chelster has looked up 23078 words, created 6 lists, listed 370 words, written 123 comments, added 13 tags, and loved 2 words.
Comments by chelster
Comments for chelster
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Psst.... I think you're missing an HTML tag at the end of Gestalten.
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Can you give me more detail or context? For example, is this for a title or a brand, or just part of a sentence? Do you want the word to somehow capture a general concept you're discussing?
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I'm looking for a catchy word that is synonymous with track or monitor or something that leaves a trail. Any ideas? It can also be in a different language or an invented word.
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thank you, just the same, my friend; the situation worked itself out. i am finally seeing "Examples". :-D
take good care... -
Sorry, I was being a bit facetious. Try sending your query to feedback@wordnik.com.
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thank you for your prompt reply, Mr. Elster.
pardon my ignorance, but what from which 'link' do i access "Wordnik Central"? -
Sorry, but I don't know the answer to that. I don't select or arrange the words of the day; I only record the pronunciations. It may be some sort of technical problem. Perhaps you should contact Wordnik Central.
Thanks for your kind wishes. -
hello Mr. Elster. i do hope that this message finds you and your loved ones in good health and spirits.
i am writing to express a bit of concern that, lately, your Words Of The Day have not been including the Examples that usually ensue. What is the reason for this?
I await your reply. -
hi
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Hecko. Until I read your latest blog post this morning, I thought the pronunciation that you counsel us on was the accent accepted and common among this class of “educated speakers”, which, you say, is much too broad. Since I don’t have a natural accent in English (I’m German), I try to carefully assemble one for myself that best reflects my social affiliations. My visceral preferences then either adapt or, in some cases, are good guides to cerebral choices already. With most words, for example, I prefer a low back merged pronunciation. The unmerged variants are no less euphonious, but often (without the /t/ ;-)) feel incongruous when I use them. (And I have no problem distinguishing /ɑ/ and /ɔ/, though /ɒ/ is a bit tricky still.) Conversely, I have a fondness for the occasional word-final pre-vocalic t-glottalization, and yet find that I rarely use it, probably because, while I’m in the right generation for it, I’m of the wrong gender. (The paper I linked to on t-glottalization says that “[y]ounger female speakers were most likely to use glottal stops”.)
Most recordings in online dictionaries purport to reflect General American pronunciation, an accent spoken in a smallish, rather northern region, and yet usually evince the whine–wine split (as you do with whinyard) that only 17% of Americans preserve any trace of (according to The Atlas of North American English), and that, moreover, is most frequent in regions along the south and east of the States. Luckily, I’m now aware of those statistics, but there are surely many more such intricacies that I’m completely ignorant of. I imagine a native speaker would have found it distinctly odd, if not pretentious, to hear someone in his twenties talk of a while loop in the voice of a hoary southerner. Hence, I’m very wary of the pronunciation samples in dictionaries, a worry that would be unnecessary if I knew of which region, social class, age group, gender, etc. they are representative. In the cases of the Heritage and the Random House dictionary I see no way of asking the orthoepists for such meta data, but from your blog posts it seems evident to me that you have very specific, well-trained, and deliberately chosen preferences in those regards, which you could surely explicate here, or in a future blog post.
Thanks! -
The open list is ready. At the top of the sidebar to the right, click on "The Request Line."
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That's a good idea. We're working on it. Stay tuned.
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I also own a couple of your books. Kindly start an open list where we can add pronunciation requests.
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Thank you, chelster.
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Ideally, dour should rhyme with poor. The /ou/ may also be pronounced like the /oo/ in look. These are the traditional pronunciations. But in the past 60 years a spelling pronunciation rhyming with sour has risen to prominence, and despite all orthoepic admonitions that may well be the future for this word.
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Any thoughts on the pronunciation for dour?
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Thanks for the kind words. I've got a new book coming out next month. The Accidents of Style: Good Advice on How Not to Write Badly is a crash course in careful usage.
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Just stopping by to say "Hi". I own two of your books and they are high on my list of favorites:
David's list of word books
Welcome to Wordnik! -
and, html fail. Sorry. (Still can't edit my own comments...)
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Wait wait wait! I just realized, you're the same rubber as put this out. I loved that! I've been going back to it for years and feeling guilty every time!
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Wow. You're fun!
*flounces off to add inferier contemner bettor to the new sailormoon attacks list created by Mr. Prolagus* -
Curiouser and curiouser, ruzuzu. Maybe Bryan changed his mind because of Am. usage patterns favoring -or. But you'll have to take it up with the man himself at info@lawprose.org. For my money, since this is a literary and not a strictly legal word, the regular agent suffix -er is preferable to the legal -or (which tends to be annoyingly overpronounced like "or" rather than the normal "ur" we hear in "actor" and "sailor").
