DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

'Fast and Loose'. Brewer says "The allusion is probably to an old cheating game once practised at Fairs. A belt or strap was doubled and coiled up with a loop in the centre and placed on the table. The Player then had to catch the loop with a skewer while the belt was unrolled but this was done in such a way by the trickster as to make the feat impossible."
Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose, beguiled me at the very heart of loss. (Shakespeare; Anthony and Cleopatra.)

When I first went to university I was very conscious of my dialect but a nice man called Professor John Mowatt who taught me linguistics told me not to think about it. He said that my accent, use of different words and even grammatical construction was a version of a much older and purer language than standard received English. Mind you, (and there's an example!) he was Scottish and no doubt had a vested interest! He also said that what struck him about my speech was that I was very precise in both meaning and pronunciation. A good man! I never worried about it again.

[Tizer]

Stanley's reference to 'fast and loose' pulleys got me wondering if that was the origin of the phrase. Seems not, since it was used by Shakespeare in the 1500's which I guess would predate pulleys in the mill.

But there would have been lots of pulleys on ships by then, could it be related to that?

[plaques]

The word 'maun' as in must. Used frequently by my dad which I always took to be a bit of Lancashire dialect. But the family tree drifts down from Scotland having first come from Ireland. Any ideas?

[Wendyf]

Definitely used in Scotland.

[Stanley]

Tiz, I doubt it because they are different pulleys and I know of no use of blocks that involved a mechanism to render them 'non'driving'. In fact all the pulleys in a block are loose.
"You mun do that again" is very common in my experience but only in the North.
'Bonce', 'napper', 'pate' as words for head. Why all of those and where do they come from?

[chinatyke]

My wife was trying to ring her mum this morning and there was no answer. I said "she'll be galavanting somewhere" and got the reply "what is galavanting?". Try explaing that to a Chinese.
Also written as gallivanting. To gad about.

[Marilyn]

I imagine you often have to explain yourself China.

We returned our rental car keys to the drop off desk at the airport at 5am this morning, expecting the desk to be unattended at that time, but there was a woman on duty of middle eastern appearance.
She accepted the keys and asked if we had filled the tank and I replied "Full as a goog", which attracted a strange look. I hoped afterward that I hadn't said anything offensive...one never knows these days!

[plaques]

I can understand your predicament. It probably finished up as a two hour lecture starting with Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta and working your way through the various permutations of word usage. At the end of it all she probably said that the Chinese had invented it about 400 years earlier.

[Wendyf]

I'm giving you a strange look Maz, what on earth is a goog?

[Marilyn]

An egg. (Though how the vision of an egg suggests fullness I don't know. Did you not call eggs "googy eggs" when you were small?)

(I think it may also describe someone who is drunk...as full as a goog...as full as a boot. I heard an expression the other day "as full as a state school" which made me smile.

[Tripps]

" Did you not call eggs "googy eggs" when you were small?"

No - we called them chucky eggs, but don't Aussies call chickens Chucks / chooks? Fascinating.

Just heard the phrase "pecking my head" on Emmerdale, whilst channel surfing. Heard it also last week, for the first time ever on Judge Rinder. Means nagging.

[PanBiker]

Chucky eggs here too, never heard the word googy but it gets a lot of hits on google regarding it's use in Australia.

[Marilyn]

Yes, our hens/chickens are "chooks" (and the male is a Rooster).

I had two Roosters (one too many, but I couldn't find anyone wanting to take one off my hands).
One was called Digby and the other was called Rigby.

The expression "full as a Goog" is also quite common here on such occasions as Christmas Day when someone is pressing more food on you. "No thanks...I am full as a Goog!". ( another favourite expression of mine is " No thanks...I am up to Pussy's Bow" meaning I am so over full that food is sitting in my neck, which is where you tie Pussy's Bow.)

Are you familiar with that one? ("Up to Pussy's Bow" )

[Stanley]

Sorry, never heard 'full as a goog' or pussy's bow.

[Tizer]

Nor have I. I'm a bit worried by Maz calling the two birds Digby and Rigby. It must have given them an identity crisis!

[Marilyn]

Digby was actually Rigby's father!
Digby and I had a tenuous relationship because he used to sit in a tree most of the day, crow at all hours and attack me when I collected eggs. I think he had a personality disorder.
Rigby was much more pleasant, though I was slightly concerned when he mated with his Mother.

I know, I know...if you think about it too much it is really disturbing...

[Stanley]

We used to call them chucky hens when I was a lad. A corruption of chickens I suppose.

[Cathy]

Came across a new to me Aussie slang phrase today - 'going off like a frog in a sock', used for when someone is upset/angry. I don't really use slang much but I think that's a funny one.
I also found ' sharp as a bowling ball', to say someone is a few snags short of a barbie or a few stubbies short of a carton.

[Stanley]

Foreign language to me Cathy....

[PanBiker]

I think it might be the heat that effects them Stanley, some pretty delirious offerings there!

[Tizer]

`Going off like a frog in a sock'...when do you use that phrase? Is it `going off' as in going mouldy, or as in firework, or as in leaving? Do Aussies put frogs in their socks?

[Cathy]

Panbiker don't forget where most Aussies originally came from - delirious indeed!
Tizer I think it means being angry, but I can see that it could mean mouldy as well.
I really don't use these phrases
(honestly I'm a lady I am).

[PanBiker]

Well none of these phrases are common over here in the UK so one can only assume its the water or the heat (or too much grog).

[Wendyf]

I've heard "mad as a box of frogs" used a few times recently.

[PanBiker]

Yes, I have and you can imagine a box of frogs but I can't quite see the connection to socks other than it does rhyme.