Tim Tyler  wrote in news:cbf25a$3v8$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org:

> RobertMaas{at}yahoogroups.com wrote or quoted:
>> > From: Tim Tyler 
> 
>> > there is a word invented for the purpose of describing the
>> > design-like aspects of nature: It's "designoid".
Dawkins invented the
>> > word.
>> 
>> I looked in an online dictionary but couldn't find the word. What part
>> of speech is it supposed to be? From the spelling, it appears to be a
>> noun, not a verb, so how can it replace "design" as a verb?
> 
> It's an adjective - used to describe the *product* of the process -
> rather than the process itself.

Maybe someone (Josh? can you help out?) can explain why this is true or not 
true based on Latin or Greek grammar, but I will practically guarantee that 
the ending "oid" makes the word a noun - e.g. spheroid, asteroid, android. 

moderator's pedantry: I'll do what I can. The "oid" ending is from
the Latin 'oides', itself from the Greek 'oeides' (more or less; I
can't use Greek letters here), from the Greek 'eidos', meaning form,
or shape. It's my experience that words with that ending are properly
nouns, though one hears "with an ovoid shape", for example, making it
seem that "ovoid" is an adjective. I would contend that construction
is simply meaning "with the shape of an ovoid", something one cannot
do with an adjective ("with the color of a blue"?). Here, the word
appears to be shorthand for "appearing to be a designoid"; hence, a
noun. - JAH]


Yours,

Bill Morse
---
þ RIMEGate(tm)/RGXPost V1.14 at BBSWORLD * Info{at}bbsworld.com

---
 * RIMEGate(tm)V10.2áÿ* RelayNet(tm) NNTP Gateway * MoonDog BBS
 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 6/26/04 10:13:04 PM