Search found 4422 matches
- Tue Apr 05, 2005 4:26 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: whet one's whistle
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6887
whet one's whistle
Personally, I'm a "whet" man, and I think you are right, you want to sharpen your whistle, not drown it.
- Tue Apr 05, 2005 3:22 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: Folsom / Native American vs. Indian
- Replies: 15
- Views: 7592
Folsom / Native American vs. Indian
Thank you Ross, your post answered a lot of questions that were in my mind. I can well understand the sense of identity that tribal names can give. Just let anyone try calling me English if you want to see a portly middle-aged gentleman blow his top.
- Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:33 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: letting her hair down
- Replies: 15
- Views: 44906
letting her hair down
Regrettably, some of us can only let hair down figuratively.
But I can still remember the Sixties; I was a musician then and could really let my hair down.
(Exit stage left, sobbing).
But I can still remember the Sixties; I was a musician then and could really let my hair down.
(Exit stage left, sobbing).
- Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:58 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: Folsom / Native American vs. Indian
- Replies: 15
- Views: 7592
Folsom / Native American vs. Indian
So children don't have to play "Bovine persons and Native Americans" instead of "Cowboys and Indians" then?
- Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:39 am
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: thoughts-inner dialog
- Replies: 5
- Views: 6181
thoughts-inner dialog
"How about quotation marks and italics?"
- Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:34 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: pikey
- Replies: 14
- Views: 12261
pikey
One of my friends agrees with Julius, but it would seem that the term is particularly Kentish, and has not spread very far over the borders, it's a good word to learn, Thanks.
- Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:32 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: "Last straw"/Clochandichter
- Replies: 41
- Views: 48888
"Last straw"/Clochandichter
You may be interested to know that I once saw a bloke from Sardinia playing bagless pipes. He stuck a couple of what looked like sticks into his mouth, played tunes on a chanter and managed the drones with recirculatory breathing. It was quite something to see, and hear.
- Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:24 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: Folsom / Native American vs. Indian
- Replies: 15
- Views: 7592
Folsom / Native American vs. Indian
Hans Joerg has raised an interesting point in one sentence, "As for Native Americans - in August 2004 I attended the Pow-Wow of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians". I understand the PC term “Native Americans”, but on this side of the Pond it would appear that Columbus' mistake is...
- Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:06 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: Brussels sprouts
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3635
Brussels sprouts
Am I the only one who has never heard of the word “boorcole”? Broccoli I knew even before Cubby of that name and his version of James Bond.
- Fri Apr 01, 2005 3:43 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: pikey
- Replies: 14
- Views: 12261
pikey
This is interesting in the extreme as I have never heard of its use apart from a character in “Dad’s Army” (a long running television comedy about the Home Guard during the last War) who could be a bit dim. I can say with certainty that the expression has never hit my part of Wales. I’ll check with ...
- Wed Mar 30, 2005 8:26 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: Scotch (the adjective) / Scotch tape
- Replies: 3
- Views: 6620
Scotch (the adjective) / Scotch tape
If you were in the UK it would be a Sellotape pine, which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
When I was a boy I was always told that apart from whisky, beef and eggs (a boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat and breadcrumbs before deep frying) the word Scotch should never be used.
When I was a boy I was always told that apart from whisky, beef and eggs (a boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat and breadcrumbs before deep frying) the word Scotch should never be used.
- Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:40 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: scotch (the verb)
- Replies: 18
- Views: 8253
scotch (the verb)
Erik, Now that you mention it, yes, it was a phrase I had completely forgotten about. I do remember "three ha'pence" meaning a penny and a half, or a penny h'penny. Fruit Salads were the same price as Blackjacks, so you could mix them up and get two of each. And, may the saints help me, I actually r...
- Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:08 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: scarf (the eating one)
- Replies: 2
- Views: 6327
scarf (the eating one)
“He scoffed down his grub” is in everyday use, but apart from the thing you put around your neck the only other uses of scarf that I know are berthing one ship against another, or joining timber. I have never come across it as a variant of scoff. Is it common elsewhere?
- Tue Mar 29, 2005 8:52 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: scotch (the verb)
- Replies: 18
- Views: 8253
scotch (the verb)
The use of scotch as a noun is also quite common, it being the wedge or whatever you use to scotch a wheel. I was a bit puzzled by the use of the word “halfpence” in The Parent's Assistant. The UK turned to decimal currency in 1971, and the last (old) half penny had been minted in 1967, up until its...
- Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:19 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: untranslatables
- Replies: 45
- Views: 19204
untranslatables
Sort of Edwin, but there is more to it than that, I think you have to hear the usage. If I wanted to say to a child, "Don't go near that thing on the floor, it is dirty", "Ach-y-fe!" more than does the job. Also if Dai came home to his wife drunk, her neighbour would mutter "Ach-y-fe" to her friend ...