Avuncularity/Avauntularity

MathGirl

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Perdita used the word, and it made me realize that we're blessed with several avuncular types at the AH. Og, Pop, Rumple. Mr Harold, too, when he makes one of his infrequent appearances, and I'm probably missing one or two for which I apologize. Kindly uncles who observe the petty carrying on of the younger generation with understanding, humor and tolerance.

Avauntularity? I doubt the word exists, but I take it to mean the above from the female side. Perdita fills that role, and I can't think of anyone else who admits to being old enough to be avaunticular. I see Bridget as potentially assuming the role.

I think we're fortunate to have those here who have been there, done that, might just do it again at any moment, and let the rest of us make fools of ourselves here in our cyber sandbox.
MG
 
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WildSweetOne comes across to me as Avauntular. Along with Loriluv (where is she?) as the slightly dippy, bubbly Aunt who makes you smile regardless. (giggles)

And can I bagsy Lou-lou for my very own aunt, in an incestuous way of course.

Gauche
 
gauchecritic said:
WildSweetOne comes across to me as Avauntular. Along with Loriluv (where is she?) as the slightly dippy, bubbly Aunt who makes you smile regardless.
And can I bagsy Lou-lou for my very own aunt, in an incestuous way of course.
Dear Gauchie,
WSO is now obsessed with the Snippitsville thing, but otherwise she would qualify. You know what they say about those New Zealanders, though.
MG
Ps. Did anyone else get a PM from WSO today? I think she was trying to announce something about SVille, but it didn't come out right.
 
Snipps

Maths, the Sweet One wanted everyone to know that the first collection of Snipps stories was submitted to Lit. for posting. Hooray! Very exciting for her; she and Alex de Kok and Pierce St. have done big overtime hours on this.

As for avuncularity, thanks for including me. I was contacted by a new admirer last night and the first thing I did was ask his age and say I really didn't want to become another Lit. author's surrogate mum. He won me over so I'm the "Bohemian Free-Love Lefty Aunt".

Perdita

p.s. Some of the other senior-type citizens and I have discussed at various times how out of it we can feel among all of you young people. It's quite touching that you value us as noted.
 
Too young to have dementia.

Too old to do good drugs.

Too foolish to ever care.

Fool
 
The_Fool said:
Too young to have dementia.

Fool

Just to be both pedantic and avuncular, you can never be too young for dementia.

Gauche
 
gauchecritic said:
Just to be both pedantic and avuncular, you can never be too young for dementia.
Good grief, Gauchie. Sometimes you preen like a praecox.
MG
 
gauchecritic said:
Just to be both pedantic and avuncular, you can never be too young for dementia.

Gauche


Hmmm....Maybe you are onto something. Demented without suffering from Dementia....That fits. :D
 
Maths, here's the Merriam-Webster online definition. I like the Latin "maternal uncle", fits us females fine. Perhaps you could practice being avuncular with Walter.

avunculously, Perdita

Main Entry: avun·cu·lar
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin avunculus - maternal uncle
Date: 1831
1 : of or relating to an uncle
2 : suggestive of an uncle especially in kindliness or geniality <avuncular indulgence>
- avun·cu·lar·i·ty noun
- avun·cu·lar·ly adverb
 
Avuncular can have a totally different connotation to German speakers.

"Uncle" is your neighbourhood paedophile - derived from an old film.

"Aunty" on the Indian sub-continent is a mature but still beautiful woman who introduces her young protege to the delights of the Kama Sutra or Tantric Sex. Aunty pictures are very popular on Indian sex sites but some of them look too young to have proteges over 18 so there is a growing trend for "real" aunty pictures with or without hairy armpits.

The proteges are not meant to be toyboys, just young men who want to be prepared to satisfy their brides without getting a commitment to another woman. Auntys are supposed to be generous and self-effacing once they have completed a particular protege's education.

Og (who is a great uncle several times over)
 
MathGirl said:
Avauntularity? I doubt the word exists, but I take it to mean the above from the female side. Perdita fills that role, and I can't think of anyone else who admits to being old enough to be avaunticular. I see Bridget as potentially assuming the role.

MG

Dearest Diane,

While I am thrilled to be linked to Perdita, I am a bit, ahem, crushed. I may be on HRT, but that is just from a quirk of genetics, not due to ageing.

And, just because I can do a mean June Cleaver impersonation doesn't mean that I am really that nice.

I just enjoy venting my spleen in person so I can observe the carnage.

But, if what you are trying to say is that my presence is a light in your day, then :kiss: , thank you, dear.

I tend to think that we staid ones are more like control rods in a nuclear breeding reactor. We moderate all those alphas, betas and neutrons so that the whole thing doesn't melt down while enabling hot stuff to be created.

glowing,

:rose: b
 
gauchecritic said:
WildSweetOne comes across to me as Avauntular. Along with Loriluv (where is she?) as the slightly dippy, bubbly Aunt who makes you smile regardless. (giggles)

And can I bagsy Lou-lou for my very own aunt, in an incestuous way of course.

Gauche

HAHAHA! I read this after I posted my thread about feedback from a guy; telling me I reminded him of his aunt. Gawd, help me! ;)

I'm having an identity crisis. :p

Loulou :heart:
 
oggbashan said:

"Aunty" on the Indian sub-continent is a mature but still beautiful woman who introduces her young protege to the delights of the Kama Sutra or Tantric Sex. Aunty pictures are very popular on Indian sex sites but some of them look too young to have proteges over 18 so there is a growing trend for "real" aunty pictures with or without hairy armpits.

The proteges are not meant to be toyboys, just young men who want to be prepared to satisfy their brides without getting a commitment to another woman. Auntys are supposed to be generous and self-effacing once they have completed a particular protege's education.

