DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Bodger]

Thanks Tiz.

[Tripps]

I've noticed - just in the last few days - the abbreviation JAM being used in the media, Seems it means the cohort of people who are 'Just About Managing'.

[Tizer]

Can someone explain to me what the `commentarati' mean when they frequently use the word existential. I hear it mostly in `existential threat' but it often sneaks in elsewhere. I know what existentialism is but I can't figure out what the difference is between a threat and an existential threat.

[Tripps]

It has become more used recently I agree. I don't really understand what existentialism means , though I remember it was used a lot in the 1960's, and Sartre comes to mind. Try this for further information existentialism

I am taking the current popular meaning is a threat to the very existence of something. I suspect that is a simplification of what Jean Paul was getting at, but I'm quite a simple man.

[Tizer]

When I said "I know what existentialism is" I should have qualified it by saying "but I don't understand it". If I were asked what it is I suppose I'd say a philosophical belief put forward by Sartre but that's as far as I'd get. Looking at the explanation in the wikipedia page I get the impression that existentialism should have died when the influence of chromosomes and genes was discovered.

[Tripps]

" I should have qualified it by saying "but I don't understand it"

That's a shame - I've spent all afternoon thinking at last I know someone who understands it. When you master it - and I'm sure you will - try to get a grip on 'postmodern'.

[Stanley]

Today it seems to be used as a pretentious substitute for 'present'. As in 'existential threat'.
I listened to an interesting R4 programme on Yew Trees. The man was talking about the age of a tree and said it had been there 'since times immoral'.

[Stanley]

The collective noun for the small duck, the Teal, is 'A spring of Teal'. The most likely reason for this is that they tend to live on small pools and haven't the space for a long take-off so they have learned to take-off vertically if startled, hence 'the spring'.

[Tripps]

It'd be difficult to get them 'all in a row' then, perhaps they're cleverer than we think..

[Tizer]

When you master it - and I'm sure you will - try to get a grip on 'postmodern'.

Everything seems to be `post' something now. Almost every day I read or hear that we are `post-truth'. I'm post-caring.

[Stanley]

I'm a dinosaur.....

In Stockport a colloquial name for a steep hill was a 'Brew' which I suppose derived from 'Brow' another term for the same thing. I don't think I've ever heard that used in Barlick.

[Tizer]

Ha'penny Brew is the hill that you go up on your way to Preston on the A59 after crossing the Ribble. Presumably it refers to an old toll.

[Tripps]

That's spooky - I noticed he word 'brow' a few days ago on here, and nearly commented on it being the origin of the dialect word brew - but didn't. Somehow brew doesn't look right, and I'm sure I've seen it as broo somewhere. There are plenty of them in Oldham .

[Stanley]

It was a toll Tiz, you are right. 'Brew' seems to be a Lancashire word......
I found this origin.... Old English brū ‘eyelash, eyebrow’, of Germanic origin. Current senses arose in Middle English; compare with brae.

[Bodger]

On the steam engine forum i mentioned the village Jacksons Bridge, in my day it was known as Jigby i often wondered if that was an old original name or just a corruption of the name itself ?

[Tizer]

A lady on the radio this morning said "The US isn't post-racism". This seems like a cowards way of saying America is racist.

[Stanley]

Bodge, I think we had a habit of inventing local names for the district. 'Accy' for Accrington springs to mind. 'Jigby' sounds like a good alternative.
Tiz, probably diplomatic rather than cowardly. Unfortunately racism, all the other isms and general intolerance of 'the different' seems to be a deeply embedded element of human behaviour. At times, under favourable circumstances we seem to improve slightly but then you get a wave of intolerance such as the one we are seeing at the moment with all the old terrible consequences. I could write a book simply listing the aberrations!

[chinatyke]

I needed a job to tide me over the next year......

Had to look up this one. Interesting how common these phrases are in our normal speech.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/tide-over.html

[Tizer]

It looks like a good explanation for `tide me over', combining the time factor with the other aspect of getting over an obstacle. It's nice when you get a clear meaning like that.

[Stanley]

It's always seemed perfectly apposite to me. I use it a lot.
Why have I just remembered the old joke about the woman in the butcher's asking him to leave the eyes in the sheep's head as it had to see them into next week......?

[Tizer]

This is an old one...
Man sees a pygmy dragging away the body of a tiger, much bigger than himself.
"How on earth did you kill that tiger?" says the man.
With my club" says the pygmy.
"How big is your club?" asks the startled man.
"There are 40 of us" says the pygmy.

Yes, it's corny, but it's probably going to be spoken at the funeral of Mrs Tiz's father. He loved corny jokes and probably got this from his father who had a similar liking for them. Dad used it in his retirement speech.

[Stanley]

The old ones are always the best......

[Cathy]

Remembered the saying 'Blood is thicker than water ' after reading Tizers lovely poem in Family Matters.

[Tizer]

It's a song rather than poem Cathy. Have you worked out who sang it? (Think about sisters - but it might be before your time! )

[PanBiker]

I know.