Countryside

davieddy · 2010-10-01, 21:54

Maybe I'm a bit slow on the uptake,
but I had never associated this word with
suicide, patricide...etc until I heard Stephen Fry use it
in that sense just now.

David

mdettweiler · 2010-10-02, 00:07

It's a classic case of homophones. The -cide and -side suffixes are pronounced identially, but have rather different meanings. In this case, I don't believe "countrycide" is a word; rather, the person using it would have coined the term anew from its constituent parts.

davieddy · 2010-10-02, 01:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdettweiler

It's a classic case of homophones. The -cide and -side suffixes are pronounced identially, but have rather different meanings. In this case, I don't believe "countrycide" is a word; rather, the person using it would have coined the term anew from its constituent parts.

I did learn as a schoolboy that Shakespeare made humour
out of the term "country matters". The presence/lack of the "o"
in the prefix "count-" is what causes mirth.

David

PS if an eagled-eyed mod would kindly transfer this to the
soap box, I will spell "countricide" as Stephen Fry
intended.

PPS does this put a new perspective on learning to count?

2010-10-01, 21:54	#1
davieddy "Lucan" Dec 2006 England 2·3·13·83 Posts	Countryside Maybe I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but I had never associated this word with suicide, patricide...etc until I heard Stephen Fry use it in that sense just now. David

2010-10-02, 00:07	#2
mdettweiler A Sunny Moo Aug 2007 USA (GMT-5) 3×2,083 Posts	It's a classic case of homophones. The -cide and -side suffixes are pronounced identially, but have rather different meanings. In this case, I don't believe "countrycide" is a word; rather, the person using it would have coined the term anew from its constituent parts.