groundhogese

From groundhog +‎ -ese (suffix forming the names of languages used in particular contexts).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɹaʊndhɒɡˈiːz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɹaʊn(d)ˌ(h)ɔɡˈiz/, (cot–caught merger) /-ˌ(h)ɑɡ-/

• Audio (General American); /ˌɡɹaʊndˌhɔɡˈiz/:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːz
• Hyphenation: ground‧hog‧ese

groundhogese (uncountable)

1. (humorous) A supposed language in which groundhogs and humans can communicate with each other.
   • 1947 February 3, “Groundhog back to din for 6 weeks”, in Hope Star, volume 48, number 95, Hope, Ark.: Star Pub. Co., →OCLC, page 1, column 3:

     Wintry winds whipped a whirl of snow around the entrance to the burrow of the famed Punxsutawney groundhog today. […] Under direction of club president and master of shadows Frank A. Lorenzo shadowgraphers, geometricians, groundhogese interpreters and weather scouts went to work to record the nuances of the shadow. […] After walkie-talkie operators had flashed the forecast to the waiting world, the groundhogese interpreters stepped forward to catch the old seer's annual words of wisdom.

   • 1997 January 29, Christine H. O’Toole, “Tunnel vision: Without a shadow of a doubt, tiny Punxsutawney, Pa., took a lowly groundhog and made his day”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 1 May 2024:

     Stranded in town, we heard, rather than saw, the Great Prognosticator's annual prediction, delivered in "groundhogese" and ceremoniously translated by members of the Inner Circle. Phil's fans cheered lustily at the promise of an early spring and immediately streamed back down the mile-long hill to town. Many were college students in groundhog hats or T-shirts who carried banners (my favorite: "Free Phil").

   • 2008, Brenda Shelton Strickland, Mary Franklin Green, “Shadows”, in Kevin J. Goldfluss, Ian Massler Levin, editors, Seasonal Activities: Winter, Westminster, Calif.: Teacher Created Resources, →ISBN, page 126:

     Since 1887 Punxsutawney Phil, the resident groundhog, has come out of his electrically heated burrow, looked for his shadow, and uttered his prediction to a Groundhog Club representative in "groundhogese." The prediction is then translated for the public.

   • 2014, Roni Adams, Passion in Punxy, Adams Basin, N.Y.: The Wild Rose Press, →ISBN:

     Ken picked up Phil and looked into his black eyes. "Phil only talks in groundhogese which you don't believe in."

• The word is associated with Groundhog Day celebrations in the United States.

• Groundhog Day on Wikipedia.Wikipedia