Yesterday was a long and busy day thanks to the “open church” thing St Silas did as part of the West End Festival, Glasgow’s annual attempt to demonstrate that its culture extends to something more than Buckfast and Orange marches. It was a fun afternoon and a great testament to the great creativity that exists among the congregation.
During the afternoon, and apropos of nothing, I got talking to another St Silasite about onomatopoeia, and I wondered out loud why the word “onomatopoeia” isn’t onomatopoeic.
It is, we agreed, one of life’s many unexplainable features. For example, why (as Screaming Lord Sutch famously demanded) is there only one Monopolies and Mergers Commission? Why is the word “stutter” so hard to say if you have a stutter, and “lisp” so hard to say if you have a lisp? Why is “big” such a small word, and “abbrevation” such a long one?
We reached few firm conclusions on any of the above, but never let it be said that we don’t at least try to tackle the world’s important issues in St Silas.
Monday June 18 2007 at 10:16 am |
What’s another word for “Thesaurus”
Monday June 18 2007 at 3:49 pm |
‘…and I wondered out loud why the word “onomatopoeia” isn’t onomatopoeic.’ After reading this I almost entered into my latest existential crisis. I can’t prove it, but I’ve got this feeling that no word that is attached to the definition of onomatopoeia, that is, no synonym of onomatopoeia, can be onomatopoeic. But I just can’t explain it… aahhhhhhhhh!
Monday June 18 2007 at 6:49 pm |
And they don’t sell boots in Boots.
Tuesday June 19 2007 at 1:19 am |
Why isn’t there a word for “alloneword”?
Tuesday June 19 2007 at 12:41 pm |
Why does the “abbreviation” for world wide web have three times as many syllables as the thing it’s supposed to be short for?
Tuesday June 19 2007 at 1:21 pm |
Why doesn’t Selfridges sell fridges?