DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

I've just heard a report on an attack with a 'noxious substance' and the journalist said that it was probably 'Armonia'......

[Tizer]

...probably due to a spillage of harmonium chloride.

[Stanley]

I've just heard an American lady on World Service commenting on the ban on laptops etc. in cabin baggage and she commented that it was possible that smart phones could also be targeted as it was impossible to 'obfuscate' possible future security measures. I think she meant 'estimate' or 'anticipate'!

[Tripps]

I have just seen someone use the phrase "I boiled a bunch of dried peas " on another thread. Another Americanism creeps in.

[Cathy]

I've recently heard the word 'thunk' being used instead of thought. Is this new slang or has it been around for a while? I don't like it and it sounds ridiculous.

[Tripps]

Is this new slang or has it been around for a while?

For a while I think, but I've usually seen it used in a sort of jokey ironic way - well who'd have thunk it?

[plaques]

A new conjugation of the verb 'to think. think, thinks.. thunk.
This is similar to what Boris Johnson said about Michael Gove on the introduction of the first free school.
Verb to give.. we give.. they gave.. he gove.

[Stanley]

David, we have a bunch of flowers and things and people being bunched together......

[Tripps]

Fair enough

This is interesting to anyone interested in accents etc. How Edwardians spoke

[Whyperion]

So what is the collective noun for dried peas ( they come in packets so I just say some - to me bunches implies something naturally, artificially or figuratively joined together.

[Tripps]

I think it is a 'trump' of dried peas - or if it's not it should be.

[Stanley]

They don't affect me that way David.... Perhaps I have different stomach processes? Must order another 28lb bag.....

[Stanley]

If a person can be feckless, can they be feck? Same applies to reckless......

[chinatyke]

If a person can be feckless, can they be feck? Same applies to reckless......

Collins English Dictionary doesn't have feck but it does have reck - to mind or care about (something).

[Tizer]

Merriam-Webster dictionary:
Feck is a Scots term that means "effect" or "majority" and comes from an alteration of the Middle English effect. So something without feck is without effect, or ineffective. In the past, feckful (meaning "efficient," "sturdy," or "powerful") made an occasional appearance. But in this case, the weak has outlived the strong: feckless is a commonly used English word, but feckful has fallen out of use.

[Tripps]

Not in father Ted, and Mrs Browns Boys it hasn't.

[Stanley]

My mate David Moore had a lady Governor who used 'fewking' and 'bewger' regularly as epithets. She had no idea what their origin was......

[Stanley]

'Nabbed' for getting caught. Where did that come from?

[Whyperion]

Free dictionary suggests effectively Norse:
Swedish nappa to snatch. See kidnap.

I think it is related to Cab (although that comes from Cabriolet) , as in to 'Catch a Cab' and then corrupted by Londoners to 'Nab' for being caught. (without evidence from elsewhere do I make this suggestion)
The The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English shows Nab from English in 1665/1686 (as in to Catch/Capture or Take/Steal/Purloin but dont give the quotes or context from those dates, and also mention by 1813 a 'Nab' was used as name for a police officer (were there actually many police officers in the 1810s?).
Possibly related to 'Bagged' as in I bagged a seat (which has two meanings - to Bag , as in put something in a Bag for oneself to take away, legally or illegally) , or to leave ones bag on a place to reserve the area for later use (German, Towels on The Poolside Lounger ?)

[Stanley]

I used the word 'kit' this morning for the cans that farm milk used to be transported in to the dairy. We always called them cans or kits and it annoys me when people call them 'churns'. A churn is what you agitate cream in to make butter.

[Wendyf]

Why do so many people pronounce nuclear as nucular?? It makes me

[Tripps]

Irritating isn't it. I've learned it is also 'metathetic'. Just one of a number of irritating modern words - I feel a list coming on.

I always associate it with President George W Bush - but wiki shows it to be a lot more widespread than that. Nucular

[plaques]

George Bush always admitted he had difficulty with his words. A bit like discombobulate.

[Stanley]

I agree Wendy..... If we are going to use words let's try to be accurate!
'cob' came to mind yesterday. Used to be commonly used here to describe some one or thing that was strange or queer (in the correct meaning of that word!)

[Stanley]

Have you ever pondered on the way we use different words for movement depending on the context. Think of 'gallop', 'canter', 'trot' and 'walk' in the case of horses. 'Lope', 'Bound' and 'spring' all give an instant description. There are plenty more if you think about them. Language is wonderfully descriptive!