Cosmetics
Where does the word cosmetics come from?
And does it have anything to do with the cosmos?
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Posted on March 3, 2008 · Filed Under Lessons
What about the prefix “Auto”? Doesn’t it mean ‘about oneself’?? Like Autobiography, and Autoimmune?
And perhaps Automobile means mobile by itself? Such as with Autograph?
Then Automaton? Maton?
Autoerotic makes me wonder where masturbate comes from *snicker*.. why not Master-bate? why Mastur?
Why not Miss, or Lady? Missbate, or Ladybate?
See, etiquette is a weird thing:
Men under 10yrs: Master
Men between 10-18: No Prefix
Men over 18: Mr.
(as in addressing a letter, or invitation)
But I also read that it’s acceptable etiquette to SPIT in public as long as it lands on Grass. That can’t be possible!!
What about the word “supercilious”? And, what does it have to do with eyebrows?
I’m interested in knowing where the phrase “The real McCoy” or “Bonehead” comes from.
Paraphernalia
I m requesting the word “hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia”
it would be funny!
i went sex with you ; i am from algéria my name hamid my biby cat
for
Hello Koko
P.S. Not an advertisement for a mobile phone!
….I’m going to try your pick up lines next time I am out at a bar and meet a nice looking girl. “I went sex with you…” I bet it will work, except I don’t have the advantage of being from Algeria, which is a trait that is in high demand among American and northern European women. They also love to know an Algerian man’s sensitive side, when he reveals that his “biby” (I assume you mean the Arabic word for “dear”) is a cat. It shows you’re not a psycho.
I thought Borat had the best pick-up lines until now. He had game with his, “I like to make sexy time” line. And, who could forget, “My name a Borat. I like you. I like sex, it’s nice.”
conundrum….what meanth it? I knowest tho knoweth!
Hey you linguists and related nerds.
This is a link to a radio show called radiolab. Great program, I’ve mentioned them once before. This particular program is entitled “Musical Language” and investigates how our brains process sound. A lot of the content includes language, characteristics of speech, and specifically tonal languages. It is a really interesting show with some relevant content. The other subjects they have covered are fascinating as well.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2006/0 4/21
How about Cosmoprodestan, the spin-off from the Lutheran church which was founded by Lex Luther, arch enemy of Superman (just kidding). I hope nobody gets upset about that joke. I am not opposed to the use of religion for recreational purposes as long as no one is harmed or made to feel guilty or excluded. I do have a problem with the false and self-serving argument that all religious beliefs are “pro-tected” by the First Amendment. Take another look, you God-mongering bigots, the First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Um, what do you mean, “…the use of religion for recreational purposes”? Just about everything can harm, exclude or cause guilt in some way to somebody. If you use those characteristics to oppose certain institutions then, well everything from government, law and medicine would be prohibited. A bigot is someone who is completely intolerant of another system of thought and strongly biased toward their own group or system of thought. Which in opinion due to your language, implicates yourself. Further the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, ” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” In a really pretty letters with lots of loops and curvy lines. I don’t exactly understand how this supports your argument. You quoted the first line of the amendment to support your statement. You may be referring to the word, “respect” which actually means, “to show deferential regard for.” So one can understand the amendment to mean, “Congress shall make no law showing deferential regard for an establishment of religion.” Which doesn’t support your argument. I’m not trying to piss you off and I don’t understand your point well enough to completely disagree. And since this site is all about words, language and in a sense communication I just thought it was relevant to bring these points up.
The First Amendment also has a “free exercise” clause, meaning that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. The “establishment” clause has been interpreted to mean that government (federal, and through the Fourteenth Amendment the state and local governments as well) can’t encourage religion, finance it, favor it, become entangled with it (google the “Lemon test”). The free exercise clause means that people can’t be prohibited from practicing their religion, except that neutral criminal laws can be enforced (e.g. even though Rastafarians smoke pot, pot is still illegal).
It’s rather silly to say that you are not opposed to religion for “recreational” purposes. Nobody uses it for recreation, so you might as well be honest and say you oppose it generally. Also, as far as nobody getting hurt or made to feel excluded, many things in this world hurt and exclude people (such as exclusive clubs, universities with application processes, employers who only hire certain people, etc.) I mean, I wanted to go to Harvard, but they excluded me and I felt hurt by that.
Cosmoline can, I think, be exculded from the list of cosmo related words
as it is a stinky, petroleum goo that is applied to metals to prevent rust.
But, the counter-argument might be that it is a cosmetic for steel to
maintain it’s beauty and prevent it from the natural aging process,
postponing entropy, preserving a desired order. So, is cosmoline a
cosmo word or not?