Og (who is a great uncle several times over)

Ahhh, thank goodness for your fountain of knowledge. The feedback I received earlier makes a little more sense now.

Not really placated, but a little less freaked out,
Loulou :rose:
 
oggbashan said:
"Aunty" on the Indian sub-continent is a mature but still beautiful woman who introduces her young protege to the delights of the Kama Sutra or Tantric Sex.
Good grief, now I have to write and set straight all my Lit. nephews.

Loulou, now we have proof Gauche is probably younger than Earl.

Let us aunties of Lit. stick together,

Purrditta
 
perdita said:
Good grief, now I have to write and set straight all my Lit. nephews.

Loulou, now we have proof Gauche is probably younger than Earl.

Let us aunties of Lit. stick together,

Purrditta

Aunty Purrditta,

Younger in mind? Probably. Younger in body? Nah, I don't think so. :p

Aunty Loulou, I like 'em young. :devil:
 
for Gauche from the aunties

Tatelou said:
I like 'em young. :devil:
Ha, ha, Gauche. To paraphrase your alterego,

Some are born young, some achieve youth, and some have youth thrust[ed] upon 'em.

Yeah, Lou, he's a real toyboy deep down.

Purr-Olivia :heart:
 
Gosh, do I ever feel dumb!

Originally posted by oggbashan Avuncular can have a totally different connotation to German speakers.
Dear Og,
Silly me. I made the stupid assumption that since I was writing in English and that everything on here is in English, that the English meaning of "avuncular" would be assumed by the reader.
Humiliated,
MG
 
Re: Gosh, do I ever feel dumb!

MathGirl said:
Dear Og,
Silly me. I made the stupid assumption that since I was writing in English and that everything on here is in English, that the English meaning of "avuncular" would be assumed by the reader.
Humiliated,
MG

No worries, sport.

I was caught out about the meaning of "uncle" when corresponding with a German couple.

I thought of myself as avuncular, helping them with an internet problem. They were horrified.

Words, any words, can cause problems even between speakers of "English". Once you involve other languages the problems get worse. For example a couple of car names:

MR2 which is a small sports car is pronounced MRdeux in French = shit.

Nova a small GM car is approximately = doesn't go in Spanish

Even Rolls-Royce nearly made a mistake in the 1950s. The proposed name of one of their models would have been rude in German.

Og (who is not a German uncle)

PS Even Brass Band Music has different connotations. In the UK Brass Bands are associated with Trades Unions, large industrial plants and Yorkshire. In the US you have High School Marching Bands. In Germany Brass Bands are associated with the far right and intolerance.
 
Re: Re: Gosh, do I ever feel dumb!

oggbashan said:
Even Brass Band Music has different connotations. In the UK Brass Bands are associated with Trades Unions, large industrial plants and Yorkshire. In the US you have High School Marching Bands. In Germany Brass Bands are associated with the far right and intolerance.
That is fascinating, Ogg. I will have to reassess my opinion of Gauche.

Then there's Wagner whose music, including lyrics, holds no anti-semitism (though the man did), and still cannot be played publicly in Israel.

Perdita
 
Re: Re: Gosh, do I ever feel dumb!

Originally posted by oggbashan Words, any words, can cause problems even between speakers of "English".
Dear Og,
I guess I'll never get it right. I still can't understand how the word "avuncular" written in English, posted at an English written site and read by an English speaking person could be anything but how it is defined in a dictionary of the English language.
Silly me, again,
MG
Ps. I ain't no sport.
Pps. Yes, I know that word has numerous meanings.
 
This thread is jinxed. My system has crashed twice trying to write a reply to MathGirl above. Third time lucky, I hope.

Sorry, MG, for calling you a "sport". I meant the Australian version, a thoroughly good egg, a friend to be proud of.

I have to be careful with my spoken English and aware of words that a direct translation into another European language can produce a totally different set of associations.

Why?

My shop is not far from the Channel. I get several non-English customers a week. This week I have had several French customers, a Dutch couple, a Swede, a Pole and a German. They buy books in English from me because secondhand English books in my shop are much cheaper than they would be in their own countries. Most of them speak reasonable English but a wrong word can give offence.

I can be in France sooner than it would take me to drive to London.

Apart from the day-trippers from the continent we have several groups of foreign students learning English. They stay with families locally so I am not surprised to hear kids talking French, German or Italian in the street.

There are the immigrants. I hear Arabic, Hungarian, Serbo-Croat and other languages I can't identify.

My nearest Fish & Chip shop is run by Turkish Cypriots, who speak Turkish to each other. The next nearest is run by Hong Kong Chinese who speak Cantonese. Most of the Chinese take-aways speak Cantonese but one speaks Mandarin.

Then there are the Thai and Indian restaurants. Ordering from the menu can be a lottery. It is easiest to say "I'll have number 7 and number 33" because the numbers are less likely to be confused in translation between the waiter and the cook.

At one time one of the Indian restaurants had a cook who was a great cook but from a different part of India. He couldn't understand the waiters or the manager because they spoke a different Indian language. All the orders had to be written down as numerals and passed to him. After a couple of months he managed to acquire a smattering of "Indian" English but mistakes occurred sometimes. The food was good but you might not get what you thought you ordered. Now his English is competent and the food is still good.

Now to hit the send button and hope.

Og
 
Ogg, per the languages you note your neighborhood sounds just like mine. San Francisco, I love it.

Perdita from "The City"
 
Judging purely by 2 places (Og's and mine) England is a more cosmopolitan place than many would believe. At the moment, along with those Og mentioned we have an influx of Kosovars to add to the melting pot, joining their post ww2 EU neighbours, Poles, LIthuanians, Russki, Stay-on POWS from Germany and Italy and the other 'typical' restaraunt foreigners.

Gauche
 
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