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Although it looks bettor.
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I think contemner is inferier.
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That's... that's fabulous! Thank you!
With regard to this contemner/contemnor thing, the seventh edition had it the other way around - with contemnor as the alternative spelling - although the ninth edition seems to agree with the eighth. I had started wondering about it because the second edition of Garner's A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage had the following under "contemner;contemnor": "Most dictionaries list the spelling in -er as the predominant one; 19th-century BrE and AmE overwhelmingly preferred that spelling, which is still the better one. The -or spelling, now common in the U.S., remains the inferior."
Uh... anyway... thank you, thank you! :-) -
Black's Law Dictionary, eighth edition, which Garner edited, gives contemnor as the headword and contemner as the alternative spelling. I'll record pronunciations for lessee, condemnor, and et seq. today.
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Ooh! Ooh! Should I use contemner or contemnor? (I've heard Bryan A. Garner thinks contemnor is "inferior.") Oh, and how would you pronounce lessee, condemner, and et seq.?
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Many thanks, ruzuzu. If you (by which I mean both ruzuzu and y'all out there) have any pronunciation or usage questions, I'm here to help. And please let me know if you want me to record pronunciations for any words.
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Welcome to Wordnik!
chelster commented on the word windigo
Wiktionary is incorrect. Windigo is the preferred spelling, wendigo the alternative. And the only attested pronunciation, to my knowledge, is WIN-di-goh. — The Orthoepist
Oct 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word wendigo
Whether this word is spelled wendigo or windigo (preferred), the only attested pronunciation in reputable dictionaries is WIN-di-goh, as illustrated by this couplet by Ogden Nash: "The Wendigo, The Wendigo! Its eyes are ice and indigo!" — The Orthoepist
Oct 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word congrehooligation
I coined this word in 1996 in my book There's a Word for It: A Grandiloquent Guide to Life.
Oct 17, 2011
chelster commented on the word faamafu
Cited in Allan Metcalf's The World in So Many Words (1999): "One recent English word from Samoan is faamafu (1934), the name for a home brew made of potato peels, malt, and sugar."
Oct 13, 2011
chelster commented on the word Papierkrieg
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "complicated paperwork connected with making a complaint."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Zivilcourage
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It, where it is defined as "courage to express unpopular opinions."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Wundersucht
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It, where it is defined as "passion for miracles."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Treppenwitz
The German equivalent of the French (and now English) esprit de l'escalier (literally, "spirit of the staircase"). Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It, where both terms are defined as a "clever remark that comes to mind when it is too late to utter it." Other coinages for this concept include retrotort and stairwit.
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Schlimmbesserung
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "a so-called improvement that makes things worse."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Ohrwurm
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "a tune or melody that infects a population rapidly." Literally, "earworm."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Zwischenraum
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "the space between things."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Gestalten
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "little wholes that make up larger wholes." Rheingold notes: "Basic Gestalt psychology theory is based on the premise that all experience consists of Gestalten -- integrated structures or patterns that must be apprehended as wholes rather than disconnected parts."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Gestalten
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "little wholes that make up larger wholes." Rheingold notes: "basic gestalt psychology theory is based on the premise that all experience consists of Gestalten -- integrated structures or patterns that must be apprehended as wholes rather than disconnected parts."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Gedankenexperiment
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "thought-experiment."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Feierabend
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as a "festive frame of mind at the end of the working day." The German version of TGIF.
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word fisselig
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "flustered to the point of incompetence"; being in "a temporary state of inexactitude and sloppiness that is elicited by another person's nagging."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Elementargedanken
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "elementary thoughts of humankind," such as fairy tales and folk wisdom; anything that deals with the primordial themes of life and the collective unconscious.
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Bettschwere
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "a state of consciousness too ponderous for anything but sleep."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Drachenfutter
Literally, "dragon fodder." Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "peace offerings for wives from guilty husbands." Reingold notes: "At one point it was common in Germany to see men drinking in bars and cafes on Saturday afternoons with their Drachenfutter already bought and wrapped in anticipation of the night ahead."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word Radfahrer
Discussed in Howard Rheingold's They Have a Word for It (1988), where it is defined as "one who flatters superiors and browbeats subordinates."