Cosmodrome, cosmic, cosmology…
What about as a suffix? Do words like Microcosm refer to cosmo in the suffix?
actually i learned something different! cosmos in greek meant order or a crown. The crown meaning, started because the crown was perfectly ordered with feathers. And the universe is referred to as cosmos, because the greeks believed the universe was ordered in “spheres”. Hope you’ll read it
Maybe I’m wrong. and you’ll correct me :p Greets and love, Maxim
Why is a spelling bee called a spelling bee? Why do people get the impression that bees can spell well?
Thanks.
Greetings Marina,
My request is, I would like to know where the phrase (Slept with) comes from. When asked this question, it is not implied that sleeping is what anyone wants to know. It is being implied that two people had sexual interaction with one another.
Very interesting indeed. The night sky is one of my favorite orderly arrangements…
ps. I love your new hair cut.
Hi Marina,
Found your halloween video and am now hooked. I would like to request the word facetious. My mother used that word quite a bit when I was growing up…
Your faithful student
The fifth eliment is where pythagoras was mentioned and I think two eg; might bee : cosmonaught and cosmopolitan.
Love the video’s as always Marina !!
I mean cosmonaut (russian astronaut) or am i mistaken
cosmopolitan is one
Can you explain the days of the week, I get the day part, easy enough, but the mon, tues, wednes (explain the pronunciation of that one?) thurs, fri, satur, sun.
i got two words for u gorgeous. they are hodgepodge and tomfoolery. take care beautiful.
Hey i was wondering were they got the word for bat(the animal)and bat(the baseball bat) and why they use the same word for them?
Gay is a word very commonly used (at least here in America) in referance to homosexual people..Why and when did its meaning get switched from “having a bright mood/being happy” to what it refers to today?? I’m sure that many people would be interested as to where this came from……
In Ragnorak, the end of the world, the men of this earth will carry Marina on a golden throne to rule in heaven above all the cosmos…
hey Marina,
I have Coulrophobia
Do you?
Cosmo people is watching hotforwords mo people is knowing stuff bout’ words, semantics and shit.
Cosmetics is not only associated with beauty, but also with artificiality - superficial beauty, purely aesthetic beauty - nothing like natural beauty.
Anyway, yet another word suggestion:
The word “mandate” appears to be composed of “man” and “date”, is that coincidence?
Yes.
If that is so, then what *is* the origin? What makes the difference in the roots of mandate and man-date?
Because man and date are not the root words of mandate. A root word is what remains after all affixes are removed. The word mandate is composed of two latin words manus (hand) and dare (to give). Mandate is related to the latin words mandare and mandatum. So, the basis of mandate is not simply the english words man and date. Although date does come from the Latin datus and dare. The word man is German in origin. Mandate is not composed of the german, man and latin, date. It is tempting , actually instinctive to separate words as you did into recognizable parts. In linguistics its called morphology. However this can also pose misinterpretations. I leave you with this quote, “If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.” Doug Larson.
Ah, I see. Interesting. Thanks for the explanation
I can’t stop thinking about how absolutely hilarious it would be if Marina did indeed do a video lesson about the word ‘titmouse’. Intelligence is sexy, but so is a sense of humor, and I know our trusty teacher could pull it off, especially with her furry little rodent T.A.. The only question is, would she? Or better yet, is she already one step ahead of us on this?
Either way, I can’t help at this point to wonder as to what indeed makes a titmouse so titular. If only we had some sort of word origin expert nearby…
Marina,
Since you come from Russia, can you tell us about an English word that comes from a Russian word?
And then speak a little Russian in your video? That would be fun.
Действительно чуть-чуть бы русских слов в видео - было б не плохо и для нас и для американцев наука
Sorry что по русски
Sorry, I only speak English and some Japanese!
I just have an interest in other cultures!
gajingirl this comment for you and for Hotforwords. It is Russian - no Japanese
gajingirl i can be your translator, i am russian
Hey, you never offered to be my translator! From now on I’m buzzwordgirl.
Dear Buzzwordgirl,
I really like your boobs, have you had a boob job, I’d like to f*%) you.
Are you really sure you want to be a girl?
sorry I can be for everyone, I didn’t notice that gajingirl was a girl , i don’t read the username…
arghhh …didn’t
Sure hitman, everyone knows monolinguals are weak for bilinguals. Its like having an intimate relationship with two people without any guilt or risk. When bilinguals mingle that’s just kinky.
yeah, hitman, make her show us a pic.
marinas morris’ comment kinda turned me on. I’ve been to my wife’s closet, does anyone want my pics? Visit my site, creepyforwords.
gajingirl, don’t you just hate how a serious comment quickly washes into the gutter?
actually, it’s time to upload a new lesson. this is getting messy. I can’t find shit. :/
No shit, I was just thinking the same thing. Wonder how Marina is going to manage this? Starts out simple enough, but then one ends up spending more time doing work than having fun.
