Peculiarities of the English language.

[marzjennings]

Now there's a poser. I've heard of 'gusting', true, but only in connection with the Shipping Forecast ("Gale force winds gusting to 80 knots" etc. etc.) Something tells me that's not the opposite of 'disgusting'.

I've always seen 'disgusting' as the opposite to gusto, something not of vim or vigor.

And as an fyi.
gust 2 (g

st)
n. 1. Archaic Relish; gusto.
2. Obsolete a. The sense of taste.
b. Personal taste or inclination; liking.

 

[mcr]

And, of course, words with similar spellings but different pronunciations: though, tough, trough, through...

 

[swee'pea99]

'Through does not rhyme with though, nor with cough or bough or enough or thorough. I find that delightful.'

Joe Bennett

 

[661-Pete]

Apparently from French goust - taste; so suppose it's opposite of tasteful

I've always seen 'disgusting' as the opposite to gusto, something not of vim or vigor.

And as an fyi.
gust 2 (g

st)
n. 1. Archaic Relish; gusto.
2. Obsolete a. The sense of taste.
b. Personal taste or inclination; liking.

Well - I was only 'avin a larf' of course! And I do remember beginner Spanish lessons: the first set phrase we were taught was of course me gusta ... which covers just about every usage of I like.....

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I supposed there's ruthless. I've never heard of ruth or ruthful. There's a book in the Old Testament dedicated to Ruth. I wondered if the word derived from her. That can't be taken for granted though, because some of those old testament babes were hard bitches.

"Ruth" means "pity", and was a word in common usage until (I think) the 15th Century. For some reason, it's dropped out of use while its negative form has survived.

 

[Over The Hill]

I think it is quite amusing that "One" seems to be short of a "W"
but then it pops up in "Two" doing nothing.

Seems like it fell off the sign and someone put it back in the wrong place.

 

[punkypossum]

Not quite the same thing, but, being a foreigner, I always assumed that bunfight was based on fighting rabbits - never even questioned it, till it came up a couple of weeks ago and all the brits were in stitches about my violent bunnies...

 

[Andy in Sig]

"Ruth" means "pity", and was a word in common usage until (I think) the 15th Century. For some reason, it's dropped out of use while its negative form has survived.

I wonder if it also survives in "rueful" and "you'll rue the day" etc.

 

[gbb]

At a peurile level......how DO you spell 'bolloxed' ?
You won't find that one in the dictionary...but i hear it all the time.

Sorry mate...it's bolloxed (bollocksed, bollocksd, bollox'd....)

Just joshing...couldnt give a monkeys really

 

[swee'pea99]

I think it is quite amusing that "One" seems to be short of a "W"
but then it pops up in "Two" doing nothing.

Seems like it fell off the sign and someone put it back in the wrong place.

To say nuffing of fwee...

By the way, how do you spell no-one...or is it no one?....Noone?

 

[Maizie]

At a peurile level......how DO you spell 'bolloxed' ?

As I understand it, if you're American you spell it 'bollixed' and then you can use it in polite company. Bollix being not that rude, and certainly not as rude as what it derives from.

 

[Amanda P]

At a peurile level......how DO you spell 'bolloxed' ?
You won't find that one in the dictionary...but i hear it all the time.

Sorry mate...it's bolloxed (bollocksed, bollocksd, bollox'd....)

Just joshing...couldnt give a monkeys really

Willie Poole wrote about a similar problem. Discussing the problem of old ewes that get turned on their backs and can't get up, he discovered that his borders stockman had a word for it - something like "owlt". After a long discussion on how you spell this word, the stockman just said "I reckon it's for saying, not for writing down".

Same with bolloxed.

And why is it that Brits pay the bill with a cheque - but Americans pay the check with a bill?

And in most parts of Europe, you signal for a restaurant bill by miming scribbling on a pad. But the French do it by holding up two crossed fingers to make a + sign (l'addittion). Cool!

 

[swee'pea99]

Heard the one about the guy writing a letter to another zoo, asking if they could send him two mongooses...er, mongeese....er....

"Please send me a mongoose. While you're at it, send me another one."