Fwd: groinal

[Jesse Sheidlower]

I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned _cuntal_, which
can be found in _My Secret Life_ (c1890) and thereafter....

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

On Thu, Dec 02, 2010 at 07:45:43AM -0800, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> meant for the whole list:
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> > From: Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
> > Date: December 2, 2010 7:44:45 AM PST
> > To: ronbutters at aol.com
> > Subject: Re: groinal
> >
> >
> > On Dec 2, 2010, at 7:21 AM, Ron Butters wrote:
> >>
> >> The -al morpheme is productive. If we can have nasal and and bucal and rectal and corporal and vaginal and anal, why not groinal?
> >
> > because "groin" is perceived (correctly) to be from the ordinary English (Anglo-Saxon) rather than the learned (Greco-Latin) stratum of the vocabulary.
> >
> >> ... We just can't use the ending with non-semi-tehcnical words like knee or mouth-- even hoigh this leaves a lexicosemantic gap (Charlie's chestal is weird to my ears).
> >
> > i've heard "chestal area" a number of times, but always, i think, with a humorous tone to it -- a playful way of avoiding "breasts", usually. l ike "groinal", noticeable *because* it uses -al with an Anglo-Saxon base.
> >
> > arnold
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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