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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009-iously
Just for fun - please name me a word ...a...e...iously since all the vowels are sorted alphabetically :-) As a German, I can't do a "mind dictionary search". Is "facetiously" a legit word? (Legit not in the sense it makes grammatic sense, but that you could use it in everyday talk.)  SignatureHauke Reddmann <:-EX8 fc3a501@uni-hamburg.de Nur Schufte schuften - Genie genießt. > Just for fun - please name me a word > ....a...e...iously since all the vowels are sorted [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > sense it makes grammatic sense, but that you could > use it in everyday talk.) Yes, and it's the standard answer to this question. The only other common one is abstemiously. SignatureDavid Hauke Reddmann: > > Is "facetiously" a legit word? (Legit not in the > > sense it makes grammatic sense, but that you could > > use it in everyday talk.) "David": > Yes, and it's the standard answer to this question. Agreed. > The only other common one is abstemiously. It's not so much an everyday word, though. A lot of people wouldn't use it, people who might use "facetiously". Another word with the same vowel property is "abstentiously"; but I don't think I've ever seen it used. SignatureMark Brader "In general, it is safe and legal to Toronto kill your children and their children." msb@vex.net -- POSIX manual, quoted by Thomas Koenig My text in this article is in the public domain. <snip> >> The only other common one is abstemiously. > >It's not so much an everyday word, though. A lot of people wouldn't >use it, people who might use "facetiously". Another word with the >same vowel property is "abstentiously"; but I don't think I've ever >seen it used. Can anyone give an example of a common adjective ending in "-ious" that cannot be converted to an adverb by adding "-ly." How can anyone say that "facetiously" and "abstemiously" are the only ones when "laboriously" and "cautiously" are only two of probably hundreds fitting the pattern. "Suspiciously," "ceremoniously," "egregiously," "euphoniously," "luxuriously," "mendaciously," "obsequiously," ... and so on far into the night. SignatureEgbert White, | "I love Americans, but not when they try WAme | to talk French. What a blessing it is that | that they never try to talk English." | -- Saki's Mrs. Mebberley ><snip> > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >"laboriously" and "cautiously" are only two of probably hundreds >fitting the pattern. The pattern is as shown in the OP: ...a...e...iously that is with each of the five vowels used once and in alphabetical order. That is the basis of the statement: '"facetiously" and "abstemiously" are the only ones'. >"Suspiciously," "ceremoniously," "egregiously," "euphoniously," >"luxuriously," "mendaciously," "obsequiously," ... and so on far into >the night. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) Peter Duncanson: > The pattern is as shown in the OP: > > ...a...e...iously > > that is with each of the five vowels used once and in alphabetical > order. Six. (The original posting just said "all the vowels".) SignatureMark Brader | The way the Giants are playing this season, Newton Toronto | would have been better off standing on the wings msb@vex.net | of the Cardinals. --Richard Tanzer >Peter Duncanson: >> The pattern is as shown in the OP: [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >Six. OK. I can't count. >(The original posting just said "all the vowels".) SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >Peter Duncanson: >> The pattern is as shown in the OP: [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >(The original posting just said "all the vowels".) But they taught me in school that 'y' is only sometimes a vowel. You might say 'six' on Friday, then discover that in that week 'y' was only a vowel on Tuesday. Signature"How dreary, to be...Somebody! How public, like a frog, to tell one's name, the live-long June, to an admiring bog!" <Emily Dickinson> >><snip> >> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] >That is the basis of the statement: '"facetiously" and "abstemiously" >are the only ones'. Thank you. Then I'll mention the following from <http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/wordtriv.htm>: | Abstemious, abstentious, adventitious, aerious, | annelidous, arsenious, arterious, caesious and facetious | are all words with all five vowels in order. If you count | 'y' as a vowel, -ly can be added to most of them to get | all six vowels. But the only one of them that I would call at all common is 'adventitious,' and that doesn't quite work because there are two 'i's. I like "annelidous" because it's the only one that doesn't end with the monotonous '-ious,' but I don't find it in a couple of big dictionaries. Come to think of it, when this subject came up in AUE years ago, didn't someone come up with one that didn't end in '-ous'? Google Groups doesn't find any such, but it finds a mention of 'ambidextrously,' which almost works. It has each vowel only once, but they're not quite in order, but 'ambidextrously' may be notable for being the longest word with no letter occurring more than once. (<http://brainmeta.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4044>) SignatureEgbert White | "Some men owe their success to their first WAmE | wife and their second wife to their | success." <Jim Backus, slightly paraphrased> >>><snip> >>> [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] >for being the longest word with no letter occurring more than once. >(<http://brainmeta.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4044>) There's also "anemious", defined by the OED as "Of plants: Windy, i.e. growing in windy and exposed situations." Need I say it's labelled "rare" (in the sense of infrequent)? The OED also has acerbitous and affectious. SignatureJames |
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