posted
"Pedophile" and "pedicab" are from different roots. And they sound different, so I wouldn't say they "start the same way."
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posted
Of course they are, but that doesn't mean they don't sound the same, or that words begining with Ped don't seem similar.
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However, I have to say, I have very, very ticklish feet and toes. I've never had a pedicurist who managed to not get kicked in the face-- it's just a reflex.
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quote: A new feature of New York City since I last was there is the sudden profusion of pedicabs. You know, bicycles with a rickshaw attached.
They really should try trishaws, also called three-wheelers, Bajaj's (after the company that makes them), and auto-rickshaws.
They're faster than bicycle powered or human powered rickshaws and much more maneuverable than other vehicles. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
OSC drives a truck?! I'm almost certain he has written that he likes big American cars--not just to rent but to own.
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You know what's weird? I actually pronounce the "ped" in each of those words very slightly differently.
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Maybe he is fed up with doctor's bills from his kids, and has a problem with pediatricians. Or he is sick and tired of his exercise regimen, and finds his pedometer to be unspeakably ugly. Or he can't stand the pedantic attitude of some of his associates.
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When I came to that portion of the review, I was all set to start a thread saying that a man who makes his living working with words ought to know better than to see the word "pedicab" and be put off because it starts with the same syllable as "pedophile"--or, perhaps, "pederasty".
And I was going to use that thread to pretend I didn't know what word he disliked, and I was going to offer suggestions like "pedestal" and "pedometer" and "pedantry" and "pedicure".
Actually, I honestly do dislike the attitude that a given word should be avoided because it happens to bear a superficial similarity to another word. There's a reason nobody says "niggardly" anymore, and it has nothing to do with its own merits. This kind of linguistic prejudice bothers me.
Next time I'll have to go into my spiel on why "pedophile" was the wrong word for that concept and why it ought to be changed.
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posted
It's hard to describe without knowing the nifty phonetic terminology -- and, sadly, that's a facet of English studies that I never really explored in college. But the "eh" sound in "pedophile" is clipped short and breathed a bit from a space between my teeth, making it kind of a cross between an "ead" like "bread" and "id" like "middle," with maybe a tiny bit of "ee" like "feed." I pronounce it almost exactly the same way I pronounce the first "eh" sound in "defend," like a "dih-FEND."
Whereas I pronounce "pedicab" or "pedicure" with a solid, rather longer "eh" sound, like in "fender" or "mend" or "pencil."
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
FWIW, the sounds are different in the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition.
PED-ih-kab
vs. either
PED-[schwa]-file
or
PEE-d[schwa]-file
(Note: this is my transcription, in the absence of symbols here. You can see their versions here: pedicab, pedophile.)
Posts: 884 | Registered: Mar 2005
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That is actually the better word for it, but unfortunately, it has a specialized meaning (adult man with juvenile boy) that precludes its use for the more general term.
Okay, in case anyone is just dying to know, my issue with "pedophile" is that, if you know the Greek roots, it's not properly descriptive. The "-phile" portion does refer to love, yes. But the Greeks have always differentiated between various different kinds of love. Philos refers to love between friends; Platonic love; strong liking. An Anglophile is someone who really likes England. A bibliophile is someone who really likes books. A philosopher is someone who really likes wisdom.
Philos, as I understand it, cannot refer to sexual love. (If I have this wrong, any Greeks are welcome to correct me.) The word for sexual love is eros, as in "erotic". "Pederast" is derived from this word, and so is properly descriptive.
Using etymology as a guide (and yes, I have enough knowledge of linguistics to know that etymology is not always a useful guide to meaning at all), "pederast" should be the word for someone who has sex with children, while "pedophile" should mean a person who simply really likes children.
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No, not merely a truck. OSC owns a BigTruck because he needs it for eveyday driving. Musta got stuck with carrying around the mascot wherever he goes.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: It's hard to describe without knowing the nifty phonetic terminology -- and, sadly, that's a facet of English studies that I never really explored in college. But the "eh" sound in "pedophile" is clipped short and breathed a bit from a space between my teeth, making it kind of a cross between an "ead" like "bread" and "id" like "middle," with maybe a tiny bit of "ee" like "feed." I pronounce it almost exactly the same way I pronounce the first "eh" sound in "defend," like a "dih-FEND."
Whereas I pronounce "pedicab" or "pedicure" with a solid, rather longer "eh" sound, like in "fender" or "mend" or "pencil."
Sounds like it's the same basic vowel, but slightly shorter and slightly raised.
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