Naughty

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Dr. Goodword
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Naughty

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Aug 23, 2014 11:01 pm

• naughty •

Pronunciation: naw-dee • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Slightly morally bad, forgivably bad, misbehaving.

Notes: Naughty refers today only to breaking rules and is used mostly in referring to children who misbehave. It also occurs humorously, as eating ice cream might be naughty if you are on a diet. Criminals are far, far worse than naughty. You may still compare this word the old-fashioned way: naughtier and naughtiest. Notice you change the Y to I, as you do in creating the noun, naughtiness.

In Play: Today's Good Word is a substitute for bad when you are joking: "Grace, you are a naughty girl: you are supposed to be on a diet yet here are two—count them, two—quarts of chocolate fudge ice cream in your freezer." A serious message may be hidden in this word, though: "You naughty boys shouldn't go to that nice, new restaurant without taking your wives along."

Word History: Today's Good Word originally referred to anything bad: naughty water, naughty food, naughty weather. As bad and evil assumed these meanings, its sense was attenuated. It comes from naught "nothing", which was nawiht in Old English. Nawiht is composed of na "no" + wiht "thing". Na is a variant of no. Wiht went on to become whit, as in not to care a whit (small amount) for something. The same compound in Old German was niwiht, which evolved into Modern German nichts "nothing". How is nichts pronounced? Well, very much like nix, the English copy of nichts that has been rattling around English since the end of the 19th century. (Chuck Lee would have been naughty had he kept today's Good Word all to himself, so we have to thank him for pointing out its good qualities.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

LukeJavan8
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Re: Naughty

Postby LukeJavan8 » Mon Aug 25, 2014 12:56 pm

I sort of hesitate to ask this, because it has probably been
explained before many, many times.
I know it is also probably PIE, but what is the 'gh'
that appears so often in English:
night, right, flight, naughty, laugh, etc.?
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

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Slava
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Re: Naughty

Postby Slava » Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:06 pm

Nope, it does not appear to be PIE. I admit I cheated and looked it up, as I had no clue, either. Here's what the Wonderful World of Wikipedia has to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gh_%28digraph%29.

Hope that helps.
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LukeJavan8
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Re: Naughty

Postby LukeJavan8 » Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:37 pm

That is a bucket full to absorb, and just goes to show what
a linguist must be to have even an inkling into what makes
a language. I will make some effort to absorb some of it
I promise and thanks for taking the time to look it up when
I suppose I could have done so myself. Just cannot get the
hang of the fact that anything is available on computer if
one just takes the time. But it helps to know where to look
as well.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

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Re: Naughty

Postby Perry Lassiter » Wed Aug 27, 2014 2:44 pm

In some contexts, naughty has sexual innuendos. "Many of the strip joints on Bourbon Street occasionally open their doors to give tourists naughty glimpses of the qction inside." In defense of that same street, many bars and clubs are open to passers-by, so you can listen to great jazz without even coming in and with no naughty glimpses.

In another direction, I've noted that nicht is pronounced differently in various parts of Germany. Either "nickts" or "nisht." I think the latter is in the south. Reminds me of my Londoner roommate in seminary and a British head nurse where I worked at the time who pronounced "schedule" as shedule.
pl

LukeJavan8
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Re: Naughty

Postby LukeJavan8 » Wed Aug 27, 2014 4:43 pm

I have often heard shedule, especially of Brits or
British TV programmng.
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Re: Naughty

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:18 am

Then there was the Naughty Lady of Shady Lane. Listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzJDY-DlO3A .
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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Re: Naughty

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Aug 30, 2014 12:17 pm

An oldie but a goodie. Thanks for the memory.
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