mesonoxian

hernesheir Had Salman Rushdie titled his novel "Mesonoxian's Children" its sales would have hovered around nil. Sep 16, 2009

reesetee The bear is still umbrageing! Apr 17, 2009

chained_bear I take umbrage! Apr 16, 2009

reesetee Here's how most words end up on my lists (especially this list): I see a pebble. I like the bizarre shape of it. I like how it feels, and how it sounds when it clacks against other words. I pick it up, dust it off, and put it in my pocket. When I get home to Wordie, I stash it. Many of these pebbles end up on this list of obsolete/obscure/who-the-hell-knows-or-cares-how-they-were-born words. Do I care whether it's a real word? Not a whit. I just found the odd little thing here on this shore of language and thought it was nifty.

Nonetheless--thanks, all, for your input. :-) Apr 16, 2009

rolig I expect it does, C_b. As hybrid inkhorns go, an age of nearly four centuries seems to qualify this word as a geezer. Apr 14, 2009

chained_bear Does geezer mean the same thing to you as it does to me, rolig? *curiouser* Apr 14, 2009

rolig Hybridity is hardly a shortcoming in this post-postmodern age, and many modern words are macaronic, e.g. television, cyberspace, and many more. But that does not mean hybridity should be encouraged, especially in such a geezer as mesonoxian, which I suspect was invented by some seicento wit for the purpose of displaying his pseudo-erudition or, perhaps, merely to garner guffaws (not unlike the madeupicals of many Wordies). While I am willing to accept this as a word (not that I have any lexicographic authority in the matter), I would caution against its enthusiastic use, and urge instead the simpler and more elegant adjectival use of the word midnight in its place.

And I should point out to Alsanch1 that crepuscular (a fine word, though one to be used sparingly) has nothing to do with midnight, unless of course one is referring to the the subarctic regions at midsummer); it means "relating to twilight". Apr 14, 2009

sionnach Well, I wouldn't want to bracket qranqui, which is, after all, not a word at all. However, that reminds me it's time to add güisqui, which is a "word" to my foxy in Spain list.

*Scampers off to do just that, and to start another exciting list of Thpanish words.* Apr 14, 2009

chained_bear Well, to be fair, it does appear on reesetee's list of obsolete words. That there's only one instance in the OED doesn't mean it isn't a word at all. 1623 is certainly more of a pedigree than probably 70% of the madeupical trashwords on this site (and I include my own additions in that statistic).

But since when has being a mutt disqualified a word from existing?

I love the new spelling, sionnach. Are you familiar with brackets, perchance? Apr 14, 2009

sionnach Why so qranquí, croc?

If it's good enough for reesetee, it's good enough for me. Apr 14, 2009

qroqqa This is not a word. The only OED instance is a 1623 dictionary of inkhorn terms. And it's badly formed, being mixoclassical (to coin a word). Apr 14, 2009

alsanch1 Much better than crepuscular Apr 8, 2009

reesetee (Obsolete) Of or relating to midnight. Feb 12, 2008