"Word" words?

[LanDi Liu]

The things I referred to are repeated nouns, not what your wife was looking for.

ATM machine is a little more like this.  "Wok pan" gets a lot of
google hits.  "Terrier dog" gets more.  "Scimitar sword" gets a few.

I'm thinking that things like obi belt and katana sword are only
half-redundant (nice term, huh?) though, because every sword is not a
katana and every belt is not an obi, unless you're looking at things
from a Japanese perspective.  I wonder if you could find something
like "scimitar katana" in Japanese?

Randy

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 10:09 PM, LanDi Liu <strangeguitars at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       LanDi Liu <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
>  Subject:      Re: "Word" words?
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>  Well, Heidi Harley wrote something about it here:
>  http://158.130.17.5/~myl/languagelog/archives/004317.html
>  http://heideas.blogspot.com/2007/03/third-annual-simpsons-st-patricks-day.html
>
>  And I seem to remember someone else writing something more about that
>  later on LL, but I can't seem to find it.  Ben?
>
>  Randy
>
>  On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 9:50 PM, Guy Letourneau <guy1656 at opusnet.com> wrote:
>
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  >  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  >  Poster:       Guy Letourneau <guy1656 at OPUSNET.COM>
>  >  Subject:      "Word" words?
>  >  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >
>  >  Richard Lederer wrote of "word words," which are nouns spoken twice to
>  >  indicate that what is meant is the thing in its most ordinary instance.
>  >  For example "tea-tea" might be spoken to contrast from ice tea, or
>  >  exceptionally exotic preparations.
>  >
>  >  Some may remember an air freshener ad which named the product an "air
>  >  conditioner" in which an exasperated housewife explains "it's not an air
>  >  conditioner - air conditioner, it's an air CONDITIONER."
>  >
>  >  Anyways, my wife was wondering about writers who append an English
>  >  equivalent after a borrowed word. She said she had read of a woman who
>  >  'wore a kimono robe and an obi belt.' 'Robe' and 'belt' seemed redundant
>  >  to her.
>  >
>  >  Any comments? Is there a katana sword, an ushanka hat, or borscht soup?
>  >
>  >  - GLL
>  >
>  >
>  >  PS: And a joke for all:
>  >
>  >  Knock knock.
>  >
>  >  Who's there?
>  >
>  >  Objective case.
>  >
>  >  Objective case who?
>  >
>  >  No, objective case *whom*.
>  >
>  >  ------------------------------------------------------------
>  >  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>  >
>
>
>
>  --
>
> Randy Alexander
>  Jilin City, China
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Randy Alexander
Jilin City, China

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org