DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Tripps]

as long as I am around there will be at least one critic

Me too - but I'll never mention it. Too much potential for trouble.

Gorillas mentioned elsewhere on the site today.

I've just learned that the Western Gorilla has the correct scientific name 'Gorilla gorilla'.
That's a tautonym - but I'm sure you knew that. It gets worse - I've just checked it out and it's actually Gorilla gorilla gorilla which is a trinomial. Black mark to clever clogs Victoria Coren-Mitchell.

That's enough gorillas (Ed)

[Stanley]

Pinus Pinus and Ratus Ratus always amused me..... Never did realloy understand taxonomy....

[Tizer]

The blackbird or song thrush used to be Turdus turdus but for some reason they changed the name.

[Tripps]

The cogs are starting to turn - I realise that I knew that a wren is called Troglodytes troglodytes.
I wonder why. I see one now and then, but we have no caves at all.

[Stanley]

David, I think they are actually quite a common bird, we have them up here in Valley Gardens. But being so small they are not so obvious as others. No caves there either...

[Wendyf]

Wrens like to live in holes dry stone walls. We have one who comes into Col's workshop in winter through the sneck hole.

[Stanley]

Lovely! Not enough birds about these days.....
Why Jenny Wren?

[Tripps]

Just saw Ian Lavery Chairman of the Labour party defend Jonathon Ashworth's use of the word banter,with the 'line to take' in a lovely geordie accent. he even called the female interviewer 'man'.

"Banter is both a noun and a verb about talking. It comes from unknown origins, but even as a word, it seems to be playful and teasing. You can engage in banter with friends, siblings, parents, and even good-natured strangers.

Banter usually ends with everyone feeling better for the talk and verbal play."

Except Jonathon Ashworth. . . . .

[Stanley]

I hate banter, too often it's a euphemism for some very nasty traits.
The best Geordie accent I ever came across was a barmaid in Chorley. She was born on the Isle of Arran and lived in Newcastle on Tyne for a long time. The combination was beautiful.

[Stanley]

I used a word this morning that we all saw born and now it seems to have died. 'Pinta', remember the Milk Marketing board's averts? Years since I heard anyone use it.

[Tizer]

I see Greta discovered she has to be careful with her choice of words when translating from Swedish to English. She's been criticised for saying the recalcitrant politicians should be put up against the wall. It's a literal translation of a Swedish phrase used to mean `hold to account'.

[Whyperion]

I see Greta discovered she has to be careful with her choice of words when translating from Swedish to English. She's been criticised for saying the recalcitrant politicians should be put up against the wall. It's a literal translation of a Swedish phrase used to mean `hold to account'.

I think I agree with the literal translation. Though to what extent should I change how I travel, what I eat, how I keep warm, or how, realistically can I help my neighbour to do the same ?

[Stanley]

I used the word 'etherer' in a post this morning on hedge laying. I couldn't find the word but in images I found this...



Here's a good example of the style of hedge laying I was taught. The etherers are the twisted green branches that are woven into the tops of the stakes to anchor them. Note also that the thorny growth is all directed to the side of the hedge where you want to deter stock from breaking through.

[Stanley]

Spotted in Private Eye....

[Tizer]

Perhaps someone at the beeb knew him better than the rest of us!

[Tizer]

On a different OG topic I mentioned an old navy man and that made me think of `pompy' (or pompey') used for Portsmouth I found this on the web... LINK

[Stanley]

Amazing what crops up on OG...... I knew the name for Portsmouth but had never questioned it. Now I can bore for England!

[Tripps]

We used to go to the Royal Tournament at Earls Court a long time ago. A big feature was the gun carriage race. One year a guy was sitting behind us shouted 'come on Pompey' throughout.
We all became Pompey supporters and still are - or would be if they hadn't stopped the tournament.

[Stanley]

I have often wondered about the word 'codd' which I have come across in the sense of 'kidding' IE. "Are you codding me?" I learned that the pop bottles with glass alleys in the neck as a seal were invented by a man called Codd. I wonder if this is the origin of 'codd'?
I found this on the web: From Proto-Germanic *kuddaz, *kuddô, from Proto-Indo-European *gewt- (“sack; pouch”). . This fits with 'cod piece' the exaggerated element of medieval male dress but not the kidding.
One word with a complicated history!

[Tripps]

I did a course once which covered Codd's rules and Coddswallop was said to come in bottles with Codds stoppers. (I think).

[Tizer]

From Proto-Germanic *kuddaz, *kuddô, from Proto-Indo-European *gewt- (“sack; pouch”). . This fits with 'cod piece' the exaggerated element of medieval male dress...

I'm glad I didn't know that when I was selling Boots' Kudos soap powder!

[Tripps]

Just to note the use of the phrase 'climate beakdown' relentlessly by George Monbiot on the radio this morning. I've not heard it used so much in the past. I thought 'emergency' was the main word at the moment.

[Stanley]

There are militant tendencies on both sides of the climate argument David. I class George as one of them. As long as there is any room for debate, word power will tend to grow to maximise impact.

[plaques]

Trade deals with the EU.
(The ratification of a trade agreement would also enable the UK to seek to end any extended transition period early,)
RATIFICATION. = O. if I can't I rat.

[Stanley]

When Brexit poked its head above the parapet in late 2015 we wondered on here how long it would dominate our political world. If anyone had told us five years minimum we would have laughed. If someone posited ten years now I wouldn't scoff at them. Trade deal and ratification are going to be buzzwords well into the 2020s..... Get used to it.