New York, New York

[venta]

So, today I was reminded that I don't know what the word "synedoche" means (yes, since you ask, I was reading XKCD). I've looked up synedoche many times, yet can never remember what the wretched thing means.

So, over I go Wikipedia. A dictionary would probably have been better, but my fingers automatically go to Wikipedia for virtually any answer these days.

In the little search box, I type "synedoche".

Back come the results... "Did you mean: synecdoche".

Did I mean synecdoche? No, of course I didn't, that's not a word.

Except a little further searching suggests it really is a word. And, what's more, it's the one I was looking for. I am 100% confident that the first 'c' has never been there before. I've certainly never known it was there, and - as we've already established - I've looked this word up a lot of times.

I can only assume that some foul-tempered script kiddie has carefully replaced all instances of the word on the internet with this new misspelled version. If I get home and find that my trusty hard-backed Oxford dictionary has the rogue extra 'c' in the word too, I shall know that goblins have been employed.

Comments

[ewx.livejournal.com]

The same script kiddies and/or goblins occasionally change peoples' names, in some cases more than once, and moreover manage to get the person involved to use the new spelling. I suppose everyone needs a hobby...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'm not familiar with that problem. There are a few people who - presumably due to the action of evil fairies - were malchristened and thus patently have the wrong name. That seems to be a steady state, though.

[gnimmel.livejournal.com]

Yes, and they also switched every global instance of the word 'glockenspiel' to 'xylophone', and vice versa. It was most vexing.

[ylla.livejournal.com]

So they have! :(

[venta.livejournal.com]

They did?

Wait... a xylophone is made of wood and a glockenspiel of metal these days? That's ridiculous! The goblins have been at work for a while and I hadn't even noticed!

[ar-boblad.livejournal.com]

That's what they were made of when I were growing up. Xylon being foreign* for wood and Glocke being foreign** for bells. Is that news or do I misunderstand?



* Greek
** German

[venta.livejournal.com]

You are very slightly younger than me, so possibly the goblins made their switch some time ago.

When I was at junior school I did not know the Greek for wood or the German for bells, so never questioned it when we were taught that xylophones were the metal ones and glockenspiels were the wooden ones. I can see how the goblins had sound etymological reasons for the switch over, but it's still nevertheless confusing.

[ar-boblad.livejournal.com]

To be fair I didn't know me etymology of imported words when I were growing up either, I was just told which were which a couple of years after you, letting us date the goblin switch quite nice.

For bonus points guess what a Lithophone is made of.

[chrisvenus]

Lithium?

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

stone?

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Dammit!

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

IMDB use the warped spelling for the 2008 American film

[venta.livejournal.com]

Which spelling do you consider warped?

:)

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

Bad news - the goblins have been busy. They got to my copy of the Concise OED, possibly even before it was printed in 1996. The 1975 edition is in the office, so I can't check tonight whether that has also been afflicted.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

How do you (you as in venta, rather than 'one') pronounce the word "synedoche"? Two syllables rhyming with "fine coach"?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I've never rhymed it with coach, always with cosh. Historically I pronounced it sine-dosh, but having heard someone say it (probably on Front Row reviewing the film) I switched to sinner-dosh.

Then again, I read sinecure as sine-cure for years, too.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Ah, like "fine cloche", mm, that works. (FSVO...)

I think there's an interesting study to be made (or probably it already has been made) of how people construct internal pronunciations for words that they've only ever read. There might be people who pronounce sinecure as "sin-ECK-uh-ry" by analogy with synecdoche, if they happened to have heard that one first. Or who pronounce it like cynosure.

I thought for ages that ichor was pronounced "EYE-CORE"; until I met verlaine, who persuaded me it should be "ICKer". Now, howevermany years further on, I'm just not sure at all.

[condign.livejournal.com]

My work here is done.

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

I swear the first c wasn't there when I watched the film a few weeks ago . . .