Attention Conservation Notices

7 Common Words and Their Little-Known Relatives

isabelthespy:

battlestardidactica:

nevver:

When some words have hit the big time, they’ve left clunky related words behind.
  1. EXHAUST/INHAUST
    While “exhaust,” from the Latin for “draw out of,” was first attested in 1540 and went on to a great career in the English vocabulary, “inhaust,” with the meaning “draw into,” was attested in 1547 (something about a “flye inhausted into a mannes throte sodenly”) but soon became obsolete.
  2. OMNISCIENT/NESCIENT
    You know about “omniscient,” which comes from the Latin for “all knowing,” but did you know there was a counterpart meaning “not knowing”? You can now consider yourself more-scient!
  3. RESUSCITATE/EXSUSCITATE
    “Exsuscitate” was around in the 1500s, as was “resuscitate,” but where “resuscitate” was for the act of bringing someone back from the dead, “exsuscitate” was for the less impressive act of rousing or waking someone up from sleep. It didn’t stick, and it doesn’t look likely to be resuscitated.
  4. PRELIMINARY/POSTLIMINARY
    “Postliminary” has a technical use in international law, where it refers to the “right of postliminy” (stuff taken in war gets returned), but it’s also been used sporadically since the early 19th century as the opposite of “preliminary.”
  5. INCANTATION/EXCANTATION
    If your incantation turns out to be a magic spell that somehow gets you in a jam, it might be good to be able to perform an excantation to get yourself out of it. Too bad the word, attested in 1580, is now obsolete.
  6. INCRIMINATION/CONCRIMINATION
    It wouldn’t be fun to be the subject of an incrimination, but it might be a little more fun to be part of a concrimination with your friends, meaning “a joint accusation.” The word shows up in a 1656 dictionary, but we have no evidence that anyone ever used it.
  7. INAUGURATE/EXAUGURATE
    Back in 1600 the word “inaugurate” was used to describe a ceremonial act of consecration or induction into office, but there was also the word “exaugurate” meaning, according to the OED, “To cancel the inauguration of; to unhallow, make profane.”
more

I have a reblog-lists-Frankie-Landau-Banks-would-be-into rule.

 #neglected positives

OMG.

I love these. Another one I learned from The Adventure of English is EXPEDE, which used to be the partner of IMPEDE and meant to hasten. We lost it but not quite because it hangs around in EXPEDITE.

Cite Arrow reblogged from isabelthespy
2,572 notes | # | Jan 30, 2013
  1. absofuckinglutelyloki reblogged this from nevver
  2. iwantmoreinspiration likes this
  3. act-skate-laugh reblogged this from nevver
  4. affectdad reblogged this from nevver
  5. likewinethroughwater likes this
  6. mightycrazy likes this
  7. charlenemiddleton reblogged this from themostfeminist
  8. theuniverseandshoe likes this
  9. in48frames reblogged this from nevver
  10. savoryreferences reblogged this from ladyhonoria
  11. cleopatraspalm reblogged this from prayingtothelightmachine
  12. cleopatraspalm likes this
  13. estrellasidera likes this
  14. haspyrexiapoetica likes this
  15. coolstufffromlalacat likes this
  16. apocalypticute reblogged this from nevver
  17. westadad likes this
  18. rossn reblogged this from revdrpotato
  19. revdrpotato reblogged this from nevver
  20. fullobliss likes this
  21. faustlionheart likes this
  22. zchyrs reblogged this from atomickittyandthecriticaltheory
  23. zchyrs likes this
  24. atomickittyandthecriticaltheory reblogged this from nevver
  25. dismantlerepaired reblogged this from jenniferscorpse
  26. hot-for-hiddles likes this
  27. sunpistgrovestragickingdom likes this
  28. teatimeisallday likes this
  29. jenniferscorpse reblogged this from ahaze
  30. ahaze reblogged this from nevver
  31. viridianbliss reblogged this from petersbourgeoises
  32. lazy-leo likes this
  33. bacon-my-heart reblogged this from neitherornor
  34. captaincoolasfuck likes this
  35. neitherornor reblogged this from kvltvr
  36. nvmb reblogged this from kvltvr
  37. covetandcontravene likes this
  38. kvltvr reblogged this from nevver
  39. trollception reblogged this from patsuki
  40. moriido reblogged this from nevver
  41. optimuspbnj reblogged this from sporadictempo
  42. eeedward likes this
  43. infinitum0 likes this
  44. thischarmingdevil likes this
  45. malloryy reblogged this from detenebrate
  46. madalasblangko reblogged this from nevver
  47. jukeboxinfinity likes this
  48. laxdeleon likes this
  49. Show more notesLoading...

About

My name's Jody Macgregor. I'm a freelance writer in Brisbane, Australia, who writes for The Big Issue, FasterLouder, Mess+Noise, The Brag, triple j magazine and etc. I also co-host the Zed Games program on 4ZZZFM on Wednesday nights. I'm on Twitter at @jodymacgregor

Search

More

  • Home
  • Archives
  • Subscribe

Following

  • Patrick Alexander Bunyip
  • The Great Vanishment
  • Raise Yr Arms & Cross Them
  • Things That Are In The Main Only Of Interest To Me
  • really really really trying
  • Another Way To Breathe
  • Ned Raggett
  • aaaawwwwwwwwhhh
  • TWENTY PERCENT COOLER
  • very filled with dreams
  • Plump Oyster (b'n'j'm'n sea)
  • Jamie McKelvie
  • Too Busy Thinking About My Comics II
  • A Moment Of Moore
  • Who pays writers?
  • Heavy Petal.
  • Birchwood Library of Progress
  • __________OFWGKTA__________
  • Build A Dungeon From Me
  • Not by the Direct Method.
  • The Singles Jukebox
  • Symbolia
  • Warren Ellis' Notebook
  • The New Aesthetic
  • Angry Cat in Marrickville
  • Dan Harmon Poops
  • News Cat Gifs!
  • Blue Lines Revisited
  • LiarTownUSA
  • WTF, Evolution?
  • Popture
  • YOU CHOSE WRONG
  • A small Renaissance
  • Save vs Facemelt
  • A Brisbane Live Music Guide
  • otherwordly
  • #realtalk from your editor
  • Fluxtumblr
  • Rendy Woby
  • Musings of an Inappropriate Woman
  • BargainBinBlasphemy
  • boo hoo boo hoo boo hoo boo
  • Hark! A Vagrant:
  • Cats That Look Like Pin Up Girls
  • ROSSIGNOL
  • Stoya™
  • www.pbfcomics.com
  • Alanah Pearce
  • Humans in Design
  • Research in Progress
  • Cantos Stop Won't Stop
  • The First Spider
  • Chip Zdarsky
  • gothic punk
  • a grammar
  • Weirdo Wasteland, Brisbane
  • ...and then I
  • SAMSAMSAMSAM
  • Storyboard
  • THIS FUCKING AMUSEMENT ARCADE
  • Irrellievancy
  • Polyglot Problems
  • Shut Up & Sit Down
  • Paul Robertson
  • rejectamentalist manifesto
  • EddieArgos
  • PHOENIX
  • PAN Magazine
  • Je Suis Un Stylo
  • Here Meer Here
  • Quinns' Blog
  • Is Twitter Wrong?
  • We are become pals!
  • iBar Brisbane
  • A Moment of Ellis
  • ariana[dot]tumblr[dot]com
  • (S)CRAPBOOK
  • -the-bridge-club-

MoKoyfman Theme by Bill Israel Tumblr powered CC licensed