This whole thread just became more confusing than I would have expected…
I think I need a translator for all of it! (Including all of you speaking English….)
Anyway….back to the original subject:
Please. translate Hitman. That would be helpful.
gajingirl i translate but first i apologise because i did’t see the comment, actually i am not a frequent visitor of this page so and notice the request late:
in the first comment of rashpollo he expreses that he want to know the same you want to, an english word with a russian origin and he thinks it would be great for russians and americans.
in the second comments he only writes : Sorry, что по русски which means sorry that’s in russian.
i hope you find the traslation helpful
greetings
hitman
Thanks hitman! That was very helpful! Much appreciated!
I was wondering about guinea pig. They’re not pigs and don’t come from New Guinea. What’s up?
Marina,
could you make a video on the origin of the word gallant, please?
marina,
there was another error message. tell me if you want it.
Cosmo from the Fairly OddParents (Волшебные покровители)
is a word, isn’t it?
The things I learn from watching these videos… Amazing!!!
As a long time fan and newly registered user I would like for you to find out the origins on the word hangover. Every now and then when I suffer from this horrific condition it leaves me wondering its origins.
Your fan Kalev
As you probably know, it’s curently Lent, which ends on Easter Sunday. Traditionally, (and for a reason unknown to me) we celebrate a giant rabbit that hides eggs and goodies for little children. I was wondering if you could find the origin of the Easter Bunny in honor of the upcoming holiday. Also, could you find the link that ties this massive egg hiding rabbit to the resurection of Jesus Christ? I’m really curious to find out where we got this odd tradition.
Your newly devoted fan,
Chrisby280
The mouse was the clue to the homework today…
cosmognosis means the instinct which tells animals when is the right time to migrate and where would be a fitting place to go.
For me it’s now, because it’s snowing here today, so I’m off to Thailand next week.
Tally-Ho! (Now what is the origin of that phrase? I’ve been hunting for it all over
Marina, teacher, my advanced age combined with your beautiful , perfect arangement of adornments will “cause medics” to have to come & restart my heart. Your difficult homework assignment did cause me to have to resort to my arsenal of bad puns. “sorry” is the appropriate Canadian response to the error of my ways. The only “Cosmo-” I can think of for extra credit is Kramer. Cheers
Hope you can understand why I did’t pay close enough attention in the first view of the video. I loved (to strong), liked a lot your “quinta’ essentia” video altho you mention Pythy’ as a greek phillanderer osipher or something I remember him from high school as a Master mathematician, giving us the famaous pythagorean theorem to help us figure out triangles. The only angles I wanted to figure out in High school were how to pass without going to class all the time. enough already.
I actually had a problem with this video until Marina was nice to the mouse at the end of it. LOL It was only trying to be friendly, after all. : )
Seriously, small rodents make great pets and I would particularly recommend having a dwarf hamster as a pet if you like animals. To stereotype a rodent as a pest would be as bad as stereotyping a beautiful woman as a bimbo, but of course, in the end, our teacher being the kindly muse that she is, neither was done by Hot For Words. Kudos. Miniscule mammals everywhere salute you, as do their bigger friends and allies among the human species. My guess is that the mouse was applying for the T.A. position. I wonder if it got it. And I also wonder why that mouse apparently a birdcaller. And yet, it is.
This video was fascinating to me as, until seeing it, I had a misconception on just what the word ‘cosmos’ meant. Orderly arrangement makes a lot of sense, when I was indeed thinking more along the lines of celestial. Speaking of celestial, if I told Marina she had a celestial body, I wonder if she would hold it against me. She definitely has an orderly arrangement! lol That was just a rhetorical question though, and a variation on an old line. My real question to Marina is what the origin of the word ‘celestial’ is, as well as what it’s exact meaning is.
My ‘cosmos’ word is simple, as I am going to cheat a little and use ‘cosmos’ as a suffix. My word is ‘microcosm’, which means a small orderly arrangement, according to our lesson. I like to think of it more as a pocket universe, one of my favorite science fantasy concepts.
And the extra credit answer is… a video I haven’t seen yet. I’ve been catching up and keeping up with my regime of watching older lessons, and do not recall Pythagoras being mentioned in one I have seen, and I’d recall that, as I am just wild about that guy’s theorem.
