Comments on: Eccentric – Podictionary Word of the Day http://blog.oup.com/2008/10/eccentric-%e2%80%93-podictionary-word-of-the-day/ Introducing brilliant authors to the blogosphere. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:43:07 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: podictionary weekly » podictionary weekly # 178 - October 27 to 31 http://blog.oup.com/2008/10/eccentric-%e2%80%93-podictionary-word-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-147800 podictionary weekly » podictionary weekly # 178 - October 27 to 31 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:55:28 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=2248#comment-147800 [...] Wednesday’s word origin was for calorie Thursday’s etymology, posted at OUPblog was for eccentric and Friday’s word root was for the word [...] [...] Wednesday’s word origin was for calorie Thursday’s etymology, posted at OUPblog was for eccentric and Friday’s word root was for the word [...]

]]> By: Virtual Linguist http://blog.oup.com/2008/10/eccentric-%e2%80%93-podictionary-word-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-147793 Virtual Linguist Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:58:29 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=2248#comment-147793 In fact the word eccentric is a little like the phrases “off his rocker” or “out of his tree.” Yes, and "off her rocker" and "out of her tree", presumably. There have been many well-known female eccentrics - the actor Dame Margaret Rutherford, the socialite Lady Diana Cooper, for instance. We in England have a soft spot for eccentrics, which is just as well, since we have so many of them and always have had. Royalty and the aristocracy seem to breed them! As you say, you need to be rich to be eccentric. There is a London fashion house called English Eccentrics, which gives an idea of the positive connotations of the word over here. In fact the word eccentric is a little like the phrases “off his rocker” or “out of his tree.”

Yes, and “off her rocker” and “out of her tree”, presumably. There have been many well-known female eccentrics – the actor Dame Margaret Rutherford, the socialite Lady Diana Cooper, for instance.
We in England have a soft spot for eccentrics, which is just as well, since we have so many of them and always have had. Royalty and the aristocracy seem to breed them! As you say, you need to be rich to be eccentric.
There is a London fashion house called English Eccentrics, which gives an idea of the positive connotations of the word over here.

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