[Corpora-List] Moving Lexical Semantics from Alchemy to Science

[Justin Washtell]

The clamour for domain names, and an inability to use spaces therein has created a few examples like this in English.

I recall the unfortunate case of"penisland"... supposedly intended as "pen"+"island". A quick root around on Google [pause] unearths some other gems; "expertsexchange" and "powergenitalia" have got to be favourites. I can't vouch that any of these are genuine. They certainly don't seem to exist any longer.

Justin Washtell
University of Leeds

________________________________________
From: corpora-bounces at uib.no [corpora-bounces at uib.no] On Behalf Of Yorick Wilks [Y.Wilks at dcs.shef.ac.uk]
Sent: 28 January 2011 17:10
To: Oliver Mason
Cc: Corpora at uib.no
Subject: Re: [Corpora-List] Moving Lexical Semantics from Alchemy to Science

German is more fun than English isnt it because of its different compositionality habits--as in the immortal "Nachtraum":

= nach+Traum (after a dream)
or
= Nacht+Raum (night space)

YW


On 28 Jan 2011, at 11:59, Oliver Mason wrote:

> An example from German: Vollzug (as seen on a station in Munich).
>
> Either: full-length train (as opposed to 'Teilzug', a shorter train -
> this was the intended meaning)
> Or: Execution of sentences (eg 'Justizvollzug', enforcing of prison sentences)
>
> Oliver
>
>
> On 28 January 2011 13:35, James Vanden Bosch <VAND at calvin.edu> wrote:
>> Moral holiday? Pathetic fallacy?
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> James Vanden Bosch
>> Professor of English
>> Department of English
>> 1795 Knollcrest Circle SE
>> Calvin College
>> Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4404
>>
>> Tel.: (616) 526-6592
>> Fax: (616) 526-8508
>> vand at calvin.edu
>>
>>>>> "Magnar Brekke" <Magnar.Brekke at nhh.no> 1/28/2011 6:28 AM >>>
>> My particular favorite was provided by BBC Radio 4 many years ago:
>> "a mentally retarded services director"
>>
>> Magnar Brekke
>> NHH-em.
>> ________________________________
>> Fra: corpora-bounces at uib.no på vegne av Justin Washtell
>> Sendt: fr 28.01.2011 11:41
>> Til: David Wible; John Williams
>> Kopi: Corpora at uib.no
>> Emne: Re: [Corpora-List] Moving Lexical Semantics from Alchemy to Science
>>
>> Nice example! :-)
>>
>> Justin Washtell
>> University of Leeds
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: corpora-bounces at uib.no [corpora-bounces at uib.no] On Behalf Of David
>> Wible [wible at stringnet.org]
>> Sent: 28 January 2011 09:17
>> To: John Williams
>> Cc: Corpora at uib.no
>> Subject: Re: [Corpora-List] Moving Lexical Semantics from Alchemy to Science
>>
>> How about 'heavy metal fans'?
>>
>> David
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 7:57 PM, John Williams
>> <j0hnwh0ever.corpora at gmail.com<mailto:j0hnwh0ever.corpora at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> ... P.S. Anyone have some other ambiguous open compounds they are familiar
>> with, besides 'solar system'?
>>
>> 'golf club' springs to mind
>>
>> j0hn
>>
>>
>> -----------
>>
>> John Williams
>> Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics
>> School of Languages and Area Studies
>> PK 2.18, University of Portsmouth
>> Portsmouth PO1 2DZ
>> Tel: (0239 284) 2162
>> Email: john.x.williams at port.ac.uk<mailto:john.x.williams at port.ac.uk>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Dr Oliver Mason
> Technical Director of the Centre for Corpus Research
> Head of Postgraduate Studies (Doctoral Research)
> School of English, Drama, and ACS
> The University of Birmingham
> Birmingham B15 2TT
>
> To arrange a meeting time see http://meetwith.me/ojmason
>
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