Re: Second Call for Papers: ECAL 2007 - Workshop on the Emergence of Social Behaviour


Brian M. Scott <b.scott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:132grzntzafd5.1unwovhquxa7y.dlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 06 Apr 2007 18:43:54 +0200, Joachim Pense
<snob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:ev5spc$7oh$03$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> in sci.lang:

Peter T. Daniels wrote:

[...]

The relevant vocative would be "Fag," not "faggy."

In principle it's possible, but I'd not expect it to be
common. Google does find 'Basically, America has just told
all its homosexual citizens, Hey, faggy, why donʼt you just
go back to Faglandia or wherever the hell it is that you
came from, ...'.

<http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=2596>

But wouldn't faggy also be a diminutive of the noun "fag",
hence itself a noun? Or are diminutives almost completely
unproductive in English?

Depends on the variety. Australian English seems to use
them more than most, often with <-o>, a formation not at all
common in U.S. English.

Brian

Another common colloquial Aussie diminutives are formed
with <-ie>, such as brekkie, chrissie, pressie.

pjk


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