Words of the day

Here I am, at 2am on Monday morning, have to get to work in less than 7 hours' time, yet unable to sleep.

Been reading, and came across 2 new words :

cavil

/kavv’l/

• verb (cavilled, cavilling; US caviled, caviling) make petty objections.

• noun a petty objection.

— ORIGIN Latin cavillari, from cavilla ‘mockery’.


viscera

/viss ere/ (click link above to see actual pronunciation. Can't get the letter in.)

• plural noun (sing. viscus) the internal organs in the main cavities of the body, especially those in the abdomen.

— ORIGIN Latin, plural of viscus.


Haha.. I was reading an article of someone's description of "Kway Chap", something that he didn't like.


Oh, and this :

organ

• noun 1 a distinct part of an animal or plant adapted for a particular function, for example the heart or kidneys. 2 a large musical keyboard instrument with rows of pipes supplied with air from bellows. 3 a smaller keyboard instrument producing similar sounds electronically. 4 a newspaper or periodical which puts forward the views of a political party or movement. 5 euphemistic a man’s penis.



Pig innards are the main attraction at food court stalls with signs saying "Kway chap" or "Pig organ soup".

The latter always suggests to me the poor animal's penis and testicles, not viscera, and I am not wrong, for the error is in the bad English that is found all over Singapore. The pig's organ does mean the genitals. The viscera are the pig's organs (note the plural), and thus the signs should read "Pig organs soup".

The missing letter "s" makes all the difference, but how many Singaporeans with their shoddy English can even spot this?