Qualm

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Dr. Goodword
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Qualm

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:13 pm

• qualm •

Pronunciation: kwahlm • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A misgiving, a doubt or reservation. 2. A scruple of conscience about whether one's actions are right. 3. A sudden feeling of nausea or faintness.

Notes: I have no qualms in reporting that the meaning of this word seems unstable. Over the course of its history it reflected a softening of its definition from "death" to "a mild pang of conscience". It brings with it two adjectives: qualmish and qualmy, each with an abstract noun: qualmishness and qualminess. We also have the negative qualmless at our disposal. It may also be used as a verb meaning "to have qualms".

In Play: The meaning of today's Good Word has undergone major softening. We now use this word in its mildest sense in its history: "I would have no qualms posting a chore list at any large gathering of my family." Of course, qualms still come in a range of strengths: "Candi Storr had qualms about taking the baby's candy, but she managed to overcome them."

Word History: Today's Good Word can be traced back to Old English cuelm "death", a cognate of Old Saxon qualm "death". It is akin to quell, which also originally meant "to kill, "to torture", again, from Old Saxon quellian. We know that it comes from Proto-Germanic word, but we cannot take the etymology back any further than this. From "(violent) death" the word's meaning slid to "torture", then simply to "torment", as we seen in Icelandic kvelja "torture, torment". In Danish kvalme "nausea" and Swedish kvälja "to nauseate", we see the word becoming even milder. The senses of today's English word and Modern German quälen "to worry" are at the end of the semantic slide from the original sense. (I have no qualms at all in thanking William Hupy for suggesting today's semantically interesting Good Word.)
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Eileen Opiolka
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Re: Qualm

Postby Eileen Opiolka » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:52 am

I was interested to see an "l" in the pronunciation of qualm. I would pronounce it kwa:m or kwɔ:m, like pa:m, ka:m and sa:mon . Is the "l" standard US pronunciation? The pronunciation interests me, because I teach English and always point out GB/US differences where I can.
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Re: Qualm

Postby damoge » Mon Apr 14, 2014 2:09 pm

All I can attest to, is that I say it with a soft but audible "l".
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Re: Qualm

Postby Slava » Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:42 pm

Monty Python's "Life of Brian" comes to mind. When the Magi mistakenly go to Brian's birth site, the mother thinks the balm they are bringing is a bomb and chases them out.
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Re: Qualm

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:35 pm

The Pythons squeeze all possible meanings out of words.

In LOuisiana I hear those words pronounced every imaginable way. I tend to add the l sound in most of them most of the time. When you compare qualm to palm, I nod in agreement, because I pronounce the l in both. I'm in redneck, not Cajun, country, and NOLA is a whole different world. What's your location? Eileen?
pl

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Slava
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Re: Qualm

Postby Slava » Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:08 pm

Location, or origin, or...? Born in Nashville of parents from Camden and Providence, what does that make my English?
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Re: Qualm

Postby Philip Hudson » Wed Apr 16, 2014 2:38 am

Slava: If you grew up and still lived in Nashville, I gurantee you would talk almost pure Appalachian English just like everyone else in Nashville. Since you have been around, I have no idea what type of English you speak. Phone me and I will tell you.

Eilene: In the USA South the "l" that may be silent in other parts of the English speaking world is usually voiced, either boldly or lightly. Everybody I know in Texas says qualm, and palm. Salmon is pronounced sa:mon by some of us. This does not obtain uinversally across the USA.
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Re: Qualm

Postby Eileen Opiolka » Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:01 am

Many thanks for all the interesting comments. I grew up and now live again in Scotland, but lived in Germany for many decades. A wonderful part of the UK here, and if anyone is on a Scottish tour I'd love to meet them.
Eileen

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Re: Qualm

Postby William Hupy » Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:26 am

Perry and Eileen: I will be in NOLA in a couple of weeks for Jazz Fest. My daughter and two grandchildren live there. Eileen, I bicycled the End to End in 2004 with a couple of friends, that is, from Lands End, England to John O'Groats, Scotland - 1,100 miles. I must say how impressed I was with the Scottish people. So affable, so polite and amazingly they seemed to love our American accents. We traveled remote stretches of that beautiful, cold and wet land.
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Re: Qualm

Postby Perry Lassiter » Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:23 pm

Ask your daughter if she knows anyone with the old N O accent. It's been compared to Bookkynese, but it's more subtle. However, when I hear it, I know the speaker is native or a long term resident.
pl

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Re: Qualm

Postby William Hupy » Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:58 am

I will do that.
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