Now, usually this is where I start my extra blathering on the subject matter, but about all I can say about cosmetics is that I have always noticed that Marina has such amazingly beautiful skin in all her videos. I have been curious for a while how she does it, if it is just good genetics, or good genes plus a little help from some cosmetics and lighting. I actually don’t want to know the answer, but the compliment is way overdue. I may not have been able to find the birthmark (still haven’t), but always liked how porcelain Marina’s skin looks.
On a parting note, the perfectionist in me can’t help but wonder why Marina left a flubbed line in her video, when usually she saves all her bloopers as extra snippets near the end. Apparently, regarding Panacea81’s show, Marina says “It’s a great channel. You should guys check her out.” Come again? I may not be the best visual learner, but I am an aural learner, so that one really threw me for a loop as it stood out like a sore thumb to me. I’ve never noticed any little mistakes like that in her videos before, though I’ve only seen 20 or 25 at this point, and there are 100+ lessons. Then again, maybe Marina is playing subliminal matchmaker and is suggesting “Guys, check her out!”. See how far our trusty teacher goes for her students? Using her word power to hook it up for Panacea81. lol
Thanks for another cool, informative lesson, Marina. And thanks for being kind to that mouse in the end! I knew he was a good little guy all along.
I don’t believe it is technically incorrect the way Marina wrote it. Plus, when one is speaking one does not always follow the conventions of the written word.
I think that better usage would have been, “guys, you should check her out,” or “you should check her out, guys.” I would say even better would simply be, “check her out,” or “you should check her out.” The use of the word “guys” is unnecessary. Strunk & White’ say, “omit needless words.”
Marina, if you want an easy guide to practical English writing, start with Strunk & White’s “Element’s of Style.” http://www.bartleby.com/141/
Actually, my curiosity was over why Marina deliberately left it in instead of making it a blooper clip as she often does. I assumed she did catch it all along and kept it in for a reason, only I was wondering why she took a pass on her usual protocol of making a blooper clip out of such cute little flubs.
Thing is, I was missing the fact that her line is indeed not flubbed, and that ‘You should, guys, check her out’ is totally acceptable. English is my first language, and you are not wrong, Marina. That was a totally valid line of dialogue for your video. And I still think it’s slightly subliminal in an unintended way. My bad for not seeing how the line could be read that way and still be grammatically correct. Proves that your Magic:The Gathering card is right… you are a master philologist!
Marina, you speak excellent English, and a lot of us have benefited from your use of it. My apologies if I inadvertently implied that you were not eloquent in your use of our language (myself being an American in California), as you most definitely do have a silver tongue even when not using your native tongue. Plus almost every friend I’ve ever shared one of your videos with thinks your Russian accent is way hot. Just one of the many ways you make people hot for words. lol
On a side note, while we’re on the topic of your Russian background, I worked years back with this producer that had one of the craziest last names I ever heard: Afanasieff. He said it was of Russian descent. Have you ever heard of such a name? And if so, does it have a meaning or translation in English? Just curious, as I know this is Hot For Words, and not Hot For Names. But it was worth asking, since you might indeed know the answer since you are actually from Russia.
And on a final note, was my answer of the word ‘microcosm’ as this lesson’s homework valid or was it cheating? In other words, when you assign a word that is a prefix like ‘cosmo’ to be the basis of words we must think up for our homework, does that mean that it must be used only as a prefix for the ‘homework words’? I took your prefix and used it as a suffix because I assumed you weren’t being that literal, and because I could get away with doing such with a word like ‘cosmos’. But were you being literal about the prefix thing? Did I misinterpret?
Thanks for clarifying the whole faux flub thing, my trusty teacher. I look forward to your next lesson, be it blooper-free or otherwise.
Your friendly student, Errin : )
Linguist consider speech as primary and writing as secondary. A few reasons. Writing is a latter historical development than spoken language. Writing does not exist everywhere that spoken language exists. Writing must be taught, whereas spoken language is acquired automatically. Neurolinguistic evidence demonstrates that the processing and production of written language is overlaid on the spoken language centers of the brain. The way we speak is the way we think and thus more revealing to linguists and anthropologists.
consider deafmutes.
also, consider people who grew up with no language “input”. like the story of that girl that was sort of imprisoned in a basement for about 13 years without anyone talking to her. they just gave her food. sad. well, she got rescued, but she never learned to talk.
so … how does that fit in? you wouldn’t want to say that deafmutes and the girl are unable to think, right?
Not only do they not think, I don’t consider them to be human. Otherwise my, “The way we speak is the way we think.” comment would be wrong. Besides, who are you to speak for the deafmutes?
I’m not speaking for anybody.
so. am I gonna get an answer? because that speech/thinking thing was really, really deep. I’d like to hear more platitudes.
