pomophobe

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/3/2011 09:46 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
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>On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 4:44 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: pomophobe
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 5/3/2011 04:25 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >
> >>At first, thanks to increasing presbyopia, I read the word as
> >>_pornophobe_, an obvious oxymoron.
> >>
> >>But, "hates apples?" I don't get it.
> >
> > As in "pome, n.1." =
> > "1.a. †A fruit of the apple kind, or one shaped
> > like an apple (obs. except in a technical sense:
> > see 1b); an apple (now poet. and rare)."
> > b. Bot. The type of fruit that is characteristic
> > of the apple ( Malus domestica), the pear ( Pyrus
> > communis), and related members of the family
> > Rosaceae, which consists of a fleshy, enlarged
> > receptacle enclosing a tough central core (the
> > true fruit), formed from several united carpels and containing the seeds."
> >
> > (Or perhaps a fear of kings and cabbages.  Or
> > meatballs.  (See other definitions s.v.)
> >
> > Joel
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>Thanks. Joel! I got it now.


I loved the definition -- "†A fruit of the apple
kind ..." -- syntax and vocabulary out of the
16th or 17th century?  And the connection with "Through the Looking-Glass".

Joel

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