Popsicle

[Charles Doyle]

Passing by a TV yesterday afternoon, I stopped briefly to watch some footage on the History channel about a sunken ship. Long stalactites of rust were clearly being referred to as "rusticles."

"Rusticle" garners some 9,000 raw Google hits, including a Wikipedia entry.  Last night "rustsicle" got a little over 1,000 hits, this morning fewer than 100 (go figure!).

"Rusticle" looks like a simple blend of "rust" + "-sicle," rather than the result of a phonological development--unless we suppose that the [s] following the [t] got swallowed by the [s] before the [t].

--Charlie

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