Re: [OT: Elfquest]
On Tue, Aug 12, 2003 at 06:13:53PM +0100, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 12, 2003 at 07:07:00PM +0200, David Fokkema wrote:
> > On Tue, Aug 12, 2003 at 12:14:36PM -0400, ScruLoose wrote:
> > > There's a long history in English (especially informal English, maybe)
> > > of using 'sweet' for 'good' in some circumstances.
> > > From the pop song some years back that mentioned "kisses sweeter than
> > > wine" which makes no literal sense because neither kisses nor (decent)
> > > wine are actually sweet-tasting -- to the widespread use of "sweet
> > > deal!" to describe a particularly impressive bargain...
> >
> > Ah, of course... This reminds me of a line in a children's song: 'wie
> > zoet is krijgt lekkers' meaning 'those who are sweet will receive
> > candy/cookies/whatever' (I don't know the word in english which
> > describes the whole range of candy/cookies/etc.).
>
> Ironically, the word you probably want in at least British English would
> be "sweets". :)
If cookies and alike also fall in the category of 'sweets' then that's
what I'm looking for, yes. Ironical, indeed.
Also, I finally thought of doing 'dict sweet' and got this:
>From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Sweet \Sweet\, a. [Compar. {Sweeter}; superl. {Sweetest}.] [OE.
swete, swote, sote, AS. sw[=e]te; akin to OFries. sw[=e]te,
OS. sw[=o]ti, D. zoet, G. s["u]ss, OHG. suozi, Icel. s[ae]tr,
^^^^^^^
nice!
5. Fresh; not salt or brackish; as, sweet water. --Bacon.
Ah, yes. This explains it all, ;-)
Sorry I didn't think of this immediately...
David
Reply to: