On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:04:55 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:


"Dave Curtis" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:31:50 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

'Vagina' is a real word, 'alnico' isn't,

Webster disagrees:
http://209.161.33.50/dictionary/alnico


Mic is there too;
http://209.161.33.50/dictionary/mic

-Dave

Vagina has a proper latin root meaning "sheath". Irrespective of what
Webster's says, alnico *is* an acronym, which makes it not a 'real' word in
the sense that I was intending, as I'm sure you really understood ... ;~)

However, that said, I do accept that a language is a living thing, and
that's how new words become part of it. Common usage by uneducated people
though, doesn't make them "right", and I wince every time that the Oxford
English ( IMO, the only proper dictionary of the English language ) publish
a list of half-arsed 'new' words, which are actually slang, that they are
going to include in their next edition.

Some years back, my kids were coming home from school telling me how
"face-ty" other kids had been that particular day. It took me ages to get to
the bottom of this. It turned out that what they were trying to say was the
word "feisty". Thickos ( not a real word either ! ) at the school had
actually 'invented' a new word, by mis-pronouncing an existing one. My kids
have now left school, and know what the word should be, but I'm willing to
bet that this 'new' word is still in use at the school, and will spread,
until in 30 years' time, the Oxford English are listing it in their latest
volume !

Arfa



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