Pass the Kleenex

catchan

It's sort of like "gotcha", but it means catching something before it has a chance to happen.

The verb form is similar but without the n on the end.

You can for example; catcha falling star and put it in your pocket, thus stopping it before it hits the ground or burns up in the atmosphere.

Note also that the word sounds similar to cachoo, making it close to something I can't really remember what it's called or even spell what I think it's called -- onomonopia? --- anyway -- a word intended to sound like something -- examples, "chirp" and "bark".

Roger,

boy, that sounds like a catchascatchcan analysis. catcha falling star?? putit in
yer pocket.

by the way, the naming of a thing by vocal
imitatation of the sound associated with it
is onomatopoeia.... why isn't it spelled the way it sounds?!

I just have to play devil's advocate here. "catchascatchcan analysis"???? probably not.

BTW: Did you see the movie?

okay, continuing in our "dualing" devil roles, which movie? The Devil? The Devils?
The Devil's Advocate? Duel?? Catch? Cha-Cha?? Cache? let's see... does that catchme up with question marks???

I forget, did you say coocoocachoo?

There was a movie entitled; Devil's Advocate or The Devil's Advocate. It was about a lawyer who worked for the devil and eventually replaced him. Interesting special effects.

This may be too general, but used in context, "nasal tickle" would work. I was hoping to find a medical term, but came up empty.

.... but came up empty.

That reminds me of someone trying to start a car when it's out of gas. You know, it goes errreeeerrrrrreere but doesn't start. Same thing if it's too cold.

If there's a word for that, it would probably be a good hint for the word we're looking for.

I am wondering why no one has mentioned 'ahhhh tchoo' at this point. Why do people say that word when they sneeze? Why is it called a sneeze and not an ahhh tchoo or why don't we say sneeze when we are sneezing? Maybe a sneeze stopped short should be called and ahhht... or a tchoo.

If you felt like you were going to sneeze, you would be feeling sneezy. We could call the feeling sneeziness. If you couldn't sneeze you would be experiencing sneezelessness. Either way, God bless you.

"Feeling sneezy" is pretty good, but it still takes two words to describe the sensation. I suggest "snizzle", combining "sneeze" and "sizzle".

Don't stifle yourself Edith, it's hard on your face

Speaking of Kleenex, there should be a word for trade names that become a generally used expression for a product (Kleenex, Kool-Aid, Q-tip etc.).

"Generification" describes the process, not the brands. How about "brandle"? "Brand" and "handle". Not too good...

There is a little known story behind the word we're looking for. You have to understand how languages develop through time and the influence of different language systems.

The word we're looking for developed differently in isolation in two different areas of the world and then came together as the world became smaller (so to speak).

In one region, people coupled the sound together with something they saw displayed when a person held back a sneeze. They noticed that when someone did so, their cheeks would bulge forming the shape of a dome.

Based on that observation, the myth eventually arose that sneezing is how arches are formed. A worker is placed under a stone wall and caused to sneeze. The story was especially funny when the person telling it said "arch" at the end as though sneezing, or almost sneezing with the sound muffled by a pile of stones on their face. Note that "arch" is a short form of "archoo", making it a perfect word for a sneeze that doesn't quite come.

There are many words whose origin goes back to how something sounds. The beginning of the history of the development of a word in another region was simply that people noticed;

aaahhh .... aaaAAAHH .... AAAAAH!

It was shortened at times for the little ones, and the effect became known as an ah no.

But people would only say ah no if they was going through the experience themselves. People noticing an "aaahhh ..." from someone pronounced it as, oh no.

If you're familiar with Germanic languages, you know that many compound words have been formed by putting two words together in reverse order; such in the Swedish word for reverse. (You go "back to" baka till -- "reverse" tillbaka)

Thus, the oh no is the root of the name Noah, which was actually thought to be quite complimentary by people in a subculture who took it to mean "no aaahh" by which they meant a clear headed or clear thinking person.

And when these cultures came together, the held back sneeze became known as (don't hit me) Noah's arch.

On 6/8/99 11:57:25 AM, Roger Gay wrote:
>
>And when the two cultures met,
>the held back sneeze became
>known as (don't hit me) Noah's
>arch.

*PUNCH*

C'mon man. You can do better than this.

My Dad would've cracked up ... while everyone else groaned.

Verily, there's a new one for you Babs - 'dad' as an adective, used to describe instances of well-meaning but not-quite-onto-it and a little naff nouns and/ or verbs. Eg Dad-jokes (puns that are as subtle as the Great Wall of China, and just as visible from a great distance), Dad-rock (Oasis, the Stones, Hootie ...), Dad-style (Birkenstocks, comfortable sweaters) ... the list goes on.

A loving, yet cheeky testimony to those that sired us and then forgot what being young was like.

8-)

Mitch

Mitch, Mitch, Mitch!

You'd drop a rock on the man that bred you.

Maaaaaate.

Hey, I love my dad. I'm closer to him than any other human on this planet - we are more like best friends than father/ son.
So I guess I can't hate you that much, cos in a way, you're a bit like him. You're a Dad!

So it'd only be a very small rock...
and I'd probably miss him and get my foot anyway.

OK, well if that's the way you feel, you might want to check out my latest submission to Fathering Magazine if they publish it (which I believe they might). Believe it or not it's a poem for guys like you when you were just a little goober. They keep makin' 'em, you know.

My 'gooberhood' status hasn't evolved much yet sadly...

but I'm interested about what guys like me are. Care to elaborate?

Complimentary or non?

I just mean sons of a young age. Yer a guy aren't you. So you must a been a kid sometime in yer life. The poem was written for a 6 year old, and I think every 5-8 year old in the world should hear it.

That's interesting. Those feghoots are actually real words; except I can't find the word feghoot in the on-line dictionary.