From the Word Fugitives archive...

Finders keepers?

Please note: This page is a read-only archive of messages posted in the Word Fugitives conference of Post & Riposte.

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (1 of 12), Read 156 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Toby Lester ([email protected])
Date:	Wednesday, February 17, 1999 10:08 AM

Charley Hively, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, writes: "There seems to be no antonym for the word 'serendipity.' Its definition implies that what you find is good -- a $20 bill on the street, an old friend in a coffee shop, etc. -- but there seems to be no word for finding something bad in the same manner, like an old enemy or an overdue telephone bill misplaced under some papers."

P.S. While Barbara Wallraff is on vacation, I'll be posting new Word Fugitives here in Post & Riposte.

Toby Lester

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (2 of 12), Read 137 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Michael Fischer ([email protected])
Date:	Wednesday, February 17, 1999 05:34 PM

The derivation of serendipity probably won't help us; it comes from a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip.

A fortuity is a chance event, but is also most often applied to good luck. An old word that means worthless or unlucky is ambsace (snake eyes). And, finally, donsie is British dialect for unlucky.

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (3 of 12), Read 133 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Jessica Caspian ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, February 18, 1999 02:00 PM

I think the word is "Whoops..."

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (4 of 12), Read 22 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Rob McMillan ([email protected])
Date:	Sunday, March 14, 1999 12:22 AM

On 2/18/99 2:00:14 PM, Jessica Caspian wrote:
>I think the word is
>"Whoops..."
>
I believe, thanks largely to Homer J Simpson the '90's version is now
"D'oh"

font>

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (5 of 12), Read 19 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Brian Saker ([email protected])
Date:	Sunday, March 14, 1999 06:38 PM

Is "D'oh" the official spelling - I've always wanted to know?

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (6 of 12), Read 115 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Brenda Lindley-Anderson ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, February 18, 1999 09:37 PM

How about errordipity--doesn't quite ring though--maybe errendipity.

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (7 of 12), Read 113 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Dorothy Glantz ([email protected])
Date:	Friday, February 19, 1999 09:42 AM

Would you believe that ol' Roget has 'Pandora's Box' listed as an opposite. And I don't know that I wouldn't agree with him. Imagine meeting someone unfortuitously. Who knows what can pop up/out!

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (8 of 12), Read 71 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Tony D'Ambra ([email protected])
Date:	Wednesday, February 24, 1999 03:12 AM

The Greeks have a word for it "matiosan" - been evil eyed!

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (9 of 12), Read 61 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Aaron Gross ([email protected])
Date:	Thursday, February 25, 1999 07:05 PM

On 2/17/99 10:08:42 AM, Toby Lester wrote:
>Charley Hively, of Clarksburg,
>West Virginia, writes: "There
>seems to be no antonym for the
>word 'serendipity.' Its
>definition implies that what
>you find is good -- a $20 bill
>on the street, an old friend
>in a coffee shop, etc. -- but
>there seems to be no word for
>finding something bad in the
>same manner, like an old enemy
>or an overdue telephone bill
>misplaced under some papers."

malendipity

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (10 of 12), Read 59 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Anna Gieschen ([email protected])
Date:	Saturday, February 27, 1999 01:30 PM

When this word is found, I hope it will
reveal another I've been looking for:
the word for when you make something worse
by trying to make it better. Someone told
me there is a German word for it, but
I haven't been able to find it -

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (11 of 12), Read 47 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Aaron Gross ([email protected])
Date:	Monday, March 01, 1999 07:15 PM

On 2/27/99 1:30:07 PM, Anna Gieschen wrote:
>When this word is found, I
>hope it will
>reveal another I've been
>looking for:
>the word for when you make
>something worse
>by trying to make it better.
>Someone told
>me there is a German word for
>it, but
>I haven't been able to find it
>-

In American English, it's "Y2K remediation".
;-)

Topic:	10) Finders keepers? (12 of 12), Read 17 times
Conf:	Word Fugitives, with Barbara Wallraff
From:	Barbara Wallraff ([email protected])
Date:	Monday, March 15, 1999 12:17 PM

Anna,

The word you want is "Schlimmbesserung," which appears in the wonderful (but, alas, out-of-print) book "They Have a Word for It," from which I quote in the intro to the Word Fugitives page.

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