Yea, I get so deep I generally drown. What I was thinking when I wrote that part of the post was interviewing subjects actually. I do audio recordings for a very small museum, among other things. So the audio is always much more revealing in the way we relate ideas, hesitate, change subjects, etc. I could have people fill out questions on paper but the communication undergoes a transformation. Not that speech doesn’t change depending on contexts. But speech is a more immediate response to inquiry and possibly less influenced by rules of grammar, spelling and so on. Although there are always variables to take into consideration during a speech performance. I was thinking of think in the terms of, “So, what do you think?” rather than the underlying structure of human thought kind of think. God there are a lot of bad platitudes and attitudes around here! You did make me think about language acquisition as did your comment about babies minding their b’s and p’s. You know the apes that have learned sign language and how they teach to each other and their offspring? There seems to be a limit to how much they can learn. Well they measure their vocabulary and compare it to a age level in humans. This could get lengthy, not deep, just lengthy. I’ll keep it short. Language development in early humans was the catalyst for the development of culture in human society. I’ve been interested in comparing speech development in apes and humans to find the moment during infant development, human evolution that results in well the success of human culture. Is there a gene, a period of brain structuring, what is it? Why if it doesn’t happen at a certain time is it lost or severely restricted? What is human thought without language, what is primate thought with language? Short, got to keep it short!
Buzz,
Not wishing to hold your head under whilst you’re in the deep end, but the above begs a question… Since language is the primary form of communication and is concerned with speech (from the Latin “lingua” the tongue) does that make the expression “sign language” an oxymoron?
Or did sign language develop before speech and is therefore the primary form? Or is sign language a subdivision of body language which would then be the primary form?
Maybe some inventive minds in here could come up with some creative word to replace “sign language” & “body language”. Manuage? Corpuage? (My spell checker is going crazy!
Body language existed before speech in early humans. They were probably using their hands in some way to convey meaning. Some researches have thought that speech may have developed along these types of gesturing, perhaps to add influence. As humans became more able to manipulate sound the vocal communications replaced gesturing. You bring up a good point. The brain in producing vocalization and body language uses basic motor skills. However, and this is my guess, vocalization is a means of communication that best matches the speed by which we humans think and thus overlays our thought process’ more effectively. Which would make it the primary form.
alx,
Here is a alink to a radio show about the how the brain produces “self”. It highlights the concept of self as a narrative recorded by the brain. Thought it may interest your philosophical inclinations. The show is an hour long. The other programs produced by wnyc radiolab may be of interest to you as well.
damn! http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2005/0 2/04
buzzword,
yes, you’re right. I took the more theoretical approach. actually, it kinda bothers me because at university, well, it’s all just about theories. which can be annoying. this is how I came to
hateloathedislike philosophy. another reason why I like wittgenstein.so, thanks for clearing that up. as for the apes. I never really took interest in that. mainly, I guess, because I heard or read that they never succeeded in teaching them language or communication with humans. maybe I’m wrong. where I live, in leipzig, we have the max planck institute of evolutionary anthropology. I’ll see if they got some resources online.
thanks for the link, appreciate it, definitely going to check them out.
marinas morris,
no, it does not make it an oxymoron. language is what distinguishes us humans from every other live form on this planet (this does not mean we’re “the superior life form” here). because it has features that no other kind of communication has. e.g. recursivity, or the ability to express, and work with, “time” and time-related things.
sign language has these features as well, so it is a real language. unlike those bee dances or whatever they call it. that’s different.
er… “it” … fuck it … :/
Chiming in where, I’m sure, my chimes are not wanted:
I agree with Marinas Morris, the word “sign language” is not an oxymoron.
Buzzword - language (meaning, speech) is arguably not the “primary” means of communication. It is certainly “a” means of communication, however, we communicate a tremendous amount of information non-verbally (body language/expressions, signs/signals, and even smells). Demosthenes was asked what part of oratory was most important and he answered “action.”
Even if you were correct, it would not be because the word “language” is based on the Latin “lingua.” People spoke for tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of years before anyone spoke Latin. The Romans chose the word “lingua” because they spoke with their mouths and tongues, they didn’t speak with their mouths and tongues because they used the word “lingua” meaning tongue. Verbal communication came before written communication, so the words referencing speech was transferred to the written word as well, for obvious reasons.
I agree and disagree with Marinas Morris that language is what distinguishes us from every other life form on the planet. We are simply a step along the evolutionary path in that regard. Other animals have language ability, albeit more rudimentary (primates, dolphins, whales, etc.). A bonobo chimp was taught a vocabulary of 200 words and it could construct sentences.
prospero,
I guess it is me you agree and disagree with …
well … okay, it depends on your definition of “language”. I use “language” in the sense of “human language”, that is “human communication”. our type of cummincation has, as mentioned above, certain features. recursivity amongst others. that means, applying a structur to itself.
