AILUROPHILE
- Dr. Goodword
- Site Admin
- Posts: 7644
- Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
- Location: Lewisburg, PA
- Contact:
AILUROPHILE
• ailurophile •
Pronunciation: ê-lur-ê-fayl • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A cat-lover, a fancier of cats.
Notes: It is amazing that in a land of so many ailurophiles, today's Good Word is used so rarely. Cat-lover and cat-fancier are ambiguous and hence misleading. Today's word is precise and specific. If you don't like cats or are afraid of them, you are an ailurophobe. The adjective is ailurophilic and the love of cats is ailurophilia.
In Play: This Good Word refers specifically to cat cats, not loose or spiteful women, or cool jazz musicians. That doesn't mean we cannot use it playfully: "Well, I find her a bit catty and I'm not an ailurophile." Of course, dogs tend to be ailurophiles in the strictest sense. However, if you dog runs away from cats, he suffers from ailurophobia.
Word History: Today's Good Word first appeared in print around 1927. This means that a recent English-speaker connected Greek ailur-os "house cat" and phil-os "friendly, fond of" with an [o] and slipped it into English. Not much is known of the origin of ailuros but the compounding element phil- "love" was used widely by the Greeks, providing us a gold mine to borrow from. So, we have dendrophiles, the polite form for "tree-hugger", cheese-loving turophiles, wine-loving oenophiles, and many, many others. Of course, here in Pennsylvania we have Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.
Pronunciation: ê-lur-ê-fayl • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A cat-lover, a fancier of cats.
Notes: It is amazing that in a land of so many ailurophiles, today's Good Word is used so rarely. Cat-lover and cat-fancier are ambiguous and hence misleading. Today's word is precise and specific. If you don't like cats or are afraid of them, you are an ailurophobe. The adjective is ailurophilic and the love of cats is ailurophilia.
In Play: This Good Word refers specifically to cat cats, not loose or spiteful women, or cool jazz musicians. That doesn't mean we cannot use it playfully: "Well, I find her a bit catty and I'm not an ailurophile." Of course, dogs tend to be ailurophiles in the strictest sense. However, if you dog runs away from cats, he suffers from ailurophobia.
Word History: Today's Good Word first appeared in print around 1927. This means that a recent English-speaker connected Greek ailur-os "house cat" and phil-os "friendly, fond of" with an [o] and slipped it into English. Not much is known of the origin of ailuros but the compounding element phil- "love" was used widely by the Greeks, providing us a gold mine to borrow from. So, we have dendrophiles, the polite form for "tree-hugger", cheese-loving turophiles, wine-loving oenophiles, and many, many others. Of course, here in Pennsylvania we have Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.
• The Good Dr. Goodword
Re: AILUROPHILE
OOoooh, that's what it means. I always wondered what Ptolemic sister-marrying king has to do with that city.Of course, here in Pennsylvania we have Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.
Flam, a decidedly ailurophilic anadelphe.
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1464
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Botucatu - SP Brazil
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1464
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Botucatu - SP Brazil
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:24 am
- Location: Stockholm, SVERIGE
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1464
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Botucatu - SP Brazil
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:24 am
- Location: Stockholm, SVERIGE
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1464
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Botucatu - SP Brazil
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:24 am
- Location: Stockholm, SVERIGE
Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné (1626 - 1696) was one of the central figures in the creation of the institution of the salon (not saloon !), which by some is thought to have been instrumental in the development of the Enlightenment. Thus, those comments with regard to chocolate have perhaps an import greater than that which is evident at first glance....
Henri
Henri
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?
"When I step into this library, I cannot understand why I ever step out of it."
Thanks, Henri. And what is she pointing to in all those variations on the same portrait? She is telling her cat to get down from the chocolates.
-gailr
Thanks, Henri. And what is she pointing to in all those variations on the same portrait? She is telling her cat to get down from the chocolates.
-gailr
-
- Great Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 2578
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:56 pm
- Location: Crownsville, MD
The converse is:
The Bird Lover
Keep you cat inside your house,
And I'll stroke his fur and give him a mouse,
But let him loose on my feeding birds
And I'll beat out of him whey and curds.
If into an ornithophile you probe
You'll rouse the sleeping aelurophobe.
Ogden Nash, The Old Dog Barks Backwards
Last edited by Stargzer on Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:24 am
- Location: Stockholm, SVERIGE
Dinosaurs and mammals - they're still at it (but watch out for that extra «d» on «an» !...
Henri
PS : Gailr, I found that painting so attractive, I was unable to keep from attempting to reproduce it. Your interpretation of the pointing finger may very well be correct, but one wonders then why her head is turned away ; to me it is more like she's saying to some one else, «Look what that bloody cat is doing now on my fine chocolates !» In that case, I do hope that the Marquise de Sévigné, in addition to her literary talents, was good at distinguishing chocolates from cat....
Henri
PS : Gailr, I found that painting so attractive, I was unable to keep from attempting to reproduce it. Your interpretation of the pointing finger may very well be correct, but one wonders then why her head is turned away ; to me it is more like she's saying to some one else, «Look what that bloody cat is doing now on my fine chocolates !» In that case, I do hope that the Marquise de Sévigné, in addition to her literary talents, was good at distinguishing chocolates from cat....
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?
Return to “Good Word Discussion”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Bing [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Semrush [Bot] and 1 guest