Re: IJzelman- ?

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "willemvermeer" <wrvermeer@...>
wrote:

>
> I can't refrain from communicating to all of you the magic the
> wonderful neologism IJzelman conveys to this native carrier of

Dutch.

>
> IJzel is the relatively unusual weather condition by which rain is
> converted into ice on reaching the ground (German Glatteis, I

don't

> know in English). Traffic stops. Nobody can leave the house. Cars
> glide into ditches or worse, inexorably and with incredible

elegance.

>
> So an IJzelman must be a male person somehow connected with that
> weather condition, but since the compound does not specify the
> relationship you have to fill it in yourself:
>
>
> - A male person who produces ijzel, either because it is his job

or

> in some other capacity?
>
> - A male person forecasting or watching out for ijzel?
>
> - A male person who appears only during ijzel?
>
> - A male person distributing ijzel (cf. ijscoman)?
>
> - A male person who knows some tricks connected with ijzel, for
> instance who can walk on it?
>
> - An effigy of a male person made from ijzel (cf. sneeuwman)?
>
>
> There are no limits and the compound conveys a strong suggestion

that

> the concept of "ijzelman" really exists.
>
>

I'm sure there is a lesson to learned from this whole experience and
someday I might discover what it is.

Torsten