Pedants' Paradise

[vinteuil]

cleave - very mixed up

... cleave notoriously mixt up, in that it has two contradictory meanings - to stick closely together or to split apart : 'she cleaves to her partner like seaweed to a rock' - 'Moses would go on about cleaving the rocks' ...

.

[kernelbogey]

In Waugh's Scoop, iirc, the hero kitting himself out for his trip to Africa in what I take to be a pastiche of Harrods, ask for cleft sticks, as he has been told they are essential for sending messages in Africa. The sales assistant says that No, they don't have those 'But we can have some cloven for you, Sir'. It's probably the best joke in that unfortunately racist novel.

[Serial_Apologist]

In Vaughan Williams's opera title Hugh the Drover, is Hugh a person who droves?

[vinteuil]

In Vaughan Williams's opera title Hugh the Drover, is Hugh a person who droves?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drove

.

[Serial_Apologist]

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drove

.

Thanks vints!

[Old Grumpy]

Big drover country here - drovers' roads all over the place...

...so there must have been some sometime!

[french frank]

... cleave notoriously mixt up, in that it has two contradictory meanings - to stick closely together or to split apart

Rather like 'ravel' - OED 1. to entangle or disentangle 2. to unravel

[vinteuil]

Rather like 'ravel' - OED 1. to entangle or disentangle 2. to unravel

... whereas 'flammable' and 'inflammable' mean the same thing

[smittims]

Is it Ogden Nash who says

'My beloved's hair was kempt, so I unkempt it.' ?

Anyone recall John Cleese's 'Headmaster' speech in the first Frost Report? 'Mr X's work has been has invaluable. We hope this term it will become valuable '.

And is it possible to be 'gruntled' instead of 'disgruntled'?

[Pulcinella]

Is it Ogden Nash who says

'My beloved's hair was kempt, so I unkempt it.' ?

Anyone recall John Cleese's 'Headmaster' speech in the first Frost Report? 'Mr X's work has been has invaluable. We hope this term it will become valuable '.

And is it possible to be 'gruntled' instead of 'disgruntled'?

I saw/read an article recently about Susie Dent's interest in such words (dishevelled but not shevelled, for example); if I find it I'll post a link.

PS: Here's a link: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...ved-by-mistake

[Serial_Apologist]

Is it Ogden Nash who says

'My beloved's hair was kempt, so I unkempt it.' ?

Anyone recall John Cleese's 'Headmaster' speech in the first Frost Report? 'Mr X's work has been has invaluable. We hope this term it will become valuable '.

And is it possible to be 'gruntled' instead of 'disgruntled'?

Oh I wouldn't think so. However, it is possible to find oneself being dismantled... but not mantled?

(OK, I'll get my coat!)

[french frank]

And is it possible to be 'gruntled' instead of 'disgruntled'?

It was, but the 'dis' is apparently (tbc) an intensive - to be more gruntled - so removing the dis just makes it archaic not the antonym, as is sometimes humorously intended.

[Pulcinella]

Oh I wouldn't think so. However, it is possible to find oneself being dismantled... but not mantled?

(OK, I'll get my coat!)

I think something like a flower bed could be (poetically) mantled in snow.

[french frank]

I think something like a flower bed could be (poetically) mantled in snow.

Interesting. Could it also be dismantled?

[Pulcinella]

Interesting. Could it also be dismantled?

Yes, particularly if it was a raised bed and it needed some repairs.