Today's amusing word is "frisbee." A frisbee is a discus-like, usually plastic object that's thrown around in a popular outdoor pastime. People who throw frisbees are known as "frisbers." To throw a frisbee is "to frisb"---hence "frisber" and "frisbee".
People have wondered for a long time about the etymology of "frisb." There's a clear German cognate, not really in common use---"frisben," which means "to spin a round object in the air." "Ich frisbe, du fribst," and so on. It's mostly regular in the German present tense, just like it is in English: "I frisb, you frisb, he frisbs." But "frisben" in German has irregular imperfect and perfect past tenses. "Ich frosb" means "I frisbed" in English. However, the perfect tense looks like this: "Ich habe gefrosben," which looks temptingly close to the English form "I have frusben." They are not translations of each other, and the English form might be explained by analogy to "to spin": "I have spun".
Whatever the etymology of frisbing may be, most people know frisbee play as an entertaining and energetic pastime, with few rules. "Frisbee" is also a pretty funny word, with the "z" sound and the "b" sound next to each other: an unusual combination. It's verb form "to frisb" is a little awkward-sounding, but no more so than a number of other English words. In the meantime, this ancient game that comes from the long-vanished Bultec civilization in South America is played by millions of frisbers today. Happy frisbing!
after having frusben - Mandos caption
After having gefrosben, I think you mean.
Posted by: Tom Nolan | May 18, 2007 at 09:57 AM
No, only in German, for a slightly different meaning, too. It's definitely frusben in English.
Posted by: Mandos | May 18, 2007 at 03:10 PM
Willste mich verarschen, Mandos?
"Frusben" gibt's doch nicht auf Englisch.
Gibt's denn Leute, die bereit sind, dir so ein Stuss abzukaufen? Unfassbar.
Posted by: Tom Nolan | May 18, 2007 at 04:39 PM