"Insinuendo" - I love this quasi-word

[swag]

and have loved it ever since I heard the character Don Logan (as played by Ben Kingsley) use it in the film Sexy Beast.

From Weird Words

. . .

It is one of the few words in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary to which an editorial note has been attached: “A tasteless word”, it says, signed with the initials of the then editor, Dr Robert Burchfield. I would not normally wish to dispute lexicographical matters with someone so senior, especially one who has since edited the Third Edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage, but that’s surely a harsh verdict on a little word that flows trippingly off the tongue.

It is an obvious blend of insinuation and innuendo, a portmanteau construction containing elements of both. Throughout its life (and it is more than a century old, as we shall see), it has been used either humorously, or to indicate that a speaker in a book or play is uneducated.

The OED knows of it from 1885. Its first example says that it was invented by a legislator from South Carolina. This seems to be confirmed by this little squib, which appeared in Appletons’ Journal of New York in 1875. It manages the trick of being both heavy-handed and tongue-in-cheek at the same time:

The South Carolina Legislature has immortalized itself by coining the word “insinuendos.” Seeing the wideness of its application, the Tribune begs to be “permitted to express the obligations which society, and especially society’s representatives in official life, legislators, cabinet officers, and such, are under for an uncommonly fresh, beautiful, and expressive phrase. It admirably fits the time. It is a contribution to current politics as well as to philology.” I can reveal that this belief about its origin is wrong. The unnamed legislator from South Carolina may have re-invented the word, but it was around earlier, since it appeared in 1871 in a now totally forgotten one-act comic drama by William R Emerson called Putkins. In this, he has an uneducated person say “I scorn the insinuendo!”. Whether Mr Emerson invented it, or whether he borrowed a term already known, the linguistic record is as yet unable to say.

It is rarely seen today, but anyone using it would have to flag their facetious intent, or be assumed to be as ignorant as Mr Emerson’s character. But it is inoffensive enough, in all truth, and neatly encapsulates two ideas themselves closely related.

. . .

[jpgray]

1. Check my PM

:hug:

[swag]

2. That was very nice.

Thanks.

[swimboy]

3. neatly encapsulates two ideas themselves closely related.

same reason I like "symblem", but it has not been vetted for use at all.

[swag]

5. Is "symblem" your coinage?

[swimboy]

7. No.

A fellow in my 8th grade algebra class had a prolonged "insinuendo moment" and used it about a dozen times in class and I've never forgotten it.

[swag]

8. That's wonderful.

[asthmaticeog]

4. My favorite portmanteau - in both word and deed - is "zonky."

A hybrid of a zebra and a donkey. It's a lovely way to dress up what is essentially just an ass.

[swag]

6. It's cute.

It looks like its fur is very soft.

[swimboy]

9. Don't let Debra in on this.

[swag]

10. A spiteful wench,

that one.

[asthmaticeog]

11. This fine word deserves a nice kick for its thread.

:kick:

[swag]

12. Just what are you insinuendating by that kick?

[asthmaticeog]

13. That I'm warm for your form.

:loveya:

[swag]

14. I knew this shit was going to work out

the moment you suggested Jake's.

You devil.

[jpgray]

15. Get a room for fuck's sake

Preferably one in the back.

[swag]

18. The Presidential Suite is always on hold

Get up and groove with the rhythm in your soul

[asthmaticeog]

16. citysearch.com said it was "Romantic."

[jpgray]

17. I'm consumed with envy

The last person I visited in Portland though has nudie pictures extant on the interweb.

[swag]

19. Yeah, but did she pass the written exam?

[jpgray]

20. She attempted and failed a triple entendre

Had to do with ordering a "triple shocker" at In-N-Out Burger when we went south.

[swag]

21. You have a cold heart, jpgray.

[jpgray]

22. And a sublimating liver

The rest belongs to you! :loveya:

[swag]

31. Didn't Schoolly D have a record called "The Sublimatin' Liver"?

"Way way down in the ghetto T
The bad assed pimp stepped on the
Sublimatin' Liver's feet..."

And then Led Zeppelin, as though they owned the chromatic scale, sued and stopped further release of the song (and had it removed from the soundtrack of Bad Lieutenant.

I think that was the song.

[jpgray]

32. I'm going to copyright the diatonic scale

Figure I'll just add some "render clouds," beveled text and cool devil horns.

[swag]

23. I thought it was. Didn't you?

Not Hung Far Low, maybe, but high probability of a golden moment or permanent gloryhole.

[asthmaticeog]

24. Hung Far Low put me in the mood for a Rusty Trombone.

But the men's room stalls were coin-op. :cry:

[swag]

25. Sweet Baba Jaga, they're renovating it now.

Bring your 5% rebate Visa.

[asthmaticeog]

26. That's wonderful news.

I can already taste that delicious blumpkin pie. :thumbsup:

[GirlinContempt]

27. Ruh roh

manwich

[swag]

28. A sandwich is a sandwich, but a Manwich is a Meal.

[GirlinContempt]

29. Somehow, someway

I am compelled to believe you.

[swag]

30. The beauty of pure faith!

[GirlinContempt]

34. I lost my way, I forgot to call on your name.

[Heidi]

33. Retroskeptive is a good one, too.

When I'm old and quasi-famous for all the wrong things, and looking back on my body of work, thinking, "I should have gone to law school," I will invite everyone here to my retroskeptive exhibit. :P

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

35. I like "ignoranus."

It means somebody who is both stupid and an asshole.

[everythingsxen]

36. I like Intenuendo...

as was used by some guy on The Daily Show who was being interviewed...

I use it frequently.