LINGUIST List 2.771

Sun 10 Nov 1991

Misc: Thanks; Doohickey

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Chuck Wooters, Re: 2.756 Queries: Fonts, Culture
2. John Cowan, The 4 tones: thanks!
3. , 2.764 Queries: Doohickeys, Person, Singular They
4. Logical Language Group, doohicky
5. , Re: 2.732 Linguistics Department closing at Minnesota
6. Jacob Hoeksema, Re: 2.764 Queries: Doohickeys, Person, Singular They

Message 1: Re: 2.756 Queries: Fonts, Culture

> Subject: business prectices around the world
> I'm looking for references to any published information, or anecdotal
> information, regarding business practices for cultures around
> the world. For example, I have heard that it is very offensive to chew
> gum while at work in Japan.
> Thanks in advance
> Chuck Wooters
> wootersicsi.berkeley.edu
Thanks to all of you who have responded to my posting.
I received the following interesting reply from Michael Kac:
["Michael Kac" (Business practices) Nov 5, 17:14]
> In response to your LINGUIST posting, something that might be of help
> even though it's not from a scholarly source. (It DOES come from a
> published source, namely an article in the New York Times, but I can't
> remember when -- you might be able to track it down, though.)
>
> The article appeared in the wake of the troubles last year in New York
> in which a Koren grocer accused a black customer of shoplifting, leading
> to demonstrations, a boycott of his store etc. I recall the article dealing
> with, among other things, a complaint from customers at this store that
> the owner was rude to them because, among other things, he didn't smile;
> and it was explained that in Korean culture you don't smile at strangers
> because it's considered insincere.
>
> Hope this is of some use to you.
>
> Michael Kac
I assume that these kinds of misunderstandings will occur in many
cultures. What kind of advice would you give to a foreigner who
will be traveling to your country in order to avoid such problems?
Thanks.
Chuck Wooters
wootersicsi.berkeley.edu

To Tom Lai, Marjorie Chan, Larry Horn, and whoever else may have responded
but couldn't reach me, much thanks. Due to address munging moving from
UUCP to Internet to Bitnet, my address apparently appears incorrectly on
Linguist List's message directory.
The correct domain-style address is <cowansnark.thyrsus.com> and always appears
in my signature.
cowansnark.thyrsus.com		...!uunet!cbmvax!snark!cowan
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban

 > Date: Wed, 6 Nov 91 10:53:22 -0500
 > From: gb661csc.albany.edu (BROADWELL GEORGE AARON)
 > Subject: doohickeys
 > Can anyone suggest a name for the class of words in English that is used
 > in the situation where you can't remember the name for something?
 > I mean the words like doohicky, thingamabob, thingummy, thingamajig ...
 > I am provisionally calling them 'nonsense filler words', but I'd be
 > interested to know if any one has discussed them.
Well, I don't know if there has been any discussion of them or if
there is a standard name, but how about ``lethenyms''? That would
capture the fact that they're used both for items whose name you've
forgotten, and also for things whose name you never knew, like the
thingamabob that's on the end of shoelaces...
-30-
Bob

>From: gb661csc.albany.edu (BROADWELL GEORGE AARON)
>Subject: doohickeys
>
>Can anyone suggest a name for the class of words in English that is used
>in the situation where you can't remember the name for something?
>
>I mean the words like doohicky, thingamabob, thingummy, thingamajig ...
>
>I am provisionally calling them 'nonsense filler words', but I'd be
>interested to know if any one has discussed them.
Not in regards to English, we haven't. But in designing Lojban (an
artificial language), we considered these a category of free (unbound)
predicate anaphora: content words of no specific meaning that gain such
meaning through contextual back-reference to common knowledge. We allow
such words to be treated as assignable variables, as well as to serve
the vague, undefined anaphoric prupose they seem to serve in English.
They have their own grameme, BRODA, named after the first word of the
set.
Thus, in talking about the English equivalents, we sometimes talk about
'BRODA words'. I'm happy to offer the term, though it of course won't
mean much to those not familiar with Lojban. %^)
I note that I and many other people I know use these words
anaphorically, as well as when we "can't remember the word", generally
to repeat a reference for something whose name is too complex to spit
out repeatedly.
In English, I suspect they arise from a somewhat different reason as
well - they give a noun-like feel in a place where a noun is
grammaticially acceptable, but a pronoun is not. As many of them are
etymologically derived from 'thing', there would appear to be some need
to express more texture or complexity than 'thing' connotes and I think
this follows from the circumstance of the previous paragraph.
This doohicky is complicated.
This thing is complicated.
*This it is complicated.
lojbab = Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
 2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA
 703-385-0273
 lojbabgrebyn.com

Message 5: Re: 2.732 Linguistics Department closing at Minnesota

> Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1991 15:10:00 -0600
> From: The Linguist List <linguisttamsun.tamu.edu>
> Subject: 2.732 Linguistics Department closing at Minnesota
> To: Larry Horn <LHORNYALEVM.BITNET>
Larry,
My goodness! What a tale of grief! You mean there are upper
midwest states that let administrators get away with that sort
of monetary hanky-panky?!? This news is almost as shocking
as that about Magic Johnson. Thanks for sharing it with me,
and I hope that your situation works out for you.
Steve ---*

Message 6: Re: 2.764 Queries: Doohickeys, Person, Singular They

Re: Doohickeys
Check out Richard D. Janda, Watchamacallit words,
in CLS Book of Squibs (1977).