Words likely to be misparsed

[RH Draney]

Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be misparsed

I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by
the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think
of some others for my collection?...r

[Janet]

In article <p3snn...@news6.newsguy.com>, dado...@cox.net says...

My class teacher maintained a large "nature table" of found objects
such as birds nests, eggs, bones, feathers, fresh wild flowers in a
small jar, seeds, all of them labelled.

I used to wonder why some very different items had the same name,
unk nown.


Janet.

[Jerry Friedman]

Are you talking about words that might misle people as to their etymology?

--
Jerry Friedman

[J. J. Lodder]

There was a very famous Roman citizen named Ignoto.
Every museum of things Roman has portraits of him,

Jan

[Tony Cooper]

There seems to be a number of writers with the same name, too: Anon.

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[Peter Moylan]

Given the widespread use of "misle", I'm surprised that no dictionary
seems to list it as a verb.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Madrigal Gurneyhalt]

I think perhaps you need to clarify the criterion somewhat. I freely
confess to having no idea what you're talking about!

[Jerry Friedman]

Which reminds me of wee knights.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Sat, 20 Jan 2018 03:01:43 +1100, Peter Moylan
<pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

>On 20/01/18 02:29, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>> On 1/19/18 4:59 AM, RH Draney wrote:
>>> Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be
>>> misparsed
>>>
>>> I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite
>>> misdivision by the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can
>>> the rest of you think of some others for my collection?...r
>>
>> Are you talking about words that might misle people as to their
>> etymology?
>
>Given the widespread use of "misle", I'm surprised that no dictionary
>seems to list it as a verb.

The OED has "misle" as an older spelling of "mizzle".

There are two "mizzle" verbs:

1. "To rain in very fine droplets; to drizzle".
"misle" was used as a spelling of that in the 1800s.

2. "To confuse, muddle, mystify; to intoxicate, befuddle".
"misle" was used as a spelling of that in the 1500s.

Regarding misle/mizzle.2:

Etymology: Origin unknown; probably a frequentative formation
(compare -le suffix 3). Perhaps connected with mizmaze n. (compare
sense 2 s.v.). Compare later maizel v. Compare mizzled adj.2
Quot. 1599 could perhaps alternatively be interpreted as showing
misled, past participle of mislead v. The following perhaps shows
mizzled as a graphic representation of a misreading of misled, past
participle of mislead v.:
1999 Scotsman 30 Apr. 23/4 Do not be mizzled, I mean misled,
by their propaganda.

1599 H. Porter Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. E3
Though he be mump, misled, blind, or as it were, tis no consequent
to me.

The only quotation with "misle" (no d) is for the first, rainy, verb:

1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. To Misle, (q.d. to
mistle, i.e. to rain in a Mist, of Mieselen, Du.) to rain small.

That rainy verb also has the older verb form "misleth":

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 130 Il brvýne, it misleth.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Jerry Friedman]

I know, but I can't be misp-arsed to explain it.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Dingbat]

Yet, he's unknown!

> Every museum of things Roman has portraits of him,

Is there a portrait of Nix Nought Nothing too?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_Nought_Nothing
> Jan

[charles]

In article <b24a5e43-4b3d-4012...@googlegroups.com>, Dingbat

<ranjit_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Friday, January 19, 2018 at 9:05:38 PM UTC+5:30, J. J. Lodder wrote:
> > Janet <nob...@home.com> wrote:
> >
> > > In article <p3snn...@news6.newsguy.com>, dado...@cox.net says...
> > > >
> > > > Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be
> > > > misparsed
> > > >
> > > > I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite
> > > > misdivision by the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can
> > > > the rest of you think of some others for my collection?...r
> > >
> > > My class teacher maintained a large "nature table" of found objects
> > > such as birds nests, eggs, bones, feathers, fresh wild flowers in a
> > > small jar, seeds, all of them labelled.
> > >
> > > I used to wonder why some very different items had the same name,
> > > unk nown.
> >
> > There was a very famous Roman citizen named Ignoto.

> Yet, he's unknown!

> > Every museum of things Roman has portraits of him,

and all the best clocks are made by Mr Fugit (first name: Tempus)

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

[Peter Young]

Rather like the tourist who wondered why so many railway stations in
Italy served a place called "Uomini".

Peter.

--
Peter Young, (BrE, RP), Consultant Anaesthetist, 1975-2004.
(US equivalent: Certified Anesthesiologist) (AUE Pt)
Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK. Now happily retired.
http://pnyoung.orpheusweb.co.uk

[bebe...@aol.com]

Le vendredi 19 janvier 2018 13:00:01 UTC+1, RH Draney a écrit :
> Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be misparsed
>
> I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by
> the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...

