LL-L "Lexicon" 2005.12.14 (05) [E]

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   L O W L A N D S - L * 14 December 2005 * Volume 05
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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language use"

Dear all,

today Paul Smith ('One-word-a-day') sent some very special words, i.a. _to 
discombobulate_.

What level of education is YOURS?? If you know this word it must be higher 
than 'Langenscheidt', because they haven't enlisted it!

A funny word; could be interesting to find out it's etymological origin.

Greutens/Regards

Johannes "Jonny" Meibohm

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Lexicon

Hi, Jonny!

In American English, "to discombobulate" has been used since the early part 
of the 19th century (1834, to be exact), and it's past participial use ("to 
be(come) discombobulated") is quite commonplace these days.  I use it a lot 
myself.  It seems to have little to do with education.

As far as I know, due to the influences of the American media, many or most 
speakers of other English varieties understand it, at least within most 
contexts.

Originally, and in part still now, this word is used in a jocular fashion 
(and it is believed to be a "silly" derivation from "discompose" or 
"discomfit").  However, these days it seems to be losing the jocular slant.

I hate to break it to you ... but Langenscheidt is by no means a yardstick 
by which to gauge anything.  There are numerous omissions and half-truths in 
their publications, though on the whole they are of decent quality.  _The 
Oxford English Dictionary_, _American Heritage Dictionary_ and _Webster's 
Dictionary_ are a bit more reliable, the _OED_ especially containing 
numerous expressions that have been around for a long time but are rarely 
used and tell you more about obscure items with which to signal educational 
levels.  I own no stocks in the company, but I still recommend getting a 
copy of the abridged version (at least), because it comes with etymologies 
as well.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron 

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