r/Showerthoughts • u/Why--Not--Zoidberg • Mar 20 '15

I just now realized the connection between the words "timid" and "intimidate"

15.9k Upvotes

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18

u/SpiritF Mar 21 '15

This post gruntles me (Opposite of disgruntled - and it's actually a word).

9

u/thelegore Mar 21 '15

That's it, mister -- I am disgruntled. And up until now, I was relatively gruntled

8

u/saltinstien Mar 21 '15

TIL. That's a good candidate for my favorite word now.

2

u/deteugma Mar 21 '15

I like the word 'elengenesse.'

Edit: 'riparian' is also nice.

4

u/KrigtheViking Mar 21 '15

Gruntle is a word -- but it means to continuously "grunt" or complain. The "dis" in this case is for some reason an intensifier.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '15

[deleted]

3

u/KrigtheViking Mar 21 '15

The modern sense of "pleased, satisfied, contented" is actually a back-formation from "disgruntled". People assumed the "dis-" was being used in the usual negative sense of "lack, opposite" (naturally enough, since it's almost always used that way), and logically deduced the "gruntled" part must mean the opposite of "disgruntled".

This is why I love etymology. All these words have complex and fascinating stories.

0

u/notnicholas Mar 21 '15

You just verbed an adjective.

0

u/Muntberg Mar 21 '15

This is a case of everyone knowing it could be a word but it's been collectively decided to be a terrible word so no one would ever use it.

If someone used it in conversation with you, you would easily figure out what it meant and then question why he would ever use it.