember the episode of "Friends" when Joey proclaimed himself to be a "Mento for kids"? Hilarious.

I also like the current commerical starring Frank Caliendo as George Bush where he discusses "recordification".

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

I once thought up a character called a Lert™ who would give safety lectures in the workplace. I thought everyone would want to be a Lert™, but I was wrong.

Posted by Boopy (# 4738) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
I once thought up a character called a Lert™ who would give safety lectures in the workplace. I thought everyone would want to be a Lert™, but I was wrong.

Um. This was current when I was at school (UK, 70s). Some wags used to say that there were now so many lerts about, they'd rather be a Loof.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Hart:
I also use "mentee", as in the person who is mented by their mentor.

More like demented, surely?

Posted by Scribehunter (# 12750) on :

Has to be the All Blacks.

Posted by Wm Duncan (# 3021) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:

quote:
Originally posted by Hart:
I also use "mentee", as in the person who is mented by their mentor.
More like demented, surely?

No, you're demented when the mentation is completed, and your mentor goes elsewhere.

From childhood, I remember my parents talking about bishops who used their office forcefully: "He really does bish."

Wm Duncan

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