Popsicle

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:57 AM -0400 4/7/10, Charles Doyle wrote:
>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,"

or alternatively of "rust" + "icicle" but influenced by "creamsicle"
and, dare I say, "fudgicle".  Maybe if the ship had sunk in the Gulf
of Mexico they would have called them "rust-sickles".


LH

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

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