Wednesday, August 15, 2012

OEDILF Epicaricacy Limerick

Cat asked for the limerick, so I've posted it below, along with the author's note.  The workshopping is finished, and it should be approved soon.  Yah!  If you haven't visited that site before, you should take a look at it here

Epicaricacy is a word
That is currently used by a nerd:
"Taking joy in misfortune."
The word that I'm torchin',
Schadenfreude, will soon be interred!

Whether epicaricacy is really an English word or not has been debated. It was first cited in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary in 1727, spelled as epicharikaky, though the subsequent Oxford English Dictionary has not cited it. It is cited in specialty dictionaries, however. The pronunciation of epicaricacy has been debated as well. The pronunciation I am using, ep-ih-KARE-ih-kuh-SEE, is the most often spoken one. However, Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary uses EP-i-kar-IK-i-see. Without epicaricacy we only have a German word, Schadenfreude (pronounced shah-den-FROY-duh in this limerick), to mean "taking joy in another's misery."

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Pronunciation of epicaricacy

There's always workshopping angst on OEDILF.  My limerick on epicaricacy is being held up because the word is so rare that no one knows the "correct" pronunciation.  Mrs. Byrne's dictionary says it might be:  /EP i kar IK i see/  Tsuwm on Worthless Word of the Day replicates that pronunciation, but then tells me in email that he thinks my way is right:  ep-ih-KARE-ih-kuh-SEE.

Clearly my limerick needs it to be pronounced my way, so I am going to leave it.  If it stays at 3 approvals (I am not even sure how many they need now, but more than 3), so be it.  It will never be approved.  I like the limerick anyway!