When I stand up to complain, am I
repining?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.
The critically-acclaimed board game
MooT
consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer:
yes
To be discontented is to repine. The word
derives the verb pine, yearn, with the
re acting as an intensive prefix, similar to
repent.
Please note that these are draft questions for the board game MooT.
If you spot an error or disagree with anything I've said here,
please let me know and I'll fix it.
(the Mootguy)
Feedback
I'm not sure I see the relevance of one's posture while complaining. Did some people confuse "repine" with "recline"?
It doesn't matter what your posture is, if you are discontented you are repining. I was trying to trick you.
x-dana937@gmail.com
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I now see that we are being asked whether standing and complaining is a subset of repining. I read the question as asking whether one needed to stand up in order to repine. Tricky.
x-james.t.wood@worldnet.att.net
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Hi MootGuy! Since repine doesn't correlate to a physical position, I think the "stand up" part of the question is misleading, especially since repine and recline sound so similar. Or did you do it on purpose for just that reason? Anyway, love the questions, love the game. Thanks!
x-mharpool11@hotmail.com
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The 'stand up' part was needlessly obfuscating. I thought at first I knew the word but lost confidence as I thought about it more. Couldn't make it jive with oppine, presumably from the same root, with the prefix ob-, yearn on behalf of, or have an opinion. Interesting question, as always. Thanks.
My goal IS to try to mislead you by throwing in things like "stand up." The purpose of the board game — which is played in groups — is to provoke debate. These little tricks force people to clarify their understanding a word's meaning.
x-tsimmonds@mac.com
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I didn't connect repine with recline. I connected it with supine, which means to lie on your back, face or front upwards. I hesitated, wondering if the root "pine" in repine was similar to the root in supine.
Great questions! I like digging around for the answers.
x-kas@fpu.edu
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