10 Comments
User's avatar
Andrew Bernard's avatar

My wife is from Hong Kong. She has always pronounced Z as 'e-zett' which is pretty close to iizard, if not identical. Perhaps a very old tradition survived in colonial Hong Kong!

Sawfingers's avatar

This is one of the few times I got a definition correct. When I looked at Magnality, I thought of Banality as a possible antonym. I don't know for sure if it is, but it was my reasoning for selecting “A wonderful thing” as the definition.

Thank you for an interesting read as always.

RobWords's avatar

Well done!

Kris Dixson's avatar

Great read-thanks, Rob!

Wendy's avatar

In Australia, we often spell it barbeque which helps the BBQ shortening.

Chaz's avatar

The zee or zed issue is settled. Hazah! Now, do you prefer izzet or uzzit? We'll take the one you don't want to use.

:D

Gregg Andrew Tardiff's avatar

Not particularly leaving a comment for this episode, but rather wondering where the July 16 Episode was ??? It’s not showing on Substack, and it was not received in my email. Rob, are you taking the unscheduled vacation?

Sharon Yanovitch's avatar

I believe Hurricane- is also Taino, for storm god

RoseAnne Mussar's avatar

Folk etymology time! I read once that "barbeque" (with a q) comes from the French term (de barbe a la queue", or "from whiskers to tail". Imagine a pig or other animal being spit roasted and you can see where this might have originated. I'm pretty sure one of my grade school French teachers so averred.

Expos Toujours!'s avatar

I'm most interested in the "thoroughly vile poem about the supposed behaviours of the native people of the region."