#compoundWatch time, or maybe we are nearing the end of me thinking about compounds, because the German specimen below is killing me: "Kapsel-System" 'capsule system', ok, fine, but it is a "Kapsel-System ohne Kapsel" 'a capsule system without capsule'. I know I know, everything is allowed in the language of advertising, but still, the relation WITHOUT strikes me as a bit too unallowed. Now waiting for more revolutions, a paper bag without paper for example #semanticTransparency

What compound noun results from combining 'tea' and 'egg'? It depends, Mandarin Chinese going for 茶叶蛋 cháyèdàn ['tea' + 'leaf'] + 'egg' = 'egg infused in tea', German for Tee-Ei 'tea' + 'egg' = 'tea-infuser in egg form'
Both semantically transparent in their very own ways :)
#compoundWatch #semanticTransparency

Another compound that should not be: German "Freßfabrik" 'to eat' + factory with the meaning "person who eats like a machine". Unexpected because there is actually the compound "Freßmaschine" 'to eat' + machine with exactly that meaning, and because in general the G Fabrik/Eng factory compounds typically lead to 'factory that produces X' interpretations, e.g. "Batteriefabrik"/'battery factory'.
Source: Hoffmans Hunger by Leon de Winter [Unfortunately I don't know what is used in the Dutch original here :(]
#compoundWatch #semanticTransparency

"The student's last-minute revision and essay-deadline brinksmanship may be widely derided, but is both rational and efficient." Joe Moran in the #TLS, July 27, 2018
(Just re-discovered this when sorting my notes, but can't remember why exactly I wrote it down. Most likely reason: the content of the statement AND the #compoundWatch worthy "last-minute revision and essay-deadline brinksmanship" :)

In Louise Erdrich's The night watchman, the first person introduced is Thomas Wazhashk. And, also early on, on page 4, this: "THOMAS WAS named for the muskrat, wazhashk, the lowly, hardworking, water-loving rodent."
Ok, the obvious #compoundWatch question is: muskrat is a compound, so, is "wazhashk" also a compound? How do I find out? I am a trained linguist, so I should be able to find out, right?

The language of interest is Chippewa (p. 21), and actually, in the afterword and acknowledgments, there are the terms Ojibwe and Ojibwemowin.

OK, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojibwe_language: Ojibwe is the nambe for the tribe, and Ojibwemowin the name for its language, but also Ojibwe can refer to Ojibwe language. Chippewa is Southwestern Ojibwe.
But: we need to find out more about "wazhashk", and luckily, there is a link to the Ojibwe People's Dictionary project, and the entry there comes with audio, great: https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/wazhashk-na
Also: no further wordparts are indicated, so, as far as I can tell, not a compound in this case.

Häufiges Gesprächsthema landauf landab: Die Versicherungsnummer für die Rentenversicherung. Dies führte im Volksmund zu zwei gleichermaßen liebevoll verspielten Bezeichnungen: "Sozialversicherungsnummer" und "Rentenversicherungsnummer"
#compoundWatch
Source: https://www.zenjob.com/de/blog/sozialversicherungsnummer/

Beautiful #languageAquisition example for motivated compound creation in #English :

D(2;7.1, in the bath, after father said: "You're making a cake?")):
It's a water-cake.

Father: Why do you call it water-cake?

D: I made it in the water.

Source (secondary): Clark, Eva V. (2016). First Language Acquistion, Third Edition, Cambridge University Press, p. 292. (referenced original source: Clark 1993 The lexicon in acquisition, CUP: 40-41)
#compoundWatch #semanticTransparency

Just encountered the word "mushroom" once too often and now can't get over the "room" part of the word. This could be such a great compound.
#compoundWatch

Saw the quiet and very moving 2022 movie "Return to Dust" on Friday. Even had a #compoundWatch moment:
The male lead had 熊猫血 xiong2mao1 + xue4 panda + blood --- turns out that this is a colloquial term for Rh-negative blood type. Why? Apparently because that blood type is so rare in Asian populations (according to Wikipedia 0.3% vs. 15% in European populations), and since Pandas are also rare, we get "panda blood", so a blood type as rare as Pandas. #semanticTransparency #morphology

Rare nowadays to see a new #coronaCompound, here one from #German: "Corona-Goldgrube" corona + goldmine `covid cash cow', here refering to Biontech's vaccine. This particular choice of compound is also locally motivated because the company headquarter is located in the street "An der Goldgrube" 'at the goldmine'.
Source: Business section of the FAZ, 2023-03-28.
#compoundWatch

Note that the other newer and wildly metaphoric #helicopterCompound, "helicopter money", does straightforwardly go back the idea of dropping money from a helicopter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_money
#compoundWatch

I always thought that the origin of the term "helicopter parent" came from the image of affluent parents driving their children to all sorts of affluent children events wherever and whenever. So, basically as if those children had private helicopters at their disposal to take them anyplace at anytime. TIL it actually comes from the image of the parents hovering over their children like helicopters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_parent). The fun thing, as so often with compounds: both explanations can probably often successfully be linked to the same group of parents the term is meant to refer to
#compoundWatch

Just wondering how frequent the phrase/compound "white lie" is nowadays and in general admiring what a good concept it is, and on casually checking via http://bncweb.lancs.ac.uk not only finding "classic white lie" (in case you wonder: "We are just good friends ---"), but, more relevant in academic and general writing contexts, this beauty:
"I didn't want to tell her I'd done nothing at all so I told a sort of white lie — said I was halfway through the first draft. "

#compoundWatch #BritishNationalCorpus #BNC

The death of Tom Verlaine (RIP) is a reminder to listen to songs like "Venus" again, which, apart from its artistic merit, deserves mention from a compound-point-of-view for the "toy night" compound in the very first line:
"It was a tight toy night, streets so bright."
#compoundWatch #English #toyNight #Television #Venus

Ok, final leftover from Christmas: a good German ad-hoc compound name for the apple in the picture below flanked by two horses would be "Pferdeapfel" horses + apple. Somewhat unfortunately, this compound is already lexicalized with the meaning "piece of horse dung". I leave it to the reader to come up with their favorite motivation for this meaning :)
#compoundWatch

First post here must of course contain a compound, and why not German "Lieblingsgast" [the favorite] + customer 'favourite customer', which is a nice example of a very productive copulative compound pattern and also shows that the Deutsche Bahn really really likes me
#compoundWatch