tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7115493794020921973.post1324104178800629044..comments2024-03-18T22:46:49.398-07:00Comments on Vocabulogic: The Slippery Suffix -er (Survey)Susan M. Ebbershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08407326546315049925noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7115493794020921973.post-8649538283805847232010-09-20T09:33:32.396-07:002010-09-20T09:33:32.396-07:00Hi Jeff,
The word soccer never struck me as parti...Hi Jeff,<br /><br />The word <i>soccer</i> never struck me as particularly funny, either...but maybe in this case "you had to be there" (there being Oxford University, 19th Century). I believe the words formed through Rugby School slang (including footer, soccer, rugger, etc.) engendered a sense of esprit de corps, familiarity, jolly good humor, lightheartedness (but perhaps not reallySusan M. Ebbershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08407326546315049925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7115493794020921973.post-54961693263836305982010-09-20T05:37:14.354-07:002010-09-20T05:37:14.354-07:00"A third, and far less productive function of..."A third, and far less productive function of the suffix -er, is to create a sense of jocularity, as in soccer. There are very few words of this type."<br /><br />Perhaps I'm hung up on the "joke" part of the definition of "jocular," but I see "soccer" (from "as-SOC-iation football) as being both slang and a convenient shortening, but not really a deepbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09758272142636208384noreply@blogger.com