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Today's word: "pit"

From:Herman Miller <hmiller@...>
Date:Monday, May 24, 2004, 1:24
I was thinking about "pits" today; specifically the pits of fruit, and
how they don't look anything like big holes in the ground that you'd
break every bone in your body if you fall into. So that'll be today's
vocabulary item.

"Pit" is used for lots of different kinds of holes and indentations, but
I'll limit myself to two:

A "guoch" ["xu@x] is a medium to large hole in the ground, either
natural (like a sinkhole) or artificial (like a rock quarry). A "guoch"
can go for a long distance straight down, but an excavation that
actually goes under ground is considered a tunnel ("chalem"). "Guoch"
also contrasts with long horizontal fissures or crevasses, which are
"kelek".

Another kind of pit is a small cavity or indentation in a relatively
smooth surface; this is "nteki" [n"dEki]. This word can be used for
cavities in teeth or dimples in golf balls.

The seed of a plant is "ros" ["rOs]; this includes pits of fruit like
cherries or peaches.

Finally there's the verb "pit", typically used with "against", meaning
to set in opposition. I could go back and use some form of the word
"set", but I think it'd be more useful to come up with a word for
"oppose" (kyörtich ["ku\@4`iC]) and use the causative form "nkyörtich"
[N"gu\@4`iC] to mean "set against". Lindiga needs more of those
prenasalized consonants at the start of words. :-)

(Note: Lindiga "y" is actually [u\], not [1] as I've been writing the
last few days. I was confusing it with Tirelat "y".)