Two perfectly correct divisions, etymologically.

[Quinn C]

* Peter Young:

> On 19 Jan 2018 nos...@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) wrote:
>
>> Janet <nob...@home.com> wrote:
>
>>> In article <p3snn...@news6.newsguy.com>, dado...@cox.net says...
>>>>
>>>> Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be
>>>> misparsed
>>>>
>>>> I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by
>>>> the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think
>>>> of some others for my collection?...r
>>>
>>> My class teacher maintained a large "nature table" of found objects
>>> such as birds nests, eggs, bones, feathers, fresh wild flowers in a
>>> small jar, seeds, all of them labelled.
>>>
>>> I used to wonder why some very different items had the same name,
>>> unk nown.
>
>> There was a very famous Roman citizen named Ignoto.
>> Every museum of things Roman has portraits of him,
>
> Rather like the tourist who wondered why so many railway stations in
> Italy served a place called "Uomini".

And a really small place at that, judging from the name!

--
Are you sure your sanity chip is fully screwed in?
-- Kryten to Rimmer (Red Dwarf)

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

One time (many years ago) when my sister and brother-in-law were
driving in Germany they were puzzled that there seemed to be many signs
for Achtung, but it didn't seem to be on their map.


--
athel

[bert]

On Friday, 19 January 2018 18:30:19 UTC, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2018-01-19 17:47:09 +0000, Quinn C said:
>
> > * Peter Young:
> >
> >> On 19 Jan 2018 nos...@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) wrote:
> >>
> >>> Janet <nob...@home.com> wrote:
> >>

> >>>> In article <p3snn...@news6.newsguy.com>, dad...@cox.net says...

> >>>>>
> >>>>> Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be
> >>>>> misparsed
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by
> >>>>> the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think
> >>>>> of some others for my collection?...r
> >>>>
> >>>> My class teacher maintained a large "nature table" of found objects
> >>>> such as birds nests, eggs, bones, feathers, fresh wild flowers in a
> >>>> small jar, seeds, all of them labelled.
> >>>>
> >>>> I used to wonder why some very different items had the same name,
> >>>> unk nown.
> >>
> >>> There was a very famous Roman citizen named Ignoto.
> >>> Every museum of things Roman has portraits of him,
> >>
> >> Rather like the tourist who wondered why so many railway stations in
> >> Italy served a place called "Uomini".
> >
> > And a really small place at that, judging from the name!
>
> One time (many years ago) when my sister and brother-in-law were
> driving in Germany they were puzzled that there seemed to be many signs
> for Achtung, but it didn't seem to be on their map.

Peter Ustinov amused an audience by recalling for them
that when his mother first arrived in England, and was
travelling by train, she was very much puzzled that
every station she passed seemed to be called "Bovril".
--

[charles]

In article <fcerpm...@mid.individual.net>, Athel Cornish-Bowden

and to go with the Cotswold villages of Chipping Camden and Chipping
Norton, there are quite a number called Loose Chippings

[Richard Tobin]

In article <p3snn...@news6.newsguy.com>,

RH Draney <dado...@cox.net> wrote:

>I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by
>the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think
>of some others for my collection?...r

Not off-hand, but I'll ask my cow orkers.

-- Richard

[Theodore Heise]

Not quite the same thing, but related.

A common test for whether someone is a chemist is to ask them to
pronounce:

unionized
periodic

--
Ted Heise <the...@panix.com> West Lafayette, IN, USA

[bebe...@aol.com]

Knorr blimey!


> --

[Tak To]

There is "un-ionized" vs "union-ized".

--
Tak
----------------------------------------------------------------+-----
Tak To ta...@alum.mit.eduxx
--------------------------------------------------------------------^^
[taode takto ~{LU5B~}] NB: trim the xx to get my real email addr

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Very attractive village

> and Chipping
> Norton,

Less so

> there are quite a number called Loose Chippings


--

athel

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

On 2018-01-19 19:49:04 +0000, Theodore Heise said:

> On Fri, 19 Jan 2018 04:59:25 -0700,
> RH Draney <dado...@cox.net> wrote:
>> Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to
>> be misparsed
>>
>> I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite
>> misdivision by the uninformed: "helico-pter" and
>> "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think of some others for my
>> collection?...r
>
> Not quite the same thing, but related.
>
> A common test for whether someone is a chemist is to ask them to
> pronounce:
>
> unionized

That one is straighforward

> periodic

This one less so, because both pronunciations are important in chemistry.



