Wordie: Quixotic: Comments

Comment by seanahan, 5 months ago

Sat, 16 May 2009 19:34:19 +0000

Chasing one's tail seems like a quixotic activity.

Comment by DeusExMachina, 5 months ago

Sat, 16 May 2009 12:40:20 +0000

I named my dog Quixote, and he IS quixotic.

Comment by Ezzackly, 6 months ago

Sat, 09 May 2009 02:56:00 +0000

I just recently saw this word the other day for the first time and I beamed with excitement when I realized it was related to Don Quixote.

Comment by whichbe, 12 months ago

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:38:57 +0000

I'm kind of surprised that this is the #2 most listed word here. What's so special about this word? It makes me think of an exotic quiz.

Comment by bilby, about 1 year ago

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:07:17 +0000

See quixotically.

Comment by chained_bear, about 1 year ago

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:45:26 +0000

Odd... I say that a lot too.
;)

Comment by sionnach, about 1 year ago

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:41:03 +0000

"I just want to get drunk as fast as I can" said Don, quixotically.

Comment by muse25, about 1 year ago

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:44:47 +0000

-extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable.

-impulsive and often rashly unpredictable.

[quixotic]

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:01:25 +0000

I can never remember what this damn word means

Comment by erinoftheyear, over 2 years ago

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:00:10 +0000

This word reminds me of one of those guys who hangs out at the bar everynight with his polyester shiny shirt and his gel'd up hair. It's used up, been had, and not as cool as it sounds.

Comment by alguien, over 2 years ago

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:40:00 +0000

It is "octopuses," definitely, not "octopi." The word octopus comes from Greek, not Latin, so the plural suffix -i is inappropriate.

As for the pronunciation of "quixotic," Charles Harrington Elster, author of The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, sanctions only kwik-SAHT-ik. I will continue to say kwik-SAHT-ik in English and reserve the more Spanishy pronunciation for when I am speaking Spanish.

Change the pronounciation?

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:49:23 +0000

Matter of opinion, innit? I'd be more inclined to change the spelling.

I think the whole idea of borrowing foreign rules for modifying words along with foreign words is dumb. It's "octopusses", dammit!

Comment by joshleejosh, over 2 years ago

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:12:10 +0000

Good point -- I see the word much more often than I hear it. In fact, I think I've only ever heard it spoken out loud in the context of debates over its pronunciation! Is there a synonym for "quixotic" that's more popular in conversation, or do people just not want to talk about tilting at windmills?

Comment by Valse, over 2 years ago

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 21:25:39 +0000

Possible counterexamples of that, seanahan, would be words like jungian (yoong-ee-uhn) or wagnerian (vahg-neer-ee-uhn). When it derives from someone's name, that pronunciation seems to stick, at least part of the time. But after reading the tidbit on wikipedia about the spelling and pronunciation of "Quixote", I see it's a little bit more nuanced anyhow (technically it's medieval Castilian, not Spanish). Bah! This is a good word, I'm going to leave it alone (stop picking at it, that is) for fear that people will stop using it. I see it written much more often than I hear it spoken, anyway.

Comment by seanahan, over 2 years ago

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:37:00 +0000

There is a fundamental dichotomy here. The suffix "ic" is not Spanish at all. Therefore, adding "ic" to Quixote to create an adjective is not allowed. I'm not sure what the equivalent suffix would be in Spanish, but if you insist on being a stickler for pronunciation, then you should insist on using the Spanish suffix. To make an English adjective, it makes sense to change the pronunciation.

Comment by tankexmortis, over 2 years ago

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:31:42 +0000

I pronounce it "kee-ho-tik". I'm takin' it back!

Comment by seanahan, over 2 years ago

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 20:37:58 +0000

I've never heard anyone pronounce it as anything other than "quicks-ot-ic".

Kwik-zo-tik

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 10:33:49 +0000

I heard someone (who I thought aught to have known better) pronounce it as an English word recently. I'd never heard it that way before. It made my eyes cross.

Comment by Valse, over 2 years ago

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:33:39 +0000

So true, billifer. As counterintuitive as it may sometimes seem, we should just chalk it up to idiosyncrasy(if that word wasn't previously used to describe words or language, it now is). And then the inconsistency's something to appreciate, I suppose.

Pronunciation

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 01:27:49 +0000

I totally know where you're coming from, Valse. You're being neither persnickety nor pedantic. Unfortunately, English — especially when adapting foreign words and names — is one big miasma of bafflegab.

I still spell "fish" as ghoti1 and "potato" as ghoughphtheightteeau.

Comment by Valse, over 2 years ago

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 22:50:29 +0000

I feel like this word should be pronounced kee-ho-tik (it just occurred to me that standard IPA pronunciation would show up as a possible word entry). We don't say Don Kwik-sot-ay...but maybe I'm just being persnickety.