FayJay.

Do you remember weeks ago we we're discussing the use of -y as a word ending?

I said it was English-y?

Well, I found an example {yes, but I get there in the end}

How about "The Health Food Shop" as opposed to "The Health-y Food Shop"?

Sorry, Moonlit. I knew all that but like I said, I don't spend a lot of time posting political stuff here, I just throw out broad comments. I appreciate your efforts but I don't think there's any need to work yourself so hard.

Anyway, the NY Times reports that the main museum has indeed been looted. Bastards. Respecting their own culture so little.

I wish the Marines could do something, but they can't even protect the hospitals yet and--oh yeah--people are still trying to kill them.

Caroma.

Where do you live?

Do you remember weeks ago we we're discussing the use of -y as a word ending?

I said it was English-y?

Well, I found an example {yes, but I get there in the end}

How about "The Health Food Shop" as opposed to "The Health-y Food Shop"?

Sure I remember! I'm fond of this kind of thing.

Lots of English words have -y as an ending. 'Healthy' is a good example of a word with a -y ending, but it doesn't mean the same thing as 'Health'. Health is a noun. Healthy is an adjective. 'Health Food' is a noun phrase - it's a phrase that people use with a specific meaning. In practical terms, you know that the stuff in a shop with a sign saying "Health Food Shop" will probably be much the same as the stuff in a sign saying "Healthy Food Shop" - but in grammatical terms, there actually is a difference between "Health Food Shop" and "Healthy Food Shop". (Don't get me started on all the shop signs that abuse apostrophes. I swear, when I'm an old lady I'm buying a pot of red paint and I'm going to go and correct all these bloody signs for Fish and Chip's [sic]etc. Drives me batty.)

Either way, though, that particular conversation we all had a while ago about the -y ending wasn't saying that English words didn't have -y endings. (If that was what you thought, I can quite understand your confusion!) IIRC, the article cited was talking about the slang specific to the show - not about textbook use of words, but about the kind of wordplay that's used on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It claimed that the BtVS slang usage of "much" as a suffix (as in "Slay much!" or "Demonic much!" or "Legal much!") had been replaced by the use of the suffix -y (as in "Slayer-y," "demon-y" or "lawyer-y").

This isn't suggesting that "much" isn't a normal English word, just that it isn't normally used in this pattern. Using it in this pattern is a slang usage associated with BtVS and AtS. I don't know whether it's common in Californian slang, but it isn't the standard grammar usage of the word.

Similarly, adding a -y in this way (i.e. in places that you'd get marked wrong if you did it in an English essay) is a convenient shorthand way of saying "to do with". It's a slang usage on Buffy which is modelled on a pattern in normal English - the pattern in "Healthy", "salty" etc.

Nobody was claiming that the slang was invented out of thin air - it's an adaptation of the way we use English, and that's why it works. "Healthy" is a word. "Demony" isn't - but because it's modelled on a familiar pattern, you still know what it means.

The objection I had to the article was that I think the -y ending is being used slightly differently from the -much ending. (I tried to illustrate it above, but I'm not sure how well.)

In English, lots of adjectives end in 'y'. In our day-to-day speech all of us have particular sorts of slang and speech patterns that differ from standard English - not just the dialect stuff that's the same for one's grandparents, but the specific stuff that's "in" with your peer group - even if it's just a handful of friends. Like the way Buffistas use "foamy". "Foamy" is an ordinary English word. But the slang usage of "foamy" to mean wonderful/desirable/gorgeous is not ordinary. It's specific to us.

Does this make sense?

Do you (Aussies) really pronounce it "noo-gah" over here? Weird. But you also pronouce "fillet" as "fill-it"!

True, but, not only do you guys pronounce it "fil-ay", you also spell it 'filet' (whenever I've seen it on a menu anyway), which - being the French spelling - should be pronounced sans t. (If you were to pronounce 'fillet' as per French, it'd be 'fee-yay', so I'm going to stand by 'fill-it' being correct there.)

Meanwhile, I am a happy camper. My league team - the Canberra Raiders - roughly an hour ago fought off a late comeback to be victorious over the Parramatta Eels, meaning that five weeks into the competition, they remain unbeaten. Even better, a half hour later the Brisbane Broncos went down to the New Zealand Warriors, which means the Raiders are now the only team still unbeaten.

Oh yes, and in more trivial matters, I've actually finished writing up my study notes, and am now ready to start revision. Once I stop bouncing around the study and singing "The Green Machine".

GROUP HUG!

Ah, that reminds me. Some dialogue from a D&D game in Australia:

Thorn: "I cast Magic Circle Against Evil."
Ladock: "Group Hug!"

The French pronounce double L, don't they? I thought it was just Spanish that makes it a Y.

Does this make sense?

Makes perfect sense, as ever, Fay.

The French pronounce double L, don't they? I thought it was just Spanish that makes it a Y.

It depends on the previous vowel, IIRC. In the case of an 'i' it's not pronounced. (I think it is for an 'e'.)

Thorn: "I cast Magic Circle Against Evil."

Ladock: "Group Hug!"

Bwah! Oh, that's adorable.

(Cheers, Fiona!)

Hi Billytea.

Oh, my team won today too. In proper football, that is.