--
athel

[J. J. Lodder]

Dingbat <ranjit_...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On Friday, January 19, 2018 at 9:05:38 PM UTC+5:30, J. J. Lodder wrote:
> > Janet <nob...@home.com> wrote:
> >
> > > In article <p3snn...@news6.newsguy.com>, dado...@cox.net says...
> > > >
> > > > Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be
> > > > misparsed
> > > >
> > > > I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite
> > > > misdivision by the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can
> > > > the rest of you think of some others for my collection?...r
> > >
> > > My class teacher maintained a large "nature table" of found objects
> > > such as birds nests, eggs, bones, feathers, fresh wild flowers in a
> > > small jar, seeds, all of them labelled.
> > >
> > > I used to wonder why some very different items had the same name,
> > > unk nown.
> >
> > There was a very famous Roman citizen named Ignoto.
>
> Yet, he's unknown!

Of course not!
He is known as Ritratto Di, by his friends,

Jan

[Peter T. Daniels]

Also known by their nickname, Trad.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Friday, January 19, 2018 at 2:49:06 PM UTC-5, Theodore Heise wrote:

> A common test for whether someone is a chemist is to ask them to
> pronounce:
>
> unionized

(Asimov, ov course)

> periodic

How do you get two pronunciations out of "periodic"? AHD5 suggests there's an
"iodic" preceded by "per-."

[James Wilkinson Sword]

On Fri, 19 Jan 2018 20:51:16 -0000, Tak To <ta...@alum.mit.eduxx> wrote:

> On 1/19/2018 6:59 AM, RH Draney wrote:
>> Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be misparsed
>>
>> I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by
>> the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think
>> of some others for my collection?...r
>
> There is "un-ionized" vs "union-ized".

The former is very useful, the latter is not.

--
I have a photographic memory that was never developed.

[Theodore Heise]

On Fri, 19 Jan 2018 22:43:01 +0100,
Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@imm.cnrs.fr> wrote:
> On 2018-01-19 19:49:04 +0000, Theodore Heise said:
> > On Fri, 19 Jan 2018 04:59:25 -0700,
> > RH Draney <dado...@cox.net> wrote:
> >> Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to
> >> be misparsed
> >>
> >> I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite
> >> misdivision by the uninformed: "helico-pter" and
> >> "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think of some others for my
> >> collection?...r
> >
> > Not quite the same thing, but related.
> >
> > A common test for whether someone is a chemist is to ask them to
> > pronounce:
> >
> > unionized
>
> That one is straighforward

What, you've never been approached about joining the chemists'
union?

[Theodore Heise]

Yes, that's the right track. The latter part is prounced along
the lines of iodine (from which it derives).

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

There was an outsider on a summer holiday in the Irish Republic. On his
first morning there he drove to the beach. He was relying on road signs.
He drove for miles without finding a beach. He explained later that the
signs pointed to towns and villages with many pointing to an unfamiliar
place named Trá.

There are no points for guessing what the Irish word Trá means.

[Quinn C]

* Stefan Ram:

> r...@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) writes:
>>"Kilima-njaro", and "tran-spire".
>
> and "Archaeo-pteryx" (similar to the "helico-pter"
> already mentioned)

That's right - nothing special about its eyes.

--
If you kill one person, you go to jail; if you kill 20, you go
to an institution for the insane; if you kill 20,000, you get
political asylum. -- Reed Brody, special counsel
for prosecutions at Human Rights Watch

[Quinn C]

* J. J. Lodder:

There is also the bibliography reference to a study by S. Inon, E.
Vero & Ben Trovato.

--
Woman is a pair of ovaries with a human being attached, whereas
man is a human being furnished with a pair of testes.
-- Rudolf Virchow

[Reinhold {Rey} Aman]

Quinn C wrote:
>
> There is also the bibliography reference to a study by S. Inon,
>