Oct 11, 2011
chelster commented on the word borachio
After Borachio, a drunken follower of Don Juan in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. But the word had already entered English, in the leather wine bottle or bag sense, shortly before Shakespeare appropriated it for his character. — The Orthoepist
Sep 13, 2011
chelster commented on the word daimyo
The preferred pronunciation has two syllables, not three. The word is also spelled daimio. — The Orthoepist
Sep 13, 2011
chelster commented on the word daimio
The preferred pronunciation has two syllables, not three. The word is also spelled daimyo. — The Orthoepist
Sep 13, 2011
chelster commented on the word doctiloquent
Speaking learnedly, as an expert on some subject.
Jun 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word polyphloesboean
Cf. "polyphloisboian."
Jun 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word polyphloisboian
OED: That roars loudly; noisy, boisterous.
1824 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 15 675 We leave that‥to critics of a more polyphloisboian note.
1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table iv, Two men are walking by the polyphlœsbœan ocean.
1881 Fortn. Rev. No. 179. 560 The unreliable, erratic, polyphloisbean Loewenbruk also put in an appearance.
1997 D. Albright Quantum Poetics ii. 200 A genuinely polyphloisboian line would have been wholly out of place in this poem.
Jun 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word pananxiety
Mass hysteria (blend of Greek "pan," all, "panic," and "anxiety." My coinage (1996).
Jun 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word ataxiophobia
Fear of disorder.
Jun 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word allodoxophobia
Fear of others' opinions.
Jun 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word phobiology
The study of phobias.
Jun 24, 2011
chelster commented on the list the-request-line
You're most welcome! And thanks -- happy to oblige. Keep those requests coming.
Jun 21, 2011
chelster commented on the word eellogofusciouhipoppokunurious
What I've recorded here is, of course, a speculative pronunciation of a nonce-word (which, etymologically speaking, would be better spelled “-hippopo-”). It's heavily dactylic, which I like, but if you can come up with a more mellifluous variant, please record it. — The Orthoepist
Jun 21, 2011
chelster commented on the word clotpole
Obsolete variant of "clodpoll," says Webster 2.
May 25, 2011
chelster commented on the word begaze
"Begaze" is listed in the OED and Webster 2.
May 25, 2011
chelster commented on the word gasometer
"'I have never smelled anything like it, with the possible exception of a beached whale,' Twain went on, warming to his subject. 'It was rancid, rank, and malodorous beyond words. It would incite rebellion in a gasometer.'" — Test of Time by Charles Harrington Elster
Apr 26, 2011
chelster commented on the word mishegoss
Also spelled mishegas, meshugaas, mishegaas.
Apr 12, 2011
chelster commented on the word mishegaas
Also spelled mishegas, meshugaas, mishegoss.
Apr 12, 2011
chelster commented on the word meshugaas
Also spelled mishegas, mishegaas, mishegoss.
Apr 12, 2011
chelster commented on the word mishegas
Also spelled meshugaas, mishegaas, mishegoss.
Apr 12, 2011
chelster commented on the word grisette
Cf. lorette.
Apr 5, 2011
chelster commented on the word costard
Costard, a clown, a character in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost.
"I am no clownish Costard, prating for your delectation."
— Tooth and Nail: A Novel Approach to the SAT by Charles Harrington Elster and Joseph Elliot (1994)
Apr 5, 2011
chelster commented on the word loppet
Webster 2 and the OED list loppet as an English dialect term meaning to walk or run clumsily, move with a heavy gait.
Apr 5, 2011
chelster commented on the word du jour
The oft-heard phrase soup du jour of the day, sometimes seen on menus, is redundant. Of the day is superfluous.
Mar 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word ciabatta
The phrase ciabatta bread, broadcast ad nauseam thanks to a nauseating Jack-in-the-Box commercial, is laughably redundant. Ciabatta is bread.
Mar 24, 2011
chelster commented on the word spox
Short for spokesperson.
Mar 22, 2011
chelster commented on the word stalko
"An impecunious idler posing as a gentleman." — Webster's New International Dictionary, second edition (1934).
Mar 22, 2011
chelster commented on the word somniloquent
Talking in one's sleep.
Mar 17, 2011
chelster commented on the word jactitate
To toss and turn, or to toss to and fro or back and forth.
Mar 16, 2011
chelster commented on the word assinine
Come on, Wiktionary: "Alternative spelling of 'asinine,'" my foot! As any writer, editor, copyeditor, proofreader, English teacher, and decent dictionary will tell you, "There is no 'ass' in 'asinine.'" This takes descriptivism to new and asinine heights.
Mar 16, 2011
chelster commented on the word Nabokov
According to the writer’s own instructions, the first name rhymes with “redeemer” and the last name should be stressed on the second syllable (-bo-), which may be pronounced as I recorded it or with a long /o/ (as in “no”). — The Orthoepist
Mar 16, 2011