# How many people here can pronounce Chamois, the material and common purpose? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889 "2023-12-20T15:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/41 "2023-12-21T20:41:46Z")
Oh, right, you have to get them wet for them to be all soft and squishy. It’s been a while since I’ve used one. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/42 "2023-12-21T20:50:27Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’m having trouble finding “Sämisch” in online dictionaries Try the [Duden](https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/saemisch). It is vastly overrated (it says in this entry that the origin is uncertain, for instance, which it is not: see chamois!), one of my pet peeves is exposing their shortcomings. So there is another one! Yay! And it is only included as an adjective, then as a compound part of the tanning process, not a noun on its own. > [@Pleonast](#): > > is it a recent loan? It does not even state the first recorded use! Another example of sloppy dictioneering. 😃 > [@Pleonast](#): > > German has apparently borrowed the French word for the cloth, while keeping the original Germanic word for the animal. Yep: [Sämischleder](https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Saemischleder) for the cloth, but Gams for the animal. > [@Pleonast](#): > > It’s confusing. In my original post, I had “antelope”, but after looking at the Wikipedia page, I decided “goat” is the better term in English. It is complicated, it seems. For this species the denomination is goat-antelope, and Wikipedia redirects [goat-antelope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprinae) to caprinae and goes on to write: > The subfamily **Caprinae** ,[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprinae#cite_note-1) also sometimes referred to as the tribe **Caprini** ,[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprinae#cite_note-2) is part of the [ruminant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruminant) [family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_(biology)) [Bovidae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae),[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprinae#cite_note-Adw-3) and consists of mostly medium-sized [bovids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovid). A member of this subfamily is called a **caprine**.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprinae#cite_note-4) > > Prominent members include [sheep](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep) and [goats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goats), with some other members referred to as **goat antelopes**. Some earlier [taxonomies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy_(biology)) considered Caprinae a separate family called Capridae (with the members being caprids), but now it is usually considered either a subfamily within the Bovidae, or a tribe within the subfamily [Antilopinae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antilopinae) of the family Bovidae, with caprines being a type of bovid. The nomenclature has changed, my interpretation may be antiquated. It may be evolving still, see the use of “mostly”, “some other members referred to”, “some earlier taxonomies”, “now it is usually considered”. Scientific clarity this is not. Still, a very nice thread and an oportunity for _Klugscheisserei_ (a blatant display of know-it-all-ness) I could not let pass 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/43 "2023-12-21T21:03:56Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Still, a very nice thread and an oportunity for _Klugscheisserei_ (a blatant display of know-it-all-ness) I could not let pass 😉 I for one learned a lot of things in this thread. Firstly, that the first word in “St- Dominic’s Preview”, a song I dearly love, is “chamois”, that this is a cloth made of leather from the animal called “Gams” in German, that there seemingly isn’t an exact translation of “Gams” in English, but this animal is somehow a goat-antelope, and the German (rather Bavarian) word for chamois, “Sämischleder”, which I never heard before. But then, I don’t clean windows with leather cloths, never wash my car by hand and I’m not Bavarian. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/44 "2023-12-21T21:07:12Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > But then, I don’t clean windows with leather cloths, never wash my car by hand and I’m not Bavarian. I call that three out of three points for you. 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/45 "2023-12-21T21:46:32Z")
When i learned about that animal, it was called a type of goat. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/46 "2023-12-21T22:58:49Z")
You got me thinking about it and I’ve seen some smaller ones sold for cleaning eyeglasses. I had a ski jacket that had a chamois-like glasses/goggles wipe cloth sewn into a chest pocket for a similar purpose. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889/47 "2023-12-27T13:56:58Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > > [@garygnu](#): > > > > It’s just like the famous killer whale, but said with four m’s, a silent q, and a French accent.   > > Ah, of course: “môbium diqkùm”. I notice that in addition to the silent q, one of the four m’s is invisible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-here-can-pronounce-chamois-the-material-and-common-purpose/994889.md?page=2)