DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

I've looked but could only find a meaning and not a derivation. I shan't spoil your fun! Have a look at THIS for a possible origin....

[Tizer]

Brewer's says that `knock the spots off' comes from the days when men would compete with pistols to see who could shoot out (knock) the most symbols (spots) on playing cards.

[Whyperion]

I often use 'have a gander' for having a look. Where did I get this from, I don't think I've ever heard it in Barlick. Where did it originate? It isn't obviously rhyming slang.

Is it Indian, passed into the english from British Army serving in that neck of the woods?

[Stanley]

'Buckshee' for at no cost. Now where does that one come from?

[Tripps]

I was going to refer you to your Cassells Page 159, but having taken a gander at it , think I can improve. It's from the Persian baksheesh meaning a bribe (or a commission if you're in court), comes from the military, East of Suez, from WW1. In the army it came to mean an item of kit that wasn't strictly accounted for. There were various techniques for getting extra stuff that came in handy such as a spare pair of boots rarely used and kept polished, but were not on your personal account. My sons think I'm strange for getting annoyed when they put their wallets, keys, or phones down unguarded. I can't help it.

[Tizer]

I don't think I've asked this before. Yesterday I mentioned how in the 1950s the doctor visited my grandma and `played pop' because she was sitting in front of the fire and holding a piece of timber with its far end in the flames. Is `play pop' a reference to how father would behave if you were naughty?

[Stanley]

I just thought I'd give someone else the chance to be the source David.....
I don't know the answer to that off-hand Tiz. I suspect it's connected to the alliteration. Thinking about 'play hell' why 'play' anyway?
I've just used 'kisty' (pronounce the 'I' as in kite) to describe kids who are picky about what they eat. Any thoughts on that?

[Stanley]

I've just used the word 'thronged' while speaking to two friends, one in London and one in Oz. It struck me that they might not have heard that word before.....

[Cathy]

Definitely not heard thronged Stanley.
Put it in context.

[PanBiker]

Thronged is used to describe very busy or with a lot of work Cathy. Could be used adding "out" as in "thronged out".

[Cathy]

In that case it reminds me of a crowd of people waiting for something /someone specific.
The streets were thronged with people.

[Tizer]

I know throng as a noun to mean a crowd of people: `The happy throng sang carols around the tree', and as a verb: `They thronged the tree'. Collins also gives `to crowd in and fill a place' and `to hem in, jostle'. But then it also says: `Yorkshire dialect: busy'.

[Stanley]

Very common here Tiz. Webster cites ON 'throng' and ME 'thring' both meaning to press. So perhaps the closest meaning is in terms of being pressed for time. It sounds Norse to me like so many of our local usages.

[Stanley]

I think we all 'dawdle' from time to time. What a funny word.....

[Tripps]

Just heard someone say - 'the numbers have risen existentially' on a radio phone in.
If they say that, I rather tend to ignore everything else.

[Tizer]

Me too. People seem to use it to decorate their speech now. That's my existential opinion.

[Stanley]

I don't see how any rise in a number can be anything but existential if the meaning is that it exists. I think people are confusing a word meaning 'in reality' to its usage as a descriptor for the school of philosophy; 'Existentialism'. Do they think this adds weight to their statements?

[Tripps]

I was assuming the lady did not know the difference between existentially and exponentially. As to the correct meaning - I'm out of my depth there, so I don't use the word.

[Tizer]

Ah, now I see - I'm sure Tripps is right about the confusion.

[Stanley]

Is the frequent use of the wrong word a product of poor education or lack of reading? Or both?

[Tizer]

I'd say it's a lack of reading and a gullibility caused by the wish to sound fashionable, combined with trying to spell a word but relying on the spell checker to correct it, selecting the word offered and not realising it's the wrong one.

[Tripps]

Just 'ignorance' in its simplest form I'd say. There have been a few examples on here lately. People I wouldn't have expected, have been guilty. Being a gentleman, and valuing my continued membership of the site - I kept quiet.

[Big Kev]

I'm with Tizer on the reliance of spellcheckers, Facebook is the malaprop capital of t'internet

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz read a piece out to me from the newspaper today. Somebody wrote in to point out where a report had said "The pilot told the passengers that they would be taking off momentarily". The letter writer said they probably expected to be in the air for a little longer than momentarily!

Tripps, tell me if I use a word wrongly, it wouldn't be the first time. It took me a long time to learn that being `reactionary' didn't mean being rebellious, but just the opposite. As I learned chemistry at school I saw reactions as being explosive!

[PanBiker]

If the pilot was from the USA it would be correct, slightly different definition between the UK and US. Braces or suspenders, braces for your teeth or to hold your trousers up, suspenders for holding stockings up or your pants if you are a Yank. Isn't language wonderful, I'm with you anyway Tiz, I often get it wrong but in the main I am understood.