still more on -er

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:25 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The movie New Moon just opened, so I cannot resist adding another
> recent data point for the er suffix - twilighter.
>
> There has been a fansite at twilighters.org since 2007. The website
> founders and fans may have wanted to embrace the term twilighter
> knowing that its suffix connoted obsession (my interpretation in this
> case).
>
> Urban dictionary offers this definition for twilighter.
>
> A human being who is a fan of Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight Series',
> consisting of 'Twilight', 'New Moon', 'Eclipse', and 'Breaking Dawn'.
> Twilighters are usually quite addicted to the series, and would be
> considered 'obsessed' by some. (Also known as 'Twi-Hards')
>
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=twilighter

For more on "twilighters" vs. "twi-hards" see my Word Routes column
from last year:

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1480/


--Ben Zimmer

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