Hello, everyone!

First, I �d like to thank Maryse again for choosing my crazy definition.

 

As for the new word, let me say that being from Greece frequently gets me thinking, what do English speakers make of words with Greek origin? How do they attempt to guess the meaning/ etymology of such words?

 

That �s why I chose this specific word for you to dwell on:

 

 

I �m eager to see what unusual, inspired, crazy answers you �ll come up with! Let the game begin!

 

Valentina 

 Drapetomania is obviously the obsession pet owners have with keeping their animals from ruining their long curtains and furniture. It is an excellent example of a portmanteau word with the elements "drape" (a floor-length window covering) and "pet" (an animal kept for the company rather than work) overlapping in the spelling and pronunciation. The o is an epenthesis added for ease of pronunciation. "Mania," of course, is used in the more colloquial sense of extreme enthusiasm rather than the clinical sense of elevated mood with hyperactivity.

 

Drapetomania is the major factor driving the sales of cat scratching posts. 

 

 

 

Do you know, there �s such a range of manias and phobias these days, it �s hard to keep up! This one, Drapetomania, is the love of changing the flag obsessively, well, it is a mania! So, you go past the Town Hall and they are flying the Union Jack. On your way back, they have got the EU flag flapping in the wind, then the three lions, then the Welsh dragon etc ...

Drap = flag, eto = finding a reason for making flag changes . 

This is from French :

 

DRAP means sheet (for the bed)

ET is for and

O MAN is said by the teens when they call someone (man or boy)

IA is for Y �A which is bad French for IL Y A (and as you can notice nothing to do with the German YA for yes)

 

And the words are in disorder here.

 

So DRAPETOMANIA means DRAP ET O MAN IA or in clearer words : " Whao ! There is a sheet for the bed here so we can sleep comfortably ! For once !"

 

Ah ! Teens and their coded language !

This word describes the modern obsession with aesthetic procedures for companion animals, such as teeth whitening for dogs or piercings for cats. People love to doctor their pets: Dr - a pet - o mania. It �s pronounced "doctorapetohmania".)

 

Here �s an example of a cat whose owner is a drapetomaniac:

 

Hello!

 

Thank you all for contributing your weird, amusing daffynitions of the word DRAPETOMANIA.

Drapetomania is defined as "an overwhelming urge to run away", which is, to my mind, something that teachers feelat least once in a while!

I liked all your posts, but I �m happy to pass the torch to MoodyMoody, who described pet owners � attempts to salvage their curtains from furry attacks in a really funny way!

 

Congratulations, MoodyMoody, you �re up next!

Have a nice day!

 

Valentina