Comments on: er er err..

Question: er er err..

provolot — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:16:16 -0800

I have a word-puzzle that I never figured out -- help me solve it!

For a while, I had this puzzle stuck in my mind. It was told to me by a teacher a few years ago, and I'm reasonably sure that there is an answer..

So -- normal verbs/words in the English language, when some variant of '-er','-r' is added to them, turn into an agent of the original word, right? For example, 'baker' is an agent of 'bake', and 'juggler' is somone who juggles; a fisher fishes, and a 'speaker' does speak.

Apparently there's one or two examples in which the opposite happens, in which a word would be an agent of its '-er' suffixed word. For example, if a 'tamp' was someone who 'tampers' (which it isn't)... or if a 'sland' (there is no such word) was someone who 'slanders'..

Help me find these cases! It's been plaguing me for a while, and I figured AskMe might help..

By: provolot

provolot — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:17:54 -0800

p.s. The agent doesn't have to be a person, by the way, just someone or something. Just to make that clear.

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:18:58 -0800

I asked the same question!

The answer is a pest pesters

By: obiwanwasabi

obiwanwasabi — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:26:04 -0800

I still like my answer - a cant canters.

By: provolot

provolot — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:30:19 -0800

Wow! I swore I searched for it.. leave it to metafilter to have asked my question beforehand, I guess. Thanks!

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:37:24 -0800

I suppose a wave could be said to waver, but that only adds "r", not "er".

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:25:46 -0800

Ah yes, I remember that thread. It was noteworthy because of the number of people that either didn't bother to read the question or didn't comprehend what was being asked.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:25:57 -0800

Alt alters.

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:43:33 -0800

It was noteworthy because of the number of people that either didn't bother to read the question or didn't comprehend what was being asked.

Case in point: a cobbler mends shoes. wtf?

By: IshmaelGraves

IshmaelGraves — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:06:54 -0800

It was noteworthy because of the number of people that either didn't bother to read the question or didn't comprehend what was being asked.

If only.

By: team lowkey

team lowkey — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 23:55:46 -0800

RJ eventually getting completely fed up was best part of the thread.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:36:17 -0800

when some variant of '-er','-r' is added to them

Just noticed this part. I win! Woohoo!

(Not that anybody's still reading this thread. Oh, well.)

By: spakto

spakto — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:43:30 -0800

Actually, trip and a half, that would be waiver. A waver does wave.

Why is it that in the Netherlands, or Holland, they speak Dutch?

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:13:13 -0800

Um. just to clarify, spakto, I meant the verb "to waver".

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:15:47 -0800

To be extra clear: a "wave" does "waver".