| Word: | Meaning: | Etymology: |
| Man Friday | Noun: A man who is an efficient and faithful aide to someone. | After Friday, a character in the novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe. Crusoe named him Friday because that was the day they met. Crusoe often referred to him as his man Friday. By extension, the term girl Friday is used for a female. Earliest documented example of the word used allusively: 1809. |
| Barmecidal | adjective: Giving only an illusion of something; unreal. | After Barmecide, a nobleman in the story "Barber's Sixth Brother" from the collection "One Thousand and One Nights" (also known as "The Arabian Nights"). In the story, Barmecide pretends to host a lavish feast for a beggar. The beggar plays along, pretending to enjoy the food and wine. He then pretends to get drunk and knocks Barmecide down in the process. In the end, Barmecide is pleased with the beggar for going with the joke and offers him a real feast. Earliest documented example of the word used allusively: 1844. |
| Maw | noun: 1. The mouth, throat, or stomach of an animal, especially a carnivore. 2. A gaping hole. | From Old English maga. Earliest documented use: 1150. |
| Mephitic | adjective: Poisonous or foul-smelling. | From Latin mephitis (foul smell). |
| Jejune | adjective: 1. Dull; insipid. 2. Lacking maturity; juvenile. 3. Lacking in nutrition. | From Latin jejunus (empty, hungry, fasting, meager). A related word is jejunum, the middle part of the small intestine. It was so called because it was usually found empty after death. |
| Captious | adjective: Having an inclination to find faults, especially of a trivial nature. | Via French from Latin capere (to seize). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kap- (to grasp), which is also the root of captive, capsule, capable, capture, cable, chassis, occupy, and deceive. Earliest documented use: 1380. |
| Soubrette | noun: 1. A maidservant or lady's maid in a play or an opera, especially one who displays coquetry and engages in intrigue. 2. A young woman regarded as flirtatious. 3. A soprano who sings supporting roles in comic opera. | From French soubrette (maidservant), from Provençal soubreto, feminine of soubret (coy), from soubra (to set aside), from Latin superare (to be above). Ultimately from the Indo-European root uper (over) which is also the source of over, sovereign, super, supreme, sirloin, soprano, somersault, and hyper. Earliest documented use: 1753. |
| Callow | adjective: Inexperienced or immature. | From Old English calu (bald, featherless). Earliest documented use: before 1000. |
| Pariah | noun: An outcast. | From Tamil paraiyar, plural of paraiyan (drummer), from parai (drum, to tell). Because the drum players were considered among the lowest in the former caste system of India, the word took on the general meaning of an outcast. Earliest documented use: 1613. |
| Anomia | noun: The inability to recall names of people or objects. | From Latin a- (without) + nom (name). Earliest documented use: 1900. Don't confuse the word with anomie. |
| Phonetic Demand | Semantic Demand | Etymological Demand |
| Pin | Bomb/Bombard | Avalanche |
| Sat | Hymn/Hymnal | Kangaroo |
| Dog | Rag/Rage | Ocean |
| Fish | Sag/Rage | Negotiate |
| Cup | The/Their | Sapphire |
| Huff | Get/Together | Vacuum |
| Mess | Crumb/Crumble | Mortgage |
The Letter G and It’s Rules:
*The letter g has a hard /g/ and soft /j/ sound.
*The letter g has a soft sound /j/ when it followed by an: E, I, or Y. Some examples are the following words: gentle, ginger, algebra, gem, origin, and gym.
*Also if the /j/ sound for g is followed by a short vowel sound it is usually spelled with dge. A few examples of this are: ridge, dodge, edge, budget and gadget.
* When a ‘hard’ pronunciation is wanted, but the following letter would make it ‘soft’, we sometimes add ‘u’ after ‘g’ (as in ‘guest’). Alternatively, the following letter is doubled (as in ‘outrigger’).
*Of course there are always exceptions to spelling rules in English: These mostly involve giving ‘hard’ pronunciation to words where the rule indicates the ‘soft’ sound.
*Some expectations words to the rule with g are:
gear, get, gelding, give girl gift tiger, celt
*Another exception might be: present participles of some verbs that end with ‘g’, such as ‘banging’ and ‘ringing’.
* Other exceptions are foreign words that have been adopted into the English language, such as: gestalt and geisha
Some information in the above post was gathered from the following websites:
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