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Friday, June 11, 2010

Gricester

--- J has been using Gricester. So this is to his credit!
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5 comments:

  1. Luigi SperanzaJune 11, 2010 at 4:01 PM

    J in fact uses '-ster' as a formative suffix. His corpus includes: Chomster, Humster, Gricester, etc.

    It compares with schm-, which is a formative affix, but pre-fix in this case. The OED recognises schm-, and it should recognise -ster, too.

    Schmgrice is like Grice, only different.

    Gricester is like Grice, maybe not only different.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JJune 11, 2010 at 6:13 PM

    Perhaps the ""'ster"" suffix functions somewhat like a performative-implicature which, ceteris paribus, in effect serves to designate (rigidly, maybe) the causal-utterer role of the particular nominative agent?? Or perhaps not.

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  3. Luigi SperanzaJune 11, 2010 at 7:46 PM

    I think it does. Consider 'pun' horseshoe 'punster'.

    "pun" -- a play of words.

    "punster" -- the transubsantial humanisation of a play of words into a particular nominative agentive in a causal utterer role case ceteris paribus rigidly designating a performative implicatum.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Luigi SperanzaJune 11, 2010 at 7:52 PM

    Boringly,

    http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-ster

    goes:

    -ster:

    "Old English "-istre", from Proto-Germanic hypothetical form, "-istrijon," feminine agent suffix used as the equivalent of masculine "-ere."

    --- Strictly, Gricesters are Anita Avramides, and Judith Baker but not Sir Peter Strawson.

    The online guide goes on:

    "Also used in Middle English to form nouns of action (meaning "a person who ...") without regard for gender."

    Disgriceful. These Middle English types had no respect, or little, for Old English.

    "The genderless agent noun use

    apparently was a broader application

    of the original feminine suffix, beginning

    in the north of England, but linguists

    disagree over whether this indicates female

    domination of weaving and baking trades, as

    represented in names like Webster, Baxter,

    Brewster, etc. (though spinster clearly

    represents a female ending)."

    --- "gris" means 'pig', not SOW, in the North of England (south of Scotland) so that kant be.

    There is a weed in the North of England, South of England, called the 'grice weed', which was eaten by the grice, i.e. the pigs.

    --- A record, in Chron. Hum, Edinburgh, has the 'grice' as being a flock of 'grouse' -- birds -- but surely this must be a typo for a bird has to be VERY HUNGRY to eat grass, no?

    The online etym. goes:

    "In Modern English, the suffix has
    been productive in forming derivative
    nouns (gamester, punster, etc.)."

    and punkster.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Luigi SperanzaJune 11, 2010 at 8:06 PM

    From wiki:

    -ster, as in Grice-ster:

    "Middle English from Old English -estre (“‘ster’”)

    Meanings:

    1. Someone who is,

    or who is at least associated with,

    or who does, something specified.

    --- "Strictly, Grice is Gricester, since Grice does Grice".

    2.(humorous, sometimes offensive -- but then ANYTHING can be offensive in the 'right' light?).

    "A diminutive appended to a person's name.", as in Tomster.

    Russell Baker,

    "Observer; Pretty Good Read"

    (A review of "What It Takes" by Richard Ben Cramer), New York Times, 25 Jul., 1992

    --- Baker writes:

    "Cramer's exploration of the hearts,
    minds and souls of America's
    ambition-crazed Presidential candidates
    moves ahead at a pace that feels
    childishly frantic [...] This is not
    just because it keeps referring
    to Senator Robert Dole as "the
    Bobster, rather than the Dolester."

    Terms derived from "-ster" include Gricester.

    But also:

    barrister
    --- a person who works in a bar, a bar-tender.

    chorister
    --- an altar boy or girl.

    dumpster
    --- a perso who works in a dump.

    gangster
    ---- feminine form of ganger.

    hipster
    ----

    huckster
    ---

    jokester
    ---

    mobster
    ----

    oldster
    ---

    pollster
    ---

    prankster
    ---

    punkster
    ---

    punster
    ---
    quipster
    ---

    rhymester
    ----

    roadster
    ----

    seamster -- also used masculinely.

    songster
    --- as opposed to songer, and singer. ("Not all songsters are singers of their own songs" -- Ringo Starr).

    speedster
    ---

    spinster
    --- used masculinely in the West of England.

    tapster
    ---

    teamster
    ---

    tipster
    ----

    trickster
    ----

    And Speranzster

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