Job Discussion Forums

carnac · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:44 am Post subject:

Sheepgirl:
"the noise a male llama makes while mating - "orgling".
This is WONDERFUL! Thanks very much!
(Have to admit, makes me wonder about male humans Confused

)

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

To all the males out there...what sound do YOU make while mating? Is it Orgling? For me, it's more of an "Urgling"....maybe an "Ohhgling"

thoughts?

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

And for those of you who really want to know here is a link to the sound clip of a real llama orgling
http://www.llamapaedia.com/gifs/orgle.aiff

It appears they have a competition somewhere in the States where people try and imitate the sound. I would rather not know how they judge the winner.

Incidentally the word is a marvellous coining - being a combination of gurgle and ogle - the ogle part coming from what all the male llamas are doing to the female llamas while orgling. Indeed somebody remarked that a female can produce a perfect imitation of llama mating habits by just walking past any building site.

The word doesn't appear in any dictionary I have, nor is it in the British National Corpus (but then the llama is an American animal), but there are 322 pages on Google devoted to orgling, so it does appear to be a new word.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

VanKen · Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Posts: 139 Location: Calgary, AB Canada

How about the term for words that mean the same thing, are spelled the same, but have a different pronunciation because they are in different languages (i.e. nation, vision, and imagination are the same in English and French)? Is there a word for this?

carnac · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:51 pm Post subject:

To make a 180 degree turn, what would you imagine these verbs to mean? -

1. snarfle
2. slurb
3. yosh
4. braffle
5. fraxillate

Can they be used in a coherent sentence and provide meaning?

(Eventually, there IS a point to all this)

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

dyak · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 630

carnac · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 2:30 pm Post subject:

Dyak: Wonderful! Score 24/25, one point off for use of "braffled", which I believe might have been better expressed as "She seemed to braffle", continuing its usage as a verb rather than an adjective ("She seemed braffled"). Very Happy

Nouns:

1. worg
2. cremanditure
3. hysemoly
4. prumenisis
5. knork

dyak · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 630

carnac · Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 5:37 pm Post subject:

And so...?
(an intellectual challenge/puzzle)
Reason for this follows reply.

cujobytes · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 7:12 am Post subject: >

Has anyone come across a small volume called 'The Meaning Of Liff' It's a humurous explanation of the meanings of the names of small towns in Wales. It's been a long time, but many of these names describe just the kinds of things dicussed here. for example one (I forget which) is the word for ' Nasal excretia of a malleable consistancy' Don't know why I remembered that.
Aha, a sample. This may answer all our questions.

The Meaning of Liff

By Douglas Adams and John Lloyd

In Life*, there are many hundreds of common experiences, feelings, situations and even objects which we all know and recognize, but for which no words exist.
On the other hand, the world is littererd with thousands of spare words which spend their time doing nothing but loafing about on signposts pointing at places.
Our job, as we see it, is to get these words down off the signposts and into the mouths of babes and sucklings and so on, where they can start earning their keep in everyday conversation and make a more positive contribution to society.

AASLEAGH (n.)
A liqueur made only for drinking at the end of a revoltingly long bottle party when all the drinkable drink has been drunk.

ABERBEEG (vb.)
Of amateur actors, to adopt a Mexican accent when called upon to play any variety of foreigner (except Pakistanis - from whom a Welsh accent is considered sufficient).

ABERCRAVE (vb.)
To strongly desire to swing from the pole on the rear foot plate of a bus.

ABERYSTWYTH (n.)
A nostalgic yearning which is in itself more pleasant than the thing being yearned for.

ABILENE (adj.)
Descriptive of the pleasing coolness on the reverse side of the pillow.

ABINGER (n.)
One who washes up everything except the frying pan, the cheese grater and the saucepan which the chocolate sauce has been made in.

ABOYNE (vb.)
To beat an expert at a game of skill by playing so appallingly that none of his clever tactics or strategies are of any use to him.

ACLE (n.)
The rouge pin which shirtmakers conceal in the most improbable fold of a new shirt. Its function is to stab you when you don the garment.

