On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:04:23 +0000, Richard Polhill
<richard.news@polhill.vispa.invalid> wrote:
> Chris Croughton wrote:
>> On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 09:36:43 +0000, Richard Polhill
>> <richard.news@polhill.vispa.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Richard Polhill wrote:
>>>
>>>> This is exactly the model for preferring 'partyer' to 'partier' as an
>>>> adjective 'party' is implied by the second spelling. Imagine if you will
>>>> as sentence involving the compound noun 'party wall' - close in meaning
>>>> to the original French root 'partie': a share - perhaps it could become
>>>> acceptable to describe a one wall as 'partier' than another. ;-) I know
>>>> it sounds awful as there is no adjective 'party', but it would conform
>>>> to normal English evolution to extend an existing usage this way.
>>> No response to that? Not even a ROFL?
>>
>> Usenet is not a real-time medium (nor even a small), patricularly for
>> low-traffic groups like this one and at the holiday season.
>>
> Normally get faster responses to the sort of drivel I spouted. ;-)
Heh. 'Tis the season.
>>> Pah! What are the newsgroups coming to? ;-)
>>
>> A sticky end, like a currant bun.
>>
> Which end is the end on a currant bun?
The end that's sticky! The top end, usually, because if the bottom is
sticky it'a a pain[1] to get off the pan[2].
[1] French bread.
[2] Also French bread, it's the way French 'pain'[3] is pronounced.
[3] The French word which is spelt[4] 'pain', that is, rather than the
sound of the French in pain.
[4] Or any other kind of wheat for making bread[5].
[5] Or cake, if they have no bread.
>> BTW, I agree with you about the endings, and that neither spelling looks
>> like a real word...
>
> I think Mirriam-Websters have accepted party as a verb whereas Oxford,
> Chambers, et al haven't.
Interesting. I cartainly accept party as a verb, and some of the
related words ("we partied all night" seems fine to me) and hadn't
thought of it as specifically American. The Concise OED (9th ed. 1995)
acceptis it as a verb and as a noun in sense 1, and as an adjective in
sense 2, but the 6th ed. in 1980 only had it as noun and adjective.
Somewhen the noun got verbed <g>...
> And it *looks* wrong, damn it.
I certainly agree with that. 'Partier' loks as though it should be
pronounced 'par-teer' or as French 'par-ti-eh', and 'partyer' as though
it should be 'part-yer' (like US 'pardner'). Although I would accept
the spoken form as long as I didn't try to convert it to written...
Chris C
|
| Follow-ups: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|