“mary wanted to leave.” “tom said that mary wanted to leave.” “paul said that tom said that mary wanted to leave.” etc. ad infinitum.
expressing time-related things.
“I was hurt.” “I’ve been watching.” “I’ll beat you up.” “I found this yesterday.”
you won’t find things like this in animal communication.
animals do communicate, yes. but their communcation systems just don’t have certain features.
other life forms are not
WARGH!
ignore the last phrase. man, dude, I’m screwing up all my posts today.
and it’s “structure” … I give up … I need more coffee.
oh, another thing. we can “play” with language.
a while ago, I watched this movie, “death at a funeral”. pretty good movie. anyway, I recommended this movie to a friend of mine, wrote down the movie’s title. and just then I realized that “funeral” is an anagram to “real fun”. wtf?
Now, I’m confused with who thinks who is right or wrong. Actually I know I’m right so it doesn’t really matter anyway.
Wittgenstein, its been some time since my philo. class and that was a 101, was he the one that said talking about things that didn’t exist in reality screwed up philosophical arguments?
Regarding primate sign language, the opinions are divided. The most famous signing primate is KoKo. In my opinion this particular project is strongly biased and the research methods and data prone to manipulation and broad interpretation. My interest in the primates is that they represent our closest relatives and offer an opportunity to understand what separates us from them and how and why that separation occurred. Language being so unique to humans and central to the success of both cultural and evolutionary adaptations is key to this understanding.
wittgenstein was the one that said that philosophical problems are language problems.
okay, I just checked out this transcript of an aol chat with koko.
maybe I’m just being immature, but I had to laugh so hard …
“[...]
PENNY: We’re going to be on the phone with a lot of people who are going to ask us questions…
KOKO: Nipple. (Koko sometimes uses ‘nipple’ as a ’sounds like’ for ‘people.’)
[...]
PENNY: Koko, do you like to talk to people?
KOKO: Fine nipple.
[...]
PENNY: OK. Your birthday is coming up, Koko. What do you want for your birthday? What do you want?
KOKO: Birthday… Food smokes.”
lol.
I really started something here with my facetious remark about sign language being an oxymoron, didn’t I? (Thank you all for your responses.)
Prospero saw through it in his chime language about the Romans choosing lingua BECAUSE they spoke with their tongues and not using their tongues because it was called Language.
Alx is right in saying that it depends on your definition of Language. I had always thought of Language as a means of communicating Information and in this respect some animals have Language in that they are able to communicate when hunting in packs, for example.
Some-one else said (can’t remember who as I can’t find it again) that Language is a means of communicating thoughts; this seems to me to be rather elitist - Intellectuals use Language because they think about Ideas; lesser mortals use speech because they react to events which have happened to them; the “Plebs” use Orwell’s Duck-speak to gossip about other people because they don’t think and are too boring to have anything interesting happen to them.
And finally, those people who post remarks about Marina’s female attributes are using KOKO-speak.
But I digress: To help me make some sense out of the above replies to my original question, can anyone explain the difference between recursivity and recursion? And please do it without being recursive
And what do people think about the question of whether or not animals can think (albeit at a very basic level)?
For example, I could ask my dog “where is your ball?”
Her first reaction was to look down at her fore-feet. No ball.
Then she would look round to each side and then behind her. Still no ball.
Next she would cock her head to one side and pause for a few moments, and then rush off to the spot in the garden where she had left the ball the last time we had played with it together.
Was she thinking, using memory, reasoning? what?
Looking forward to reading your thoughts,
Bob
Member of M.A.S.
Founder of S.A.M
(recursive acronyms? Backronyms? Not really.)
I had a hamster once. My dog ate it.
…kidding -
my dogs love hamsters.
I had a dog once. My hamster ate it.
LOL!
I had a banana once. I ate it.
In the style of the lovely Marina:
“Hello, my dear students. I’m back, your trusty Hot For Words, with another lesson.” Marina flashes big blue eyes, flips a handful of silky, golden hair, and smiles devilishly at the camera.
“Quiet down in the back!” Marina playfully scolds her students, who by now are at full attention.
[cue Intelligence is Sexy video clip]
“The word of the day is, ‘hamster.’ Most of us have had these cute little rodents, who resemble but are far cuter than Arnold the double-entendre titmouse. But a hamster is not a pig, and it is not used to make hamburgers. So, where did we get the name ‘hamster’ anyway? You’re trusty Hot For Words … decided …. to investigate.”
