[Ads-l] Ninet

[Mark Mandel]

Heard on the radio about an hour ago, in an interview on a jazz program.
Used repeatedly. I wasn't paying full attention, and I thought it was a
name until my mind connected it with the repeated mention of touring with a
nine-member band.

Well, yes, I've noticed before that the Greek- and Latin-derived numeric
prefixes are all pretty familiar and comfortable (for me), up through
"oct(o)-". Then there's "non(o?)-", which seems to hardly ever appear. Duo,
trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, but No, No Nonet!

I tried a web search for "ninet" (/naɪ'nɛt/, BTW), but everything seemed to
be "nine T" or a name.

Mark

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