I just have to take a moment to say that McDreamy came over again this evening, and he beat me at Scrabble! He got two bingos (that's where you use all 7 of your tiles...you get 50 bonus points for it). I managed to get one bingo, but alas, it was not enough. The man is very good at games. And I although he doesn't have Scrabble strategy down quite as well as I do, I think he's better than me at anagraming, partly because he's more patient than I am.
In other news, I finished typing up all the names of all the borrowers we surveyed and sent it off to BJ. I'm concerned, however, because I only count 417 borrowers. We thought we had closer to 450-500, which means either that we somehow massively miscalculated, or that some surveys have gone AWOL. I don't see where they could be, but I suppose anything is possible. 417 is still just fine for a sample size, but the whole thing is a bit curious.
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While the specifics of burrito-joint-for-second-date might be a bit "metaphysical" as far as determining the future prospects of a relationship, the specific words an opponent chooses can tell a lot -- and probably more than hairstyle, manner of dress or musical taste -- about him/her as a person.
So: does "McDreamy" gravitate towards words derived from Latin and Norman French? Or does he pick from those with Germanic/Old English roots? Did you notice a pronounced tendency towards verbs over nouns (or vice versa)? Any other characteristics that may be representative of his relationship to the lexicon?
Of course, the best bet may be to keep a record -- surreptitiously, of course -- of each word he plays...
Okay, Nathan, we've got to back up a second here. Let's not assume that I know what language the words he uses are derived from. Can you give me some examples? I will start paying attention to whether or not he favors nouns or verbs (since I do know how to identify those). All I can tell you at the moment is that he knows a respectable number of words and is interested in etymology (and unlike lazy me, he's a big proponent of looking up words or researching their etymology). You and he could probably have a conversation about language that would have my eyes glazing over in about 10 minutes (which I consider a long time, by the way).
He's made some good Scrabble words including "thundery" (one of his bingos) and "noir" (which led into a whole conversation about how people should use the word "noirly" as a slang term.
I'm fairly certain the burrito place we went to is called El Balazo. It is painted yellow.
Good burrito choice!
As for the rest -- well, we can infer (without even turning to a dictionary) that "noir" comes from a Latinate root, since it's borrowed from the French. "Thundery," on the other hand, comes from Old English, which means it belongs to the approx. 25% of the English language that comes from Germanic roots (in contrast, Latinate words -- including those of French and/or Norman French origin -- comprise about 50% of English).
As for how to identify which words come from which origin, it can be tricky. A good rule of thumb is to compare sound w/ spelling: words with a preponderance of silent letters tend to come from Latinate origins; this is particularly true of the silent terminal "e".* If a word "sounds French" (as in the vowel sounds in "noir"), it comes from the Latin (usu. by way of Norman French, 1066 and all that). And, finally, if a word sounds (or seems) "classier" than a synonymous alternative, it probably derives from a Romance language ("guts" vs. "intestines" being the classic example).
Of course this is all very rough; etymological research is the easiest way to know for sure. And the OED is, of course, the best route to that ("route"'s origin is Latinate; "path," in contrast, comes from Germanic roots).
Anyway -- this is all very boring, I'm sure. Almost as sure as I am that your eyes are glazing over. So focus on the nouns/verbs thing, instead. Not only is it easier, it'll also tell you more anyway.
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* The big exception to this rule is the pronunciation (or lack thereof) of "-gh-" in "knight," "night" &c., the spelling of which in each case retains a former pronunciation that was modified by Norman French rule of the British Isles...
Should have added: the fact that "McDreamy" likes language, and especially etymology, makes it clear that he's a good sort...
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