DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

I often wonder how many pokers were made at Rolls on the night shift. Remember the ones with a handle made out of various washers?

[Stanley]

How widespread is the phrase 'Get on with your knitting' meaning to concentrate on what you should be doing instead of interfering with others? Found myself using it this morning.

[EileenDavid]

I have never heard that phrase getting on with your knitting. When you used it Stanley I thought you had taken up knitting to add to the rest of your hobbies.

Eileen

[Tripps]

I think the phrase is more usually "stick to your knitting". Plenty on google. I don't think it's particularly Northern dialect?. I've heard it used by MP's in parliament.

[Stanley]

That's the version my mother used.

[Stanley]

I know we've looked at before but 'powfagged' came to mind this morning. My mother used it when she was flustered or flagging a bit because she had too much to do. How common was it?
Just used the phrase 'short shrift'. Now where does that one come from?

[Whyperion]

Rather appropriate for lent, looks like another definition where the true meaning is almost the opposite of the common thought these days.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/short+shrift

The source of our verb shrive (shrove, shriven) and noun shrift, which have technical meanings from ecclesiastical Latin, is Classical Latin scrbere, "to write." Shrive comes from the Old English verb scrfan, "to decree, decree after judgment, impose a penance upon (a penitent), hear the confession of." The past participle of scrfan is scrifen, our shriven. The noun shrift, "penance; absolution," comes from Old English scrift with the same meaning, which comes from scrptus, the perfect passive participle of scrbere, and means "what is written," or, to use the Latin word, "what is prescribed."

Theologians and confessors viewed the sacrament of penance as a prescription that cured a moral illness. In early medieval times penances were long and arduouslengthy pilgrimages and even lifelong exile were not uncommonand had to be performed before absolution, not after as today. However, less demanding penances could be given in extreme situations; short shrift was a brief penance given to a person condemned to death so that absolution could be granted before execution.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. { other definitions , but not derivations , given in the link

Actually I thought the Shrift was some kind of nautical term but obviously memory not correct again on that.

[Stanley]

I used the word 'dottle' this morning. The plug of unburnt tobacco that collects in the bottom of a pipe bowl as you smoke. Now where does that one come from?

[Whyperion]

Dutch dott lump [ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dot ]

Following up the Omnibus Thread.

http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ ... /omni.html

In 1828 in Paris. Stanislas Baudry, a retired French general, had been experimenting with a scheme to draw new customers to his steam-bath venture outside Nantes. Baudry introduced a type of stagecoach operation.... This transport service was given the name omnibus as a play on words. The city terminus for the service was located adjacent to a hatter by the name of Omnes, whose sign read "Omnes Omnibus". The term seemed appropriate since omni (Latin for all people) could use the service for a fee, regardless of class.
Then London in 1829 by George Shillibeer, a successful English coach maker, who had been working in Paris used the title 'Omnibus' for his new (stage-carriage) service from Paddington to Bank via the New Road ( Roughly and mostly today's Marylebone Rd/ Euston Road ). - Actually not a stage-carriage for the new road fell outside the then London licencing area for short-stage horse drawn carriages. Competition then caused Mr Shillibeer to eventually relinquish involvement in the transport of live persons , although he did design a type of hearse which became known as a 'Shillibeer'

[Stanley]

"Throwing your cap into the ring".

[catgate]

I was told it had it's origins in Holland.

[Belle]

Let's have a shufti?

[Wendyf]

"Throwing your cap into the ring"
Isn't it to do with prize fighting? You threw your hat into the ring if you fancied your chances against the champ.

[Stanley]

Belle, shufti originated with the British Army. I always understood the origin to be Arabic. Lots of funny words came back in that way. 'Badin' was later. 'Imshi' was get a move on, 'jildi' was quickly etc.

[Tripps]

Yes - that's right, though jildi / jaldi is Hindi. These words will probably die out now, as the generation that used them does the same. Pity they don't show "It ain't alf hot mum" any more - that would have kept them alive a bit longer. Just noticed "they" seem to be getting the blame for quite a lot today.

[Stanley]

'Bondook' for rifle came from the Pathans on the Khyber Pass I think.

[Bodger]

from dottle to doodle,where do we get doodle from, another word tha always puzzled, gunge ?, ie, fettle gunge from bottom of trough

[Stanley]

'Doodle'. According to Webster it was originally a noun used pejoratively to describe a fool but came to be used around 1935 to describe aimless scribbling, 'doodling'. There is another interesting use of the word, 'hay-doodle' was used to describe what we call a hay cock. It is thought that this came from an association with cock-s-doodle and became common as an alternative to using 'cock' which was of course another term for a penis. It didn't seem to bother us in England.....

[Stanley]

A neighbour apologised to me for the noise her daughter made 'braying on the front door' to make her hear (she is deaf from a bad head cold). Long time since I heard 'braying' used.

[Cathy]

The cappuccino is an everyday drink served in cafe's around the world, but the frothy coffee with a dash of powdered choc has exotic, mediaeval and monastic origins. It gets its name from the Capucin monks, whose habits are coffee-coloured. The Capucins are an order of Saint Francis of Assisi, set up in 1528. They took their name from the cappuccio, the hood of their distinctive uniform. An "-ino" ending acts as a diminutive in Italian. So next time you ask for a cappuccino in local cafe, you are effectively asking for a baby Franciscan monks's hood. Haha. (Taken from Readers Digest magazine.)

[Tizer]

`Baby's head' is soldier's jargon for a steak pudding so it must get confusing if a soldier wants a cappuccino with his steak pudding: "I'll have a baby's head served with a baby Franciscan monks's hood, please - but hold the mayo!"

[Stanley]

Add to that ordering (and I apologise for this) 'shit on a shingle'. This is the US army description of spicy minced beef on a square piece of corn bread. My mate Bob Bliss treated me to it in the cafeteria at the Botanical Gardens in St Louis.

[Tizer]

I noticed the origin of the word `farrier' (as in `man who shoes horses') in the dictionary and saw it derives via French from `ferrarius', Latin for `smith' (as in blacksmith), and `ferrium' for iron (as in `ferrous' metal). I hadn't made the link before. It amuses me to think that the Italian car designer Enzo Ferrari is actually Enzo Smith and his grandfather was probably a blacksmith or farrier. Imagine the prancing horse symbol with `Smith' written on the back of those red sports cars!

[Stanley]

I always had a secret chuckle at Elizabeth Schwartzkopf, if she's been English her agent would have advised a name change! The Smellies in Scotland went down a different route, they insisted the pronunciation was 'Smiley'.

[Tizer]

I've always been puzzled by the American general Colin Powell being addressed as `Koh-lin' Powell. He might want to pronounce it that way but if he spells it `Colin' then everyone should call him Colin Powell. If I met him and he insisted on being addressed as Koh-lin I would reply "As you wish, General Poh-well".