S. Enon

--
~~~ Reinhold {Rey} Aman ~~~

[Peeler]

On Fri, 19 Jan 2018 22:34:06 -0000, Birdbrain Macaw (now "James Wilkinson"),
the pathological attention whore of all the uk ngs, blathered again:

> The former is very useful, the latter is not.

You are the latter, you useless idiot!

--
Gay wanker Birdbrain:
"I wouldn't mind being a naked slave for a hot woman."
MID: <op.zczwu...@red.lan>

[Rich Ulrich]

On Fri, 19 Jan 2018 04:59:25 -0700, RH Draney <dado...@cox.net>
wrote:

>Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be misparsed
>
>I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by
>the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think
>of some others for my collection?...r

I don't see anyone mentioning - an old aue topic was
"mishy-phens". I see relevant hits when I google
< mishy phens aue >.

The only one that I collected in the wild and reported
was "mans-laughter".

--
Rich Ulrich

[semir...@my-deja.com]

On Friday, January 19, 2018 at 12:00:01 PM UTC, RH Draney wrote:

>Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be misparsed
>I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by
>the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think
>of some others for my collection?...r

From the email address: Britis Hairways

[RH Draney]

On 1/19/2018 4:02 PM, Quinn C wrote:
> * J. J. Lodder:
>
>> Dingbat <ranjit_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Friday, January 19, 2018 at 9:05:38 PM UTC+5:30, J. J. Lodder wrote:
>>>> Janet <nob...@home.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> My class teacher maintained a large "nature table" of found objects
>>>>> such as birds nests, eggs, bones, feathers, fresh wild flowers in a
>>>>> small jar, seeds, all of them labelled.
>>>>>
>>>>> I used to wonder why some very different items had the same name,
>>>>> unk nown.
>>>>
>>>> There was a very famous Roman citizen named Ignoto.
>>>
>>> Yet, he's unknown!
>>
>> Of course not!
>> He is known as Ritratto Di, by his friends,
>
> There is also the bibliography reference to a study by S. Inon, E.
> Vero & Ben Trovato.

Back when I used to frequent alt.movies.silent, there were tales that a
film with Lon Chaney called "The Unknown" had been thought lost until a
set of reels had turned up in an archive in boxes labeled
"L'inconnu"...someone had apparently assumed without checking that the
boxes contained various "unknown" bits of film....r

[Richard Yates]

"the-rapist"

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

If you mean IUPAC then it's not usually called the chemists' union, and
in any case I don't think it has individual members. The Royal Society
of Chemistry has individual members, but it's not usually called the
chemists' union either.

--
athel

[spuorg...@gowanhill.com]

On Saturday, 20 January 2018 00:48:15 UTC, semir...@my-deja.com wrote:
> From the email address: Britis Hairways

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fun:Unfortunate_website_names

Owain

[Theodore Heise]

On Sat, 20 Jan 2018 09:03:26 +0100,

Sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear. I didn't mean anything but to
make a joke. Apparently it was a poor attempt.

[John Dunlop]

Theodore Heise:

> On Fri, 19 Jan 2018 22:43:01 +0100,
> Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@imm.cnrs.fr> wrote:
>> On 2018-01-19 19:49:04 +0000, Theodore Heise said:

...

>> > A common test for whether someone is a chemist is to ask them to
>> > pronounce:
>> >
>> > unionized
>>
>> That one is straighforward
>
> What, you've never been approached about joining the chemists'
> union?

He has, but he had to refuse because it went against his con-
science.

--
John

[Colonel Edmund J. Burke]

On 1/19/2018 3:59 AM, RH Draney wrote:
> Subject for those who don't read subject lines: Words likely to be misparsed
>
> I have a couple of fairly familiar words here that invite misdivision by the uninformed: "helico-pter" and "a-mnesia"...can the rest of you think of some others for my collection?...r

Faerie words?
LOL

[Quinn C]

* Theodore Heise:

Well, there's
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Bergbau,_Chemie,_Energie

--
The country has its quota of fools and windbags; such people are
most prominent in politics, where their inherent weaknesses seem
less glaring and attract less ridicule than they would in other
walks of life. -- Robert Bothwell et.al.: Canada since 1945

[Quinn C]

* John Dunlop:

So it was pro-science?

--
- It's the title search for the Rachel property.
Guess who owns it?
- Tell me it's not that bastard Donald Trump.
-- Gilmore Girls, S02E08 (2001)

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

No, I knew it was a joke, but it's one of the things I do: answer
joking comments as if I think they're serious.


--
athel

[Mark Brader]

John Dunlop:
> ...it went against his con-
> science.

(Applause!)
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "This quote is very memorable."
m...@vex.net --Randall Munroe

[Neill Massello]

Theodore Heise <the...@panix.com> wrote:

> What, you've never been approached about joining the chemists'
> union?

I assume there's no charge to join.

[Madrigal Gurneyhalt]

The Fe is optional but if you pay O you may Ru it later.

[Peter Moylan]

On my last visit to Ireland I noticed many roads leading to Amach.

I've been caught that way before, though. Belgium has many roads that go
from Sortie to Uitrit.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Peter Moylan]

It's interesting that a Google search for powergenitalia.com leads
mostly to sites that claim that the name was a hoax. Even Snopes got
it wrong initially, although I see that they have now admitted that the
company really did exist. The cause of the confusion appears to be the
existence of an English company with a similar name, and that company
denied that it had an Italian division. But in fact there is a real
Italian company called Powergen Italia, and it can still be found on its
new web sites:

http://www.batterychargerpowergen.it/en/
http://www.batterychargerpowergen.eu/en/