MetaChat - Unused word parts

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

12 July 2006

Unused word parts →[More:] So, you can be underwhelmed, and overwhelmed, but have you ever been just whelmed? You can be disgusted, but how about just 'gusted'? What other words have parts that are not used alone?

post by: getoffmylawn at: 11:21 | 18 comments

whelm me, you fool, or I shall be gusted. I'd also like to be gruntled, but first put on some odorant.

posted by jonmc 12 July | 11:23

My former roommate and I would occasionally refer to having to "regruntle" the cat.

posted by matildaben 12 July | 11:39

I have a bucket full of 'u's that I'd loan you, but LunaticFringe is using up most of them with her Queen's English ways.

posted by sciurus 12 July | 11:39

I am feeling enfranchised.

posted by tr33hggr 12 July | 11:48

Of topic, but "building" has always struck me as a funny thing to call a completed, typically static object.

posted by me3dia 12 July | 11:53

Building: Never thought of that. More verb than noun, huh?

posted by getoffmylawn 12 July | 11:55

Yeah, it should be called a 'built'.

posted by mike9322 12 July | 11:56

You can be ruthless, but can you be ruthful?

posted by essexjan 12 July | 11:57

If you mean "gusted" as the opposite of "disgusted", yes. The evolution of "gusted" (in relation to taste, rather than referring to wind) and "disgusted" followed different paths, but they both come from a common root.

You can most certainly be "ruthful". You can be "whelmed" since it just means "covered" ("overwhelmed" is just around to make it clear that you're good and completely covered).

However, "gruntled" meaning the opposite of "disgruntled" is just a modern back-formation. It really means "grumble" with the "dis" as an amplifier.

posted by cmonkey 12 July | 12:03

I sometimes wish I was more ept.

posted by elizard 12 July | 12:39

Building:

In the architecture world, they are refered to as "structures," never "buildings." *nose in air*

posted by Specklet 12 July | 12:50

Do you hang painteds or drawns on the walls of your built?

posted by jonmc 12 July | 13:07

No. We intstall pieces.

posted by Specklet 12 July | 13:31

Don't talk dirty around here.

posted by jonmc 12 July | 13:32

Cmonkey, way to ruin fun with reality.

posted by matildaben 12 July | 14:14

That's what I'm here for!

posted by cmonkey 12 July | 14:51

Once, just once, I'd like to be called "ept."
(sigh) Ain't gonna happen tho.... Damn pink/blue stick!

posted by rob511 12 July | 20:07

Then there are the similar words horror and terror, which can be made into horrible and terrible, and horrify and terrify. But why, oh why, do we have horrific and terrific???

Somebody tell me how terrific went... well, terribly right?

posted by wendell 13 July | 03:23

← Stuff You Are Amazed by In Dreams? || Hedgepig! OMG! →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN