Help figure out this modifier of the word "mentality", which may be phonetically similar to "sinded".

October 18, 2009 1:27 PM

Help figure out this modifier of the word "mentality", which may be phonetically similar to "sinded".

Yesterday, I received this email from a friend of mine who occasionally calls on me for these sorts of things. I'm stumped! After rolling around with it using a couple of possible pronunciations, I've still got nothin'. Any love?

Okay John, I can always count on you for these things...I am trying to figure out the spelling of the following word "sinded" as in sinded mentality. It is not a word I am familiar with and I can't find it on Websters site no matter how I spell it. Any ideas?

posted by Roach to writing & language (21 comments total)

Sentimentality?
posted by fourcheesemac at 1:38 PM on October 18 [1 favorite]

OED has nothing for sinded, has sind as both a noun and verb, see below, it couldn't be 'sine die' you are afer could it? Perhaps implying the kind of mentality that puts something off indefinitely?

sind, n.

A rinsing; a draught, a potation.

a1774 FERGUSSON Farmer's Ingle iii, A heartsome meltith, and refreshing synd O' nappy liquor. 1899 CROCKETT Kit Kennedy 57 ‘Thae Shire-folk are no content wi' giein' a pot a bit syne wi' a jaw o' water,’ said Heather Jock.

sind, v.

trans. To rinse, to wash out or down.

a1350 St. Nicholas 202 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 13 Als e childe stouped am bihind, To tak water, e coup to sind. 1483 Cath. Angl. 340/1 To Synde, vbi to wesche. 1752 Scotland's Glory 70 A cup of beer goes round at first their thirsty throats for synding. 1790 D. MORISON Poems 148 A lass..There sinding out her duds. Ibid. 185 Wi' nimble hand she sinds her milking-pail. 1825 BROCKETT N.C. Gloss. s.v., To sind it down, being to take a drink after meat. 1841 W. AITKEN Poet. Wks. 55 A waught o' ale to sind their gab. 1860 F. FARQUHARSON in Ford Harp of Perthshire (1893) 216 Katie and Lizzie come in frae the kye, An' synd their milk coggies an' lay them a' by.
1807-10 R. TANNAHILL Poems (1846) 13 Now Mirren's to the burn to sine her kirn. 1853 Whistle-Binkie Ser. II. 78 They syned doun the sappy, substantial food, Wi' a capfu' o' yill.
Hence sindings, rinsings.

1824 SCOTT St. Ronan's ii, A' the bits of vinegar cruets.., and ilk ane wi' the bit dribbles of syndings in it. 1868 JANET HAMILTON Poems 221 The milky syn'ins o' the kirn. 1876 ROBINSON Whitby Gloss. 171 Sindings, watery dregs; washings.
posted by biffa at 1:47 PM on October 18

We do not have enough information to answer this question. You need to ask your friend for more context: how is the phrase/word used? Where did your friend run across it? Unless it is in fact a misunderstanding of "sentimentality" (good guess), we're not going to come up with anything useful.

Also: Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer. Wisecracks don't help people find answers. Thanks.
posted by languagehat at 1:59 PM on October 18

Yeah, what languagehat said. What, according to your friend, does it mean?
posted by kenko at 2:03 PM on October 18

scindere?
To split up or divide
posted by Acacia at 2:05 PM on October 18

I'm with Acacia!
Scind?
posted by Max Power at 2:07 PM on October 18

It's vaguely plausible that "sundered" might be an esoteric or archaic term - eg for schizophrenics or people with multiple personality disorder, but that's a complete guess.

(on preview: if so, it would be related to what Acacia said)
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:08 PM on October 18

He could be hearing "ascended mentality" as "a sinded mentality." Though it's not like "ascended mentality" is a common phrase.
posted by Kattullus at 2:17 PM on October 18

"Stunted" sounds like sinded, also.
(I'm assuming your friend is transcribing from audio)
posted by Acacia at 2:19 PM on October 18

Ask the friend to use the word in a sentence. Probably several sentences.
posted by xueexueg at 2:45 PM on October 18

Thank you all! I am going to forward her this thread. I'll keep you posted.
posted by Roach at 2:49 PM on October 18

Dollars to doughnuts it's "sentimentality."
posted by Miko at 5:59 PM on October 18

Buck gets ten it's "sundered".
posted by tra at 6:12 PM on October 18

I have an updated from the question asker.....

Hello John and thank you for responding. I had a meeting with one of the VP’s of the hospital and I am recapping the conversation in a report so I definitely don’t want to misspell the word and yes my pride is causing me to have difficulty asking him to spell the word. Listed below is the exact usage of the word. In reading the responses maybe the first person was correct. Personally I like the guy who used the expression “dollars to donuts” my Dad used to say that, made me smile.


Solid neuro and cardiology program with a sinded mentality
_____________________


Does this help narrow it down?
posted by Roach at 8:43 PM on October 18

Well, I'm wrong.
posted by Miko at 9:08 PM on October 18

I definitely don’t want to misspell the word and yes my pride is causing me to have difficulty asking him to spell the word

Sorry, this is ridiculous. It's not just that he doesn't know how to spell the word, it's that he doesn't know which word was actually said. Because he's too proud to check, he's going to produce a report which misquotes the VP of the hospital as saying something that makes no sense. This will make them both look really, really stupid - until the VP finds out the source of the error, and then it will only be your friend who looks stupid.

Tell your friend that words are tools for communicating meaning. He needs to find out what the VP means - what exactly is he trying to say about the hospital's neuro and cardiology program? If he doesn't know, he should check. There's nothing embarrassing about saying "Hey, could we clarify the comments you made about the neuro cardiology program - I just want to be sure I'm not misquoting you." This isn't a question of spelling, this is a question of whether the word 'sinded' even exists.
posted by embrangled at 9:11 PM on October 18 [1 favorite]

Well, I'm wrong.

You're also a guy now.

But I think embrangled is spot on about cutting right to the chase & asking the VP.

Where I work, it's absolutely normal for people (professionals, consultants, whatever) to interrupt a speaker to clarify a word or acronym that they might have misheard or not understood. Far from revealing their ignorance (unless it's something that should be common industry knowledge) it shows that they have attention to detail, and are intent on proper communication, rather than bullshitting.

Speaking of bullshitting, I really hope that the VP wasn't engaging in any of that kind of puff-talk. Otherwise, when pressed, the word might end up being rescinded.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:29 PM on October 18

Scientific? Scended? [Something]-minded?

But, yeah, ask. Could be jargon, or a proper noun.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 3:16 AM on October 19

Sintered?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sintering

Centered?
posted by sagwalla at 5:25 AM on October 19

A follow-up would be appreciated, please.
posted by JimN2TAW at 7:39 AM on October 19

Followup from question asker. I will post a final followup if/when she hears from her boss, who is the hospital's director.

Thank you for your assistance, I will ask him directly and let you know. My boss used this phrase in a meeting as I mentioned, and I am to put together a business plan based on this meeting of which we didn’t discuss all the content it is to contain. I can put together a marketing plan in short order but have never done a business plan. When I have asked him for assistance I have not had a response and yet I’m on a deadline so I was trying to go it alone and do the best I can. I guess I will find out how I did, I submitted last night and eliminated the phrase but it is not finalized so I can add it back in.

posted by Roach at 6:11 PM on October 19