DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

Quite Ian! It is just short for 'sales drive' and an unwelcome import from the US.
Funny thing is that many of the firms that participate hate it! They have realised that all it does is bring forward sales that would have happened later anyway. Its success depends on generating a competitive frenzy in the shoppers and that can be hard to do in bad times......

[Cathy]

The Oxford Word of the Year for 2023 is rizz, a slang term used by Gen Z to describe romantic charm.
It’s believed to be a shortened form of Charisma.
Rizz is described by the Oxford University Press as a colloquial noun, defined as style, charm or attractiveness or the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner.
It can also be used as a verb in phrases such as ‘to rizz up’, which means to attract, seduce or chat up (a person).

[Stanley]

My reaction is that I have never heard the word. I must be moving in the wrong circles.....

[Cathy]

Also the first time that I have heard of Rizz
Can’t see that I will be using it anytime soon

[Tizer]

Rizz? Charisma? It sounded crackers to me until I saw the spelling!

[Stanley]

Who are these bums in Oxford who tell us what 'the word of the year' is?
They should get a proper job.....

[PanBiker]

Apparently this years word is Sudoku.

I play it daily to stave off brain rot but didn't know the meaning so I Googled it.

The name “sudoku” is abbreviated from the Japanese suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru, which means “the numbers (or digits) must remain single.”

Makes sense in a roundabout way.

I play against the clock and try to beat my best time for each level.

[Stanley]

I tripped over this bloke recently on YouTube and he is quite entertaining on the subject of words.....

[Cathy]

The video was good, and all the way thru I kept hearing Monty Python’s ‘Knights of Ni’.

[Stanley]

I quite like him Cathy.... look at some of his other videos.....

[Tripps]

"Fans appear angry that Kate has not chosen to rewear something from her wardrobe, with one fan questioning whether she realises "the impact when she buys something new".

Seems that 'rewear' means being seen in public twice in the same garment.

I'm pleading guilty . . . .

[Stanley]

She doesn't have any impact on me either David. Tell me, why should she have 'fans' anyway? Who is she?
So 'rewear' is just another way of saying wear again. In my world that's what we always did with clothes and only bought new when the old was totally unfit for its original purpose. Then you went to work in it.....

[Tripps]

Tell me, why should she have 'fans' anyway? Who is she?

No one special - just The next Queen

[Stanley]

Is anyone taking bets on that David? If so, what are the odds......?

[PanBiker]

Pretty short I would say.

[Tripps]

Is anyone taking bets on that David? If so, what are the odds......?

Are you serious?

[Stanley]

Nothing in life is certain and the path to that post has been uncertain of late......

[Stanley]

This came to mind today. 'Beald' a dialect word in the North of England meaning shelter. I looked it up and found this....
Meaning: shelter, confidence, boldness
Noun. Middle English belde shelter, confidence, boldness, from Old English beldo, byldo boldness; akin to Old High German beldī boldness, Gothic balthei; derivative from the stem of Old English bald, beald bold.

[Tizer]

I've just come across the word acrostic and had to consult Collins. I now know what it means but also what telestich means: Wikipedia

[Tizer]

As kids I remember us using the word skedaddle meaning run away quickly - as when you'd thrown a banger in a dustbin, for instance! I looked up the origin and there seem to be many suggestions. (including `unknown origin')
Examples...
From the Irish word "sgedadol" which supposedly means to spill out or scatter.
American Civil War military slang meaning "run away, betake oneself hastily to flight".
From Scots skiddle, meaning to splash water about or spill.
An alteration of British dialect scaddle (“to run off in a fright”).

Take your pick!

[Stanley]

I like the Irish one! But then I'm a sucker for old languages.....

[Stanley]

Just used 'comeuppance'. Such a useful and satisfying word......

[Tripps]

This has been on the BBC site twice now they must want to make sure we read it. I've been aware of it for a long time without knowing that it was called rhotic r. I noted it was used by Uncle Jim (from Preston,) and I use it as a differentiator between Lancashire and Yorkshire speech.
Lancashire Rhotic r

I like East Lancashire had remained an "island of rhoticity".

[Tizer]

And being from Blackburn I liked this bit: Researchers also said that while rhotic Blackburn and East Lancashire speakers may be in the minority in England, they were "in the majority across the English-speaking world", as North American, Scottish and Irish speakers also use that pronunciation, "as do many second language learners of English".

I'm surprised they're saying it's disappearing from the south-west of England - they must be listening to the wrong people!

[Stanley]

First time I have ever heard the term..... As far as I know I have never suffered from what sounds like a painful condition.
Haven't I heard it more in some Scottish speakers?
Knowing how academic minds work, I suspect the good Doctor is trying to raise her profile before the annual assessments.