[Ads-l] "-ies"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Tue Jan 23 00:39:17 UTC 2018


> On Jan 22, 2018, at 6:22 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Wiktionary sats they have different etymologies. 
> 
> https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/-y
> 
> 

Whence the old riddle:  
Q: What’s brown and sticky?

[SPOILER SPACE]


























A: a stick

LH
> 
> 2018/01/22 13:23、Shawnee Moon <moon.shawnee at GMAIL.COM>のメール:
> 
>> Good afternoon,
>> 
>> I was curious if anyone knows where the Y and its plural IES originated
>> from.
>> 
>> The most obvious usage today is "Selfies", but kittens are kitties, dogs
>> are doggies, a horse is a horsey (infrequent adult usage). There's a gross
>> and stupid commercial about antiperspirant/deodorant which calls the
>> sniffing of one's own armpits for body odor a 'smellfie."
>> 
>> It's not the same as turning a word into an adjective, like, "It smells, so
>> it's smelly." Or saying I feel a little achy or itchy.
>> 
>> Some of the words are baby talk, like doggy instead of dog, but selfie is a
>> current word used by teens and up. Just one of those things that meander
>> through the craters of the Moon's mind...
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Sent from the Moon 🌜
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list