Selwyn Greenfrith
Banned
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1. is this phenomenon: the understandsomeness of 'madeuplike' words in English, a hallmark of English alone? or are the likes of: German, Dutch, Danish, Welsh, Spanish, French, Walloon, Catalan, Polish etc also likewise blessed with this unsung strenghth?
2. how well do the readers here fare in getting the drift of the following wordplay - which is best brought about by thinking of the text as if it were an underwording to a picture of a streetscene.
3. to my mind the text is not everso poetic. Wondering how it would read in Dutch, German etc...could readers also have a go at translating the hereunder wordplay...
Text:
Through windshot eyen, mudshot bikefarers, some on bikeback and others on foot, follow in the thitherwards footsteps of footfarers thitheralso fording the span of the Thames waters on a newenish, and oft windlocked Millennium footbridge...http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2D7cNlO04aw/SgCWYaUB1NI/AAAAAAAAAnk/yK_YBN80G3A/s400/millennium3.jpg
Taking timeout from homeshopping, footshoppers swarming amidst and amongst downtown outlets...http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/westfield-stratford-city-gets-off-to-smashing-186692
Faregoers alighting, boarding and sheltering at a roadside bus shelter...http://www.picturenation.co.uk/view/info/269734/raining-umbrellas-waiting?s=taxi&page=2
Glossory:
windshot - think: bloodshot + windswept
eyen* (archaic: eyes)
mudshot - think: bloodshot
bikeback - think: horseback
thitherward* (archaic directional)
footfarers - think: footsoldier + seafarer
thitheralso* (obsolete)
fording* - (seld used word for: crossing)
waters* - (archaiclike usage for: river)
newenish - think: olden
windlocked - think: landlocked
homeshopping - (attested modern word)
footshoppers - think: footsoldiers + homeshoppers
alighting* (archaicish)
faregoers - think: fairgoers
Reckon thitherwards would be least understood in *full* meaning by most everyday mothertunge English speakers. Even the meaning of the more madeup words would be better understood, though in truth, the meaningness of thitherward is *half* understood through its -ward directioal endfast.
2. how well do the readers here fare in getting the drift of the following wordplay - which is best brought about by thinking of the text as if it were an underwording to a picture of a streetscene.
3. to my mind the text is not everso poetic. Wondering how it would read in Dutch, German etc...could readers also have a go at translating the hereunder wordplay...
Text:
Through windshot eyen, mudshot bikefarers, some on bikeback and others on foot, follow in the thitherwards footsteps of footfarers thitheralso fording the span of the Thames waters on a newenish, and oft windlocked Millennium footbridge...http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2D7cNlO04aw/SgCWYaUB1NI/AAAAAAAAAnk/yK_YBN80G3A/s400/millennium3.jpg
Taking timeout from homeshopping, footshoppers swarming amidst and amongst downtown outlets...http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/westfield-stratford-city-gets-off-to-smashing-186692
Faregoers alighting, boarding and sheltering at a roadside bus shelter...http://www.picturenation.co.uk/view/info/269734/raining-umbrellas-waiting?s=taxi&page=2
Glossory:
windshot - think: bloodshot + windswept
eyen* (archaic: eyes)
mudshot - think: bloodshot
bikeback - think: horseback
thitherward* (archaic directional)
footfarers - think: footsoldier + seafarer
thitheralso* (obsolete)
fording* - (seld used word for: crossing)
waters* - (archaiclike usage for: river)
newenish - think: olden
windlocked - think: landlocked
homeshopping - (attested modern word)
footshoppers - think: footsoldiers + homeshoppers
alighting* (archaicish)
faregoers - think: fairgoers
Reckon thitherwards would be least understood in *full* meaning by most everyday mothertunge English speakers. Even the meaning of the more madeup words would be better understood, though in truth, the meaningness of thitherward is *half* understood through its -ward directioal endfast.
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