51吃瓜 of the Day
metathesis
noun
the transposition of letters, syllables, or sounds in a word, as in the pronunciation aks for ask.
More about metathesis
In linguistics, metathesis is the transposition of two consecutive letters or sounds of a word, as in the now nonstandard pronunciation aks for ask (Old English has the verbs 谩蝉肠颈补苍 and axian, and Middle English has asken and axen). Every well-disciplined schoolboy knows that in Greek quantitative metathesis is the change of long vowel + short vowel, e.g., 脓辞, to short vowel + long vowel, 别艒. Metathesis comes via Late Latin metathesis “transposition of the letters of a word,” from Greek 尘别迟谩迟丑别蝉颈蝉 鈥渃hange, change of position, transposition,鈥� a compound formed of the common Greek preposition and prefix 尘别迟谩, meta– 鈥渨ith, in the middle of, among鈥� (尘别迟谩 is related to German mit and Old English mid 鈥渨ith,鈥� as in the first syllable of midwife). 罢丑茅蝉颈蝉 鈥減lacing, location, setting鈥� is a derivative of the verb 迟颈迟丑茅苍补颈 鈥渢o put, place,鈥� from the very common Proto-Indo-European root 诲丑脓– 鈥渢o place, put,鈥� and the source of Latin facere 鈥渢o do鈥� and English do. Metathesis entered English in the 16th century.
how is metathesis used?
”NOO-kyuh-luhr”-sayers, who number in the many millions, in fact, move the l in nuclear to the final syllable and thus avoid the unusual pattern. (Linguists refer to this sound-switching process as metathesis.)
Remember this when the next time you hear someone complaining about聽aks聽for ask or聽nucular聽for nuclear, or even聽perscription. It’s called聽metathesis, and it’s a very common, perfectly natural process.
knackered
adjective
British Slang.
exhausted; very tired: He is really knackered after work.
More about knackered
The verb knacker originally meant 鈥渢o tire, kill, castrate,鈥� a verb derived either from the noun knacker 鈥渁 tradesman who buys animal carcasses or slaughters useless livestock鈥� or from the plural noun knackers, a slang word for 鈥渢esticles, courage.鈥� Knackered in the sense 鈥渆xhausted鈥� entered English in 19th century.
how is knackered used?
She was completely knackered. All she wanted was a shower and twelve hours of sleep.
When they’re knackered like that they start crying.
impedimenta
plural noun
baggage or other things that retard one's progress, as supplies carried by an army: the impedimenta of the weekend skier.
More about impedimenta
Scores of millions of Americans will smile (or moan) at the recollection of reading (with the assistance of a pony or trot) Caesar鈥檚 Commentaries on the Gallic War in their sophomore year high school Latin class, and seeing their old friend (or nemesis) 颈尘辫别诲墨尘别苍迟补 鈥渂aggage train, traveling equipment鈥� loaded with ablatives absolute and subjunctives in indirect discourse. 滨尘辫别诲墨尘别苍迟补 is a neuter plural noun formed from the verb 颈尘辫别诲墨谤别 鈥渢o restrict, hobble, impede鈥� and –mentum, a neuter noun suffix for concrete objects. 滨尘辫别诲墨谤别 is a compound of the preposition and prefix in, in– 鈥渋n, into鈥� and ped-, the inflectional stem of the noun 辫脓蝉 鈥渇辞辞迟鈥�; 颈尘辫别诲墨尘别苍迟补 therefore being the things that get caught in your feet, weigh you down. Impedimenta entered English at the end of the 16th century.
how is impedimenta used?
Games impedimenta–hockey sticks, boxing gloves, a burst football, a pair of sweaty shorts turned inside out–lay all over the floor …
Every man was piled up with impedimenta–broken, torn, soiled and cobbled impedimenta.