4 ms·

> fulminate Hearby nominated as word of the day. Excellent.

JadeNB 4y ago
Since we're talking language, I hope you won't mind my mentioning it's 'hereby'—etymologically literally 'here'+'by'; nothing to do with hearing.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  You are absolutely correct. I missed that on my proofread. Kind of lame since it is such a short post. The older I get, the more I find myself making spelling mistakes based on word pronunciation. Sometimes I use a totally different word than what I was thinking, which makes absolutely no sense unless you read it aloud. Then you realize what happened. Hopefully it is not early onset dementia. Though it would not be -that- early.
  - JadeNB 4y ago
    > The older I get, the more I find myself making spelling mistakes based on word pronunciation. Sometimes I use a totally different word than what I was thinking, which makes absolutely no sense unless you read it aloud. Then you realize what happened. Hopefully it is not early onset dementia. Though it would not be -that- early. I think it isn't, and suspect we all have such quirks, especially at the interaction of writing and sound. I occasionally find, for no clear reason, that when I am trying to say a color name I will instead say another color with the same first letter (e.g., if I meant to say 'green', then I will sometimes say 'grey' instead). I am not so young either, but I have done this for as long as I can remember, and don't think I suffer from dementia ….
Waterluvian 4y ago
Diablo 2 taught me this. Along with my other favourite word: Gargantuan.
- PostOnce 4y ago
  From Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the lands of Lilliput and Gargantua. In one, every resident is tiny, Lilliputian, and in the other: huge, ...Gargantuan Notably, the book reads in a very modern way, it's a bit shocking to know it was written in the 1700s when stylistically, and according to its vocabulary, it feels so very modern.
  - Waterluvian 4y ago
    Wow. Embarrassingly I admit I’ve never read it but you’ve sold me. Also I love how Gargantua sounds right. Just like Morlocks and Eloi. Language is fun.
  - davidivadavid 4y ago
    Hate to be pedantic, but as a Frenchman I can't help but point out it's actually from Rabelais: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel
    - PostOnce 4y ago
      Haha indeed, I forgot this existed! What a long and winding trail our languages are! Thanks, your pedantry is greatly appreciated, it makes HN fun and educational
lambdasquirrel 4y ago
And here I was thinking that it was just chemistry jargon, i.e. mercury fulminate.

Since we're talking language, I hope you won't mind my mentioning it's 'hereby'—etymologically literally 'here'+'by'; nothing to do with hearing.

rootusrootus 4y ago
You are absolutely correct. I missed that on my proofread. Kind of lame since it is such a short post. The older I get, the more I find myself making spelling mistakes based on word pronunciation. Sometimes I use a totally different word than what I was thinking, which makes absolutely no sense unless you read it aloud. Then you realize what happened. Hopefully it is not early onset dementia. Though it would not be -that- early.
- JadeNB 4y ago
  > The older I get, the more I find myself making spelling mistakes based on word pronunciation. Sometimes I use a totally different word than what I was thinking, which makes absolutely no sense unless you read it aloud. Then you realize what happened. Hopefully it is not early onset dementia. Though it would not be -that- early. I think it isn't, and suspect we all have such quirks, especially at the interaction of writing and sound. I occasionally find, for no clear reason, that when I am trying to say a color name I will instead say another color with the same first letter (e.g., if I meant to say 'green', then I will sometimes say 'grey' instead). I am not so young either, but I have done this for as long as I can remember, and don't think I suffer from dementia ….

Waterluvian 4y ago

Diablo 2 taught me this. Along with my other favourite word: Gargantuan.

PostOnce 4y ago
From Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the lands of Lilliput and Gargantua. In one, every resident is tiny, Lilliputian, and in the other: huge, ...Gargantuan Notably, the book reads in a very modern way, it's a bit shocking to know it was written in the 1700s when stylistically, and according to its vocabulary, it feels so very modern.
- Waterluvian 4y ago
  Wow. Embarrassingly I admit I’ve never read it but you’ve sold me. Also I love how Gargantua sounds right. Just like Morlocks and Eloi. Language is fun.
- davidivadavid 4y ago
  Hate to be pedantic, but as a Frenchman I can't help but point out it's actually from Rabelais: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel
  - PostOnce 4y ago
    Haha indeed, I forgot this existed! What a long and winding trail our languages are! Thanks, your pedantry is greatly appreciated, it makes HN fun and educational

lambdasquirrel 4y ago

And here I was thinking that it was just chemistry jargon, i.e. mercury fulminate.