"Beclown":
This word seems to have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity recently, usually as a contemptuous statement that someone has "beclowned himself." It is indeed a long-attested word, rather than a newly coined word or a nonce word. From the OED entry on the prefix "be-":
5. Forming trans. verbs on adjectives and substantives, taken as complements of the predicate, meaning To make: as BEFOUL, to make foul, orig. to surround or affect with foulness; ... BESOT, to turn into a sot. In modern use, nearly all tinged with ridicule or contempt ....
b. With n.: bebaron, to make into a baron; bebishop, beclown ...
1609 ROWLANDS Crew Gossips 24 O wretch, O Lob, who would be thus *beclown'd?
Everything old is new again.
[troll] By the way, it's not in the official dictionary. [/troll]
I had an orthodontist who decorated his office with clown pictures.
The horror....
All the world loves clown...
(Except JohnAnnArbor, I guess.)
Course, sometimes it might have the opposite meaning.
As in: Behead.
Implies more subtraction than addition.
lol internet!
As in: Behead.
Implies more subtraction than addition.
Actually, beheading turns you into a head (by removing the parts below the neck), just as beclowning turns you into a clown.
But what, pray tell, would "declownestration" mean? And does it happen only in Prague?
A reasonable inquiry, except that the word for "make into a knight" is "knight".
Well, it's not one word, but how about, "due process"?
ps. No clowns were harmed in the process of creating this response. Mimes either, more's the pity.
All the world loves clown...
"To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad."
Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy (SNL)
That depends on one's perspective, doesn't it? Does the beheadee lose a head (thereby becoming a headless torso), or lose a body (thereby becoming a head)? If the latter, then the prefix seems to have the same meaning as in the other examples-- the object of the verb is made into a head.
Shirley, Shirley bo Birley Bonana fanna fo Firley
Fee fy mo Mirley, Shirley!
Lincoln!
Lincoln, Lincoln bo Bincoln Bonana fanna fo Fincoln
Fee fy mo Mincoln, Lincoln!
Come on everybody!
I say now let's play a game
I betcha I can make a rhyme out of anybody's name
The first letter of the name, I treat it like it wasn't there
But a B or an F or an M will appear
And then I say bo add a B then I say the name and Bonana fanna and a
fo
And then I say the name again with an F very plain
and a fee fy and a mo
And then I say the name again with an M this time
and there isn't any name that I can't rhyme
Arnold!
Arnold, Arnold bo Barnold Bonana fanna fo Farnold
Fee fy mo Marnold Arnold!
But if the first two letters are ever the same,
I drop them both and say the name like
Bob, Bob drop the B's Bo ob
For Fred, Fred drop the F's Fo red
For Mary, Mary drop the M's Mo ary
That's the only rule that is contrary.
Okay? Now say Bo: Bo
Now Tony with a B: Bony
Then Bonana fanna fo: bonana fanna fo
Then you say the name again with an F very plain: Fony
Then a fee fy and a mo: fee fy mo
Then you say the name again with an M this time: Mony
And there isn't any name that you can't rhyme
Every body do Tony!
Pretty good, let's do Billy!
Very good, let's do Marsha!
A little trick with Nick!
The name game
"Actually, beheading turns you into a head (by removing the parts below the neck), just as beclowning turns you into a clown."
Didn't Marcotte describe herself at one point as 'bec*nted'?? I wonder how she did that?
RGT