Author Topic: faerie  (Read 2530 times)

ridethetalk

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Re: faerie
« Reply #30 on: August 23, 2021, 01:05:17 PM »
On this subject, I'm going to, as a result of missing a rosette in yesterday's challenge game, add WHERETO to the list of HERETO and THERETO for future games (though I'm sure my aging brain will probably forget this by the time its called upon)...
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les303

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Re: faerie
« Reply #31 on: August 23, 2021, 01:49:11 PM »
Thanks for the feedback on apothecary.
The non well educated & non well read individuals like me need all the help that we can get.
While i concede that apothecary may not be obsolete, i maintain that the term is definitely dated & would be unfamiliar to many, so i would appreciate hearing Alan's opinion regarding its current common classification.
The definition in my compact Macquarie is ; ( archaic ) chemist, pharmacist.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2021, 02:16:39 PM by les303 »

Alan W

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Re: faerie
« Reply #32 on: September 09, 2021, 09:17:54 PM »
I would like to see an example of its common, everyday use.

Although the subject line of this topic is faerie, Les's challenge relates to the word apothecary.

In Smith Street, Fitzroy - 9 minutes drive away from where I sit according to Google Maps - is The Melbourne Apothecary, a naturopathic practitioner. Also in nearby suburbs are The Holistic Apothecary in South Yarra; Homeopathy Clinic Melbourne, The Family Apothecary in Kew; Thornbury Apothecary, a reiki therapist; and several others, including the Animal Apothecary, pet supply store.

Presumably the staff at these establishments use the word every day.

In the News on the Web corpus there are 6 articles using the word from the first 7 days of this month - almost every day!

Forbes, 7 September:

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Contained in a luxurious refillable, reusable and recyclable apothecary bottle, this pure and naked skin elixir held the promise of youth in a bottle.

Shemazing (Ireland), 6 September:

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This almost perfectly preserved old time apothecary is one of Cork city’s most unique wine and dining experiences. Offering a range of different wines are available from behind the counter, along with a selection of medicines, look around their glass cabinets and investigate the medicines, cosmetics, and apothecary accoutrements from the past 120 years.

Forbes, 5 September:

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Beauty brands include Inika Organic, Lola's Apothecary, Green Planet Beauty, Juni Cosmetics, as well as a strong selection of health and wellbeing products, such as kombucha, candles, and essential oils.

New York Times, 3 September:

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And before they left, they were invited to pick one of the many drawers of a custom apothecary cabinet on the main floor, each filled with a playful parting gift.

Gizmodo, 1 September:

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A new fantasy series begins in this tale of an apothecary apprentice who's working to cure a devastating plague the land's rulers have chosen to ignore.

bdnews24 (Bangladesh), 1 September:

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But the explosion of tidy cubbies and drawers that causes an ultramodern kitchen to resemble the study of a 19th-century apothecary is not merely the result of refrigerators becoming cabinets. Cabinets, too, are becoming refrigerators.

Most dictionaries identify apothecary as dated, historic, archaic, etc. The one exception I spotted is the American Heritage online dictionary, which has no such comments, for some reason. I think we could say that the word has a definite old time feel about it. Perhaps the alternative medicine crowd are drawn to the word because they have little regard for the achievements of medical science over the last few centuries.

At any rate, the word is still used fairly often in various contexts: historical fiction and fantasy, products such as apothecary jars and cabinets, new age type businesses. In the many instances where news stories use the word, I didn't see any who felt the need to explain to readers what it meant, so I assume the word is pretty widely known. I'm leaving it as a common word.
Alan Walker
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Greynomad

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Re: faerie
« Reply #33 on: September 09, 2021, 10:00:30 PM »
Seems reasonable to me Alan.

I don’t use it in normal conversation, but as someone who plays the game looking purely for the seed word in each game, I did find it reasonably easily, compared to many other words.

I do know reasonably often,  as I am sure others do, I look at the combination of letters, and the word jumps out at me as the only possible solution. This was in fact one of those times.

les303

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Re: faerie
« Reply #34 on: September 10, 2021, 08:47:42 AM »
Thanks for the thorough explanation, Alan.

Jacki

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Re: faerie
« Reply #35 on: September 10, 2021, 04:49:22 PM »
Hear hear.
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birdy

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Re: faerie
« Reply #36 on: October 17, 2021, 08:20:51 AM »
I'm not sure that this little object was labeled an apothecary jar, but it certainly fits the concept.  It was a promotional gift to doctors from a major pharmaceutical company here in the U.S.A. some years ago.