"Word" words?

[Mark Mandel]

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> At 4/25/2008 09:50 AM, Guy Letourneau wrote:
>  >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.

Or non-exotic herbal teas that aren't made from the leaves of the tea
plant and don't contain caffeine. I've heard this usage fairly often.
-- My daughter informs me that in French these are not "thé" ('tea')
at all but "tisanes".

>  >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.
>
>  I don't see these two as the same as "tea tea", but rather as like
>  like:  The robe was like a kimono, rather than like a plain old
>  housecoat; the belt was like an obi, rather than like a
>  cestus.  (Roget's has only a few synonyms for "belt" that one might
>  put on a woman.)

Or the robe WAS a kimono and the belt WAS an obi, but the writer knew
the Japanese words only as referring to types of robe and of belt, and
thought of them as modifiers.

--
Mark Mandel

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