[Lexicog] Law of Synonyms

[Hayim Sheynin]

Dear Scott,

About phenomenon/phenomena I guess the best guide to follow the
original use like in Greek:

singular - phenomenon

plural - phenomena

Most frequent use of this word is in singular.

Hayim Sheynin

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 11:45 AM, bolstar1 <bolstar1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Law of Synonyms
> There must be a law of synonyms somewhere (of phrasal synomyms
> in particular). Dictionaries and thesauruses (thesauri) seem too
> arbitrary & random too trust for this purpose. Of course, corpora
> listings are easy for words. I've been wondering for years what the
> world would gravitate toward -- "laptop" or "notebook"
> computer. "Portable computer" seems quaint, but... The reason I'm
> fishing in this pond is that I would hate wading through
> dissertations or theses looking for synonym principles (must be lazy
> or something). The only simple, quick source for finding phrasal
> frequency comparisons seems to be google-counting. "Laptop" (computer
> (s)) wins on this one, generally by 22%-30%. But we're dealing with
> the `phrase' "notebook computer" and "laptop computer."
> Googling "notebook" alone skews the results.
> Has anyone done, or seen, research about how one term (or
> phrase) tends to predominate over others -- when two or more
> expressions begin at about the same time? Is is there a phonetic
> (e.g. reduplicative, length, ease-of-pronunciation) influence? Is
> there a "great-man" influence, according to coiner? First come, first
> served? Regional? Or is it truly unpredicable?
> This is an open-ended question.... Any ideas?
>
> SIDE BAR: I've given up counting how often people misuse the
> term "phenomenon" vs. "phenomena." I cringe when I hear someone (esp.
> a scholar) say something like, "Now this is an infrequent phenomena."
> How can we cure this ear-pain?
>
> Scott Nelson
>
> 

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