[cue Hot For Words Investigates video clip]
Marina gazes into the camera and smiles again. The camera tilts a little for a few tantalizing glimpses of Marina as she flirts with the camera, another hair flip, eyes flash back and forth.
“O.k. A ‘hamster’ is any of several short-tailed, stout-bodied, burrowing rodents, known as Cricetus cricetus, of Europe and Asia, having large cheek pouches. We’ve all seen these cute little furry rodents, if not had one as a pet.”
[Arnold runs across the screen again, bouncing in front of Marina, who chases him away. "Go away!" She says, and shooshes him away with her pencil]
“The word ‘hamster’ comes to us from the old high German ‘hamastro’ or old Slavic ‘hamustro’ which meant ‘weevil.’ Some people have thought that perhaps it is a blend of the Russian word “chomiak” and Lithuanian “staras,” both meaning “hamster.” The older English name for this animal was German rat. So, in the old days, your dog would not have eaten your hamster, but rather your weevil or your rat!”
“There you go. Another mystery solved by your trusty, Hot For Words.” Marina touches her face and hair seductively, and rolls her gorgeous blue eyes playfully.
“And now, for your homework, can you think of any other animals that have names that contain foods, like ham, but are not really used for food? If you can, please write them in the comments below. And, remember to rate my video so I know how I am doing. Oh, and subscribe to my channel, if you haven’t already. Buh bye!” Marina waves a slender hand at the camera daintily, and bats her baby blues one more time for good measure.
[cue ending sequence]
There - I haven’t submitted a T.A. application yet, but I really think I should be allowed to direct one of Marina’s videos. I’d like to pick out the outfit too. Oh, Marina, it’s only fair to warn you that I might have to make you try on many different outfits, just to make sure that the one you wear in the video will fit properly. So, it might take a while…
I had a apple once. I ate it.
I had a vegetarian once, my hamster ate it.
I had a hamster once. Yea, I ate it. Life is good at the top of the food chain, yummy yum yum!
Guinea Pigs are a delicacy in some parts of South America but are beyond the pockets of most residents as they cost One Pound and One Shilling each.
Bob
Member of M.A.S.
Founder of S.A.M
Interesting. I think I may need to contemplate shortening my comment lengths, as they seem to be infectious. Then again, I take no credit for my fellow students’ loquacity, as I see I am not alone when it comes to raconteuring. Just I better not be accused of making too much noise, or Marina may sic her mousy T.A. upon me!
I’ll just be short and re-iterate that I never meant to ‘knock’ our trusty teacher for her improvised line (the one I thought was flubbed). Such bloopers (real or imagined) as flubbed lines are simply a slip of the tongue, and can happen whether you are speaking your first language, your second language, or any other language thereafter.
Marina is a very intelligent woman whose videos and website I enjoy because she is so knowledgible and talented, teaching a school of word origin study that she is deft in but others are ignorant of. I do not listen to her to play ‘gotcha’ and put her down. I listen to her to learn, and also enjoy the artistic side of her videos as inspiration. Some lust after beauty, I lust after inspiration in whatever form I can find it, and what a lovely form I happen to have found here at HotForWords. One doesn’t have to request the word ‘muse’ from Marina because she is that word brought to life and put on internet video. Not every woman as pretty as Marina can outshine her physicality with her personality. Have I established yet that I am indeed a respectful student and not a heckler of woman deserving of respect?
I better go now so I can keep this relatively short… lol
Heckle a woman deserving of respect? I will, I will!
Hey Marina, your such a linguistics nerd you deciphered the organizational structure behind Ikea product names before you got to the linens department.
There is an actual organizational structure to Ikea products.
Hey Hot For Words,
I was wondering if you could do a lesson on the word, “synesthesia.” Does it come from the same place as the words, “synthetic,” “amnesia,” and/or “anesthesia?”
uncopywritable
Marina, where does the word “eschew” come from?
“Gesundheit” fadeintoyou77. Oh bad
Greetings from Iceland
I have a good word for you…
Viking
Hey father_ bob, HFW melted your ice caps yet? Sorry ’bout that. Check out HFW lesson on the word spam. The unclean Vikings are mentioned there, oh but you probably know that already. Great to see the world wide appeal of this website & are you a catholic priest or a proud Pa Pa LOL? Cheers
are you a condom or a william?
Another good word with the Prefix, Cosm- is Cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole.
Other words are: Cosmochemistry, Cosmogenic, Cosmogony, Cosmography, Cosmonaut, Cosmopolis, and Cosmopolite.
Hello Marina!
I would like to request a word ———-> Where did the phrase analretenive come from? I am hoping my trusty hotforwords teacher can investagate. Thank You!!!
-A trusty Miley Cyrus Fan
Hello Marina
I would like to know were the pharse analretentive came from.
