smithereens & figurines
wazza
The use of "een" at the end of a noun in colloquial Irish, and English spoken by Irish people, denotes a small
version of whatever it is.
eg. growing up I remember my grand-aunt refusing too much of anything, but she wouldn't say no to a 'piece-een' of
cake or whatever
Smithereens has entered common usage in the English language in general, and I was wondering if there are other
words that have done the same, specifically figurine, which I know is spelt differently, but has the same
connotation.
I can't help but think that figurine is French for some reason (probably only because every time I think of
figurines I think of small china ballerinas for some obscure reason)
Anyone know?
w
a
z
Tom Walsh
> Smithereens has entered common usage in the English language in general, and I was wondering if there are other
> words that have done the same, specifically figurine, which I know is spelt differently, but has the same
> connotation.
>
> I can't help but think that figurine is French for some reason (probably only because every time I think of
> figurines I think of small china ballerinas for some obscure reason)
Figurine comes from the Italian 'figurina'.
Tom
Cat
Which itself is a diminutive of the word 'figura'. The suffix -ine in French
also has a meaning of diminutiveness (if that word didn't exist, it does
now!).
I'm no linguist, but I had been struck by the commonality between een and
ine too :-)
Cat(h)
>
> Tom
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Tom Walsh
> Which itself is a diminutive of the word 'figura'. The suffix -ine in French
> also has a meaning of diminutiveness (if that word didn't exist, it does
> now!).
> I'm no linguist, but I had been struck by the commonality between een and
> ine too :-)
It's all the fault of those bloody Normans, coming in here with their
poncy French and polluting the manly Gaelic tongue with prissy suffixes
indicating littleness. 'Twas far from figurines we were reared.
Tom
wazza
That's what I thought, I didn't want to think that us strong Celts with the sexual capacity of a rutting rhino were
at all interested in china dolls.
At least the Vikings raped and pillaged, I suppose the Normans were old 'new men' or some such girlie twaddle.
Me, I'm much more interested in all things non-threatening to my macsulinity. As long as I'm not in the company of
Viggo Mortensen, as he makes me question myself sometimes.
w
a
z
Cat
Where I come from, we call them ramasses-poussière, mostly...
Cat(h)
Tom Walsh
> Where I come from, we call them ramasses-poussière, mostly...
There you go: it's practically impossible to pronounce a word like (God bless
the mark) "ramasses-poussière" without losing all strength in your wrists
and feeling a sudden hankering for madeleines dipped in lemon tea.
Tom
Cat
figurine-deprived youth...
Tom Walsh
> Indeedy. The sibilant alliteration evokes zipping back in time to one's
> figurine-deprived youth...
When I used to go to bed early with a jar of pinkeens and a biteen of sweet
cake and listen to a Smithereens album, surrounded by my prize collection of
GAA figurines (wearing tweed caps, not tutus).
Tom
Cat
Ovomaltine, listening to childish contines.
Cat(h)(you don't get to choose your bedtime culture)
Aemon
wrote:
I've met Viggo Mortensen. He's a nice guy.
Aemon
Aemon
Bloody Normans, what did they ever do for us?
Aemon
Bill McCarty
wazza wrote in message <1037793614.656320@lave>...
>
>Smithereens has entered common usage in the English language in
Smithereens seems to be a perfectly good Irish word. My references
give its origin as "smiderin", an old Irish word meaning fragment. The
EEN suffix seems to be common in other languages also and suggests an
older source somewhere. The Spanish word pequeño meaning small or
little comes to mind.