DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Bruff]

''Conscious uncoupling... where do these people come from??''

From California I'm afraid Cathy. California.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Richard is right and a hot bed was Marin County just North of San Francisco, over the Golden Gate bridge. Reputed to be some of the dearest real estate in the US it was the subject of a book called 'The Serial' in the 1980s. (LINK) I well remember a lady in a coffee shop in Sausalito asking me if I could 'relate' to a blueberry muffin one morning. Mind you, the same town had the best ribbon shop I have ever seen.....

[Cathy]

You never cease to amaze, amuse and entertain me Stanley... A ribbon shop, and you even have a picture of it .

[Stanley]

Down to my friend Susi who was a big sewing woman, it was her favourite shop.
Not really dialect but a typo.... Seen on the credits at the end of the TV programme last night on estate agents: 'Ariel photography'.

[Stanley]

Came across a word used by economists and I had to look it up. 'Cadastre' , it is a register of land ownership....

[Stanley]

Why do we refer to 'growing up'? Surely it's tautology, you can't grow any other way....

[Tripps]

I was reading quotes from H.L. Mencken yesterday and came across -

There are some people who read too much: the bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion

Nice word bibliobibuli.

[Stanley]

It is. Never seen it before. Mencken must have made it up, even Webster has missed it. I think I might qualify!

[Tripps]

Interview on Radio 4 with Clive James this morning. He is very ill at the moment. I think this is the third final interview I've heard.

He used the phrase 'plangent threnody'.

Threnody rang a vague bell from Keats, but I really had no idea. Looked it up -

Plangent - loud and resonant, with a mournful tone
Threnody - Song of mourning, memorial to a dead person.

Interesting use of his immense vocabulary - no concession to his audience. Does he assume everyone knows the meaning of these words?

[Stanley]

I was once taken to task for using long words in my BET articles. I told my critic that to do any other would be to imply that my readers weren't intelligent enough to understand. In my reading I still come across words I don't understand, that's why the Webster's is always handy! It's how we expand our vocabulary isn't it. Look what you did David, exactly what I do, you looked it up and 'plangent threnody' will be part of your language from here forward. (Remember tergiversate?)

[Tizer]

Why do we refer to 'growing up'? Surely it's tautology, you can't grow any other way....

A lot of people these days are growing sideways as opposed to up!

[Stanley]

Yes Tiz... I remember when my feet started to grow my dad complained about me needing new shoes every six months and said I was growing along the ground instead up up!
In another thread I used 'haberdashery'. When did anyone last hear that word?

[Tripps]

Grace Brothers - Are you being Served?

[Bruff]

Well I've a number of times when back in Barlick, and quite recently, noted that Decisions Decisions on Newtown was once a haberdashery. I'm sure it was.

Richard Broughton

[PanBiker]

Well I've a number of times when back in Barlick, and quite recently, noted that Decisions Decisions on Newtown was once a haberdashery. I'm sure it was.

Richard Broughton

Above business is shortly to move into what was formerly the Railway pub, their two shops amalgamating into much bigger premises.

Regarding haberdashery there was also Thakerays at the end of the Majestic block, very much like Grace Brothers, floor to ceiling wooden drawers and glass topped counters, where the discount shop is now.

[Bruff]

Always a distinctive smell, haberdasheries. A proper hardware shop too, has a distinctive smell - used to be one of those in Hinchley Wood near Thames Ditton where we lived and whenever I went in (which being a Johnny Piano-Fingers on the DIY front, was always with my dad), I was transported back to John Elmer's. I can 'imagine' that smell as I write, conjure it up. I imagine others can too?

Richard Broughton

[plaques]

Came across the word "menage" in a local planning application. I always associated this with Ménage à trois for which I didn't think you needed planning permission.

[Wendyf]

Common mistake Plaques, the word for a riding arena or school is "manege" not "menage".

[Wendyf]

The term haberdashery is still used, Whichcrafts in Barlick advertise their haberdashery section, as do Empress Mills in Colne and many others. You mustn't have been doing much sewing recently Stanley!

[Stanley]

On the contrary Wendy, I was doing make do and mend only yesterday and have a shirt to attend to today.
'Haberdashery' is a flexible word and in modern usage is usually a dealer in small items of clothing, a more common British usage is a dealer in small items and aids to sewing and embroidery. Thought to have roots in old French. The sewing shop on Rainhall Road near the old school is my supplier these days. There used to be one on Post Office corner in part of what is now the Council Office next to a sports shop.
Richard, ironmongers was paraffin and linseed oil for me! Grocers were bacon, coffee and cheese and saddlers was leather. Best smelling shop I ever went into was a Greek shop in Fremantle selling dry ingredients and spices in bulk from open sacks, the smell of the spices and coffee was overpowering!

[Stanley]

Further to the above, if anyone has any spare shirt or trouser buttons, any colour, please mail to the old fart at 10 East Hill Street, Barlick, BB18 6AN....

[plaques]

Not quite a word meaning but I was asked "why are cleaning dusters yellow?" Apparently this is an old chestnut with several different plausible answers. My thoughts went to ships dusters Wiki Link but this would imply contamination. Any thoughts on the subject?

[Cathy]

What a good question! Here's another one, someone at work the other day asked why do people often say "As big as Ben Hur"... no-one knew, haha. All I could think of was chariots, but couldn't remember if Ben Hur was a place or a person. Sorry Charleton Heston.

[Bodger]

I am sure Stanley will know and others, when i served my apprenticeship in Hyde Cheshire, building machine tools, if you thought you had made one that was 101% , you could say " thats a Bramah", ?, it has a Yorkshire connection

[chinatyke]

Not quite a word meaning but I was asked "why are cleaning dusters yellow?" Apparently this is an old chestnut with several different plausible answers. My thoughts went to ships dusters Wiki Link but this would imply contamination. Any thoughts on the subject?

Dusters are yellow because they were traditionally made from a special cloth. At the time, early 19 century, this special cloth was only produced in one place, Nanking (Nanjing) China and was yellow. That's the explanantion I always accepted, but if you Google it you'll get lots more reasons. I cannot use Google at the moment because the Great Firewall of China is interfering with it - 25th anniversary of Tiananmen Square incident, very sensitive time here, but openly remembered in Hong Kong which is now part of China, go figure that out.