Unfortunate misspelling of phrase there, i’d say- given the context
Anal retentive:
1. Having an anal character.
2. A person who is anal retentive.
3. A stage in psychosexual development when the child’s interest is concentrated on the anal region; fixation at this stage is said to result in orderliness, meanness, stubbornness, compulsiveness, etc.
4. Anti-F-Bomber!
Very interesting that you show your fake breasts in each video. I was wondering were you a stripper before? You wear such serious stripper tops. You should do a word on strippers.
flame bait, flame bait … and I’m feeding the trolls … :/
We’ve explored this topic ad-nauseum here “money_investor_usa” -
Perhaps you could be more original with you’re flames before we unleash the serious “retardent”.
Well money_investor_usa I think Marina’s fake breats look as nice as mine. Your clearly jealous.
Oh, by the way, sidnie, feel free to post a link to an image….
If yours are as nice as Marina’s, then some of us out here would be quite pleased and grateful….. 
It is a sign of your sexual immaturity, money-investor, that you equate Marina’s feminism with being a stripper, not that stripping is anything negative or wrong, as that too involves feminine self empowerment. Any mature adult would not take issue with Marina’s clothing or the way she presents her chest, or look down upon women who strip for a living. A woman’s body is hers to do what she wishes with it. Welcome to the 21st century, dope.
Let’s see, dude… you got no game when it comes to women, and you think of strippers. Maybe you are some money investor clod who needs to use money to be around beautiful women. How sad… there is nothing your money can get from a woman that words can’t too. You paid for what other guys got for free, chump. And you think your the man? LOL You aren’t even a worthy of being called a boy, loser.
What’s the matter? You don’t like girls?
Marina looks darn good to me. And you never actually see any more of her breasts than one would in a low cut formal dress or a bathing suit. Typically she is fully covered.
The whole point of this website is that Marina is a hot girl who is hot for words, and who promotes the idea that intelligence is sexy. So, wouldn’t you expect her to be and dress appealingly? Would you rather she appear frumpy and wear winter coats?
So, who are voting for in the Republican Primary?
FTW - LMAO
Pythagoras WAS IN THE FIFTH ELEMENT VIDEO, Quintessential. LOVELY VIDEO AS ALWAYS Marina. I love Arnold btw
Dear Marina,
I do goober on your site! I would like to request a word of philatelist and titllate. I wonder what they mean? Hope our trusty hotforwords can solve this request!!
-A miley fan
Dearest Professor -
I would like to request the words philatelist and titillate. Both mostly because they sound inappropriate to use in mixed company.
Your Beauty puts Helen of Troy to shame. You would have launched 100,000 ships.
Your humble student.
G
Hi Marina,
Great video - you look great.
The homework was to think of other words that start with the prefix “cosmo” but where that prefix has different meanings. O.k., my guesses are: cosmopolis (a city of the world), cosmopolitan (having to do with the city), cosmotron (proton accelerator), and cosmocampus (kind of fish).
Eric
P.S. What’s up with that mouse? Is it a titmouse?
A titmouse is a bird. But now that you mention it, it does sound like a bird.
Yes, I know a titmouse is a bird.
I was trying to be funny. Apparently, I failed miserably.
Prospero - I did think your comment was kinda funny. I apologize for the weak attempt to be funny back. Trust Miranda is doing well.
I don’t know why they call it a titmouse, and I won’t step on your etymological toes. But I was surprised to learn through a quick search that the word “tit” itself is a synonym for “titmouse.”
With goober’s suggestion of “titillate” below, this could get ugly. Is the mouse a titmouse? Is he a titman? He certainly seems to be (a “titman” is the runt of a litter, strangely enough). Funny, though, I’ve been called a titman, although I’m over 6 feet and 200 pounds….must be a different context…:lol:
…. while not uproariously funny, all this tit talk might make one titter….
Prospero811 - In a tit for tat response to your titled remark above, I will titer my titter about the titlark.
Tootle.
G
Goober,
You say titlark, I say titmouse. All this tit-for-tat is getting us nowhere, just like a titter-totter. But, it is about as fun as a barrel of titis, that’s for sure. As luck would have it, a “titi” is a kind of monkey…. probably from near Lake Titicaca).
Well, it might be time to tittivate this conversation at least a tittle, before someone tittle-tattles Marina, the titular Hot For Words, on us.
Maybe that titmouse will just tittup away.
Tata!
Eric
Cosmo Kramer is a word beginning with Cosmo. Well, it’s actually a name. And I think he may have spelled it with a K (Kosmo). OK, so I guess I better come up with a different word beginning with cosmo… How about cosmonaut.
I love the mouse. lol.