ADLESTROP (n.)
That part of a suitcase which is designed to get snarled up on conveyor belts at airports. Some of the more modern adlestrop designs have a special 'quick release' feature which enables the case to lip open at this point and fling your underclothes into the conveyor belt's gearing mechanism.

ADRIGOLE (n.)
The centrepiece of a merry-go-round on which the man with the tickets stands unnervingly still.

AFFCOT (n.)
The sort of fart you hope people will talk after.

AFFPUDDLE (n.)
A puddle which is hidden under a pivoted paving stone. You only know it's there when you step on the paving stone and the puddle shoots up your leg.

AGGLETHORPE (n.)
A dispute between two pooves in a boutique.

AHENNY (adj.)
The way people stand when examining other people's bookshelves.

AIGBURTH (n.)
Any piece of readily identifiable anatomy found amongst cooked meat.

AINDERBY QUERNHOW (n.)
One who continually bemoans the 'loss' of the word 'gay' to the English language, even though they had never used the word in any context at all until they started complaining that they couldn't use it any more.

AINDERBY STEEPLE (n.)
One who asks you a question with the apparent motive of wanting to hear your answer, but who cuts short your opening sentence by leaning forward and saying 'and I'll tell you why I ask...' and then talking solidly for the next hour.

AINSWORTH (n.)
The length of time it takes to get served in a camera shop. Hence, also, how long we will have to wait for the abolition of income tax or the Second Coming.

AIRD OF SLEAT (n. archaic)
Ancient Scottish curse placed from afar on the stretch of land now occupied by Heathrow Airport.

AITH (n.)
The single bristle that sticks out sideways on a cheap paintbrush.

ALBUQUERQUE (n.)
A shapeless squiggle which is utterly unlike your normal signature, but which is, nevertheless, all you are able to produce when asked formally to identify yourself. Muslims, whose religion forbids the making of graven images, use albuquerques to decorate their towels, menu cards and pyjamas.

ALDCLUNE (n.)
One who collects ten-year-old telephone directories.

ALLTAMI (n.)
The ancient art of being able to balance the hot and cold shower taps.

AMBLESIDE (n.)
A talk given about the Facts of Life by a father to his son whilst walking in the garden on a Sunday afternoon.

AMERSHAM (n.)
The sneeze which tickles but never comes. (Thought to derive from the Metropolitan Line tube station of the same name where the rails always rattle but the train never arrives.)

AMLWCH (n.)
A British Rail sandwich which has been kept soft by being regularly washed and resealed in clingfilm.

ARAGLIN (n. archaic)
A medieval practical joke played by young squires on a knight aspirant the afternoon he is due to start his vigil. As the knight arrives at the castle the squires attempt to raise the drawbridge very suddenly as the knight and his charger step on to it.

ARDCRONY (n.)
A remote acquaintance passed off as 'a very good friend of mine' by someone trying to impress people.

ARDSCALPSIE (n.)
Excuse made by rural Welsh hairdresser for completely massacring your hair.

ARDSCULL (n.)
Excuse made by rural Welsh hairdresser for deep wounds inflicted on your scalp in an attempt to rectify whatever it was that induced the ardscalpsie (q.v.).

ARDSLIGNISH (adj.)
Adjective which describes the behaviour of Sellotape when you are tired.

ARTICLAVE (n.)
A clever architectural construction designed to give the illusion from the top deck of a bus that it is far too big for the road.

AYNHO (vb.)
Of waiters, never to have a pen.

http://folk.uio.no/alied/TMoL.html

Will. · Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 783 Location: London Uk

Ke..
The sound of a thought stopping in mid-process and grinding to a a shuddering halt
Rik..
The same, or a different, thought just about to get going once it has reanimated the process and got over the shock of reading the last three pages.

carnac · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:43 am Post subject:

cujo - wonderful, thanks!
What I'm getting at here is that many English speakers have a lot of fun with their language, and I want to get this idea of inventiveness across to Upper-Intermediate and Advanced students. Things like puns or limericks or chiasmus, for example. I'll be selecting from notes to this thread for examples of the (perhaps strange) sense of humor and joy that can be found in the English language.

By the way, did you hear about the American Ambassador to China being thrown out of the country? Poor guy, not only disconsolate but disoriented as well! (sorry)