The OL truth

For some reason, there  has suddenly  been a surge in interest in this blog. After about three months of limping along at about 4 visits per day, on 25 April that increased by a factor of more than 20 (not the average – that really would be extraordinary [the daily average has gone up by more than 1 though]) . I‘m not sure what to make of this. In its 100-odd days, visits have been:

• Jan 164
• Feb  94
• Mar  75
• Apr 176
• May too early to say, but it looks as if the fever has passed.

Be that as it may, here are the latest offerings from #WVGTbk2.

First draft of "ol" >  /əl/ notes

1. acrolect
   This word is on the Macmillan English Dictionary CD, with audio samples identified as British and American. But the entry in Macmillan English Dictionary online has a URL that specifies that it is "American". It is heard in the UK, but widely regarded as very informal.
2. cabriolet
   Macmillan English Dictionary gives this transcription, but the audio sample has the vowel sound /əʊ/.
3. dissolute
   Students of ESOL should note that the ss represents /s/, whereas in dissolve the same letters represent /z/.
4. electrolyte
   This is the sole representative of words (and neologisms) that use the prefix "electro-" with the pronunciation /ɪ‘lektrəʊ/ (as in, for example, "electroplating", which is a sort of plating. This does not include words that include the morpheme electr*, as in "electron" or "electrocute" (there is no such thing as a cute).
5. gasoline
   In American English, often abbreviated to "gas" – in, for example, "gas-station". This sort of "gas" is also used, in informal British English, in the figurative expression "to have gas" (of a sportsman who accelerates or runs quickly). Use with care, as in American English "to have gas" can have a very different meaning.
6. ideologue, idiolect, and idol
   ESOL students should note that the pronunciation of the first syllable depends on the root word or morpheme. For example, in ideologue, the root is idea and the pronunciation is /aɪ/. In idiolect the root is idio- (as in idiom and even – via a remote etymological link – idiot), so the pronunciation is /ɪ/. The same often applies to other related words, such as idol/idolatry (with the initial syllable having the vowel sound /aɪ/).
7. plimsoll
   Macmillan English Dictionary gives this transcription, but the audio sample has the vowel sound /ɒ/. Some speakers use an /əʊ/ vowel for the footwear, with the vowel /ə/ reserved for the nautical Plimsoll Line (which – the name of a nineteenth-century Member of Parliament – is historically the source of the footwear name).
8. polemic and polemical
   Macmillan English Dictionary gives this transcription, but the audio sample has a suggestion of /ɒ/.
9. travolator
   The Macmillan English Dictionary calls travelator "a British spelling of travolator". Strangely, the Macmillan English Dictionary Online says the same – but with a URL that identifies it as "American".

First draft of "Magic E" notes

Preamble

Note that many of these words are compounds formed with -hole, -pole, or whole-.

1. armhole
   This is the sole representative of the many compound nouns that use -hole as a suffix. with exceptions as noted separately.
2. bargepole
   The obvious meaning is as a compound formed from barge and pole, but such poles are presumably mostly in museums. The word escapes the general exclusion specified in note 8 because of its figurative use in the collocation "wouldn‘t touch <something> with a bargepole" (expressing extreme distaste).
3. beanpole
   Like bargepole the derivation of this is obvious: support for bean plants as they grow. But this word escapes the exclusion specified in note 8 because of its figurative use in reference to a person who is very thin.
4. cubbyhole
   This escapes the exclusion made in note 1, because cubby itself is not a free-standing word – except as a dialect word meaning "squat" and (since the late nineteenth century) as an abbreviation for cubbyhole:
   

   

   diagram from Collins English Dictionary

5. hellhole
   This escapes the exclusion made in note 8, because the hell- element is metaphorical – even for people who believe that Hell is real – in this compound.
6. keyhole
   This escapes the exclusion made in note 1, because of its recent use as an adjective in metaphors.
7. lughole
   This escapes the exclusion made in note 1, because lug- is not a free-standing word (although it‘s possible that there‘s a remote etymological link to the word lug ["ear"] – the ear being used in some cases for dragging someone unwillingly).
8. maypole
   This is the sole representative of compound words formed with the suffix -pole.
9. pigeonhole
   This escapes the exclusion made in note 1, because – although it clearly refers to a hole for a pigeon – it is more commonly used as a metaphor (sometimes as a simple physical container, but also as a verb referring to the imposition of arbitrary limits).
10. poleaxed
    Students of ESOL might rightly assume that this is the third part (or past participle) of the noun/verb poleaxe, but that tool (used typically to slaughter large animals [whence the collocation "like a poleaxed ox"]) is seen chiefly in museums today, and the verb – as an infinitive – has suffered a corresponding decline. This graph from Collins English Dictionary shows this decline:

    

    diagram from Collins English Dictionary

11. pothole
    This escapes the exclusion given in note 1, because the word is in no sense a hole for a pot.
12. wholegrain
    This is the sole representative of the many compound nouns that use whole- as a prefix. with exceptions as noted separately.
13. wholesale
    This escapes the exclusion given in note 12, because no part of the sale is whole.
14. wholesome
    This escapes the exclusion given in note 12, because the etymological link with healing (as in being made whole) is not immediately apparent.
15. wormhole
    This escapes the exclusion given in note 1 because, the Macmillan English Dictionary does not give its  more recently coined metaphorical meaning (in sci-fi and astrophysics). This usage has nothing to do with worms, and the hole is a metaphorical one.

Onward.

b
Update: 2016.05.04.21:50 – Fixed a very embarrassing coding error. Apologies if you tried vainly to make sense of the original.