DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Tizer]

Seen on BBC News web site this morning...
`Our individual risk of developing dementia is linked to a combination of our age, the genes we inherit and the lifestyle we lead. Many of those things cannot be changed, which is why there is no full-proof way of preventing dementia in 60% of cases.'

[Steeplejerk]

Raining cats and dogs ! Now that's baffled me for about 40yrs since a chap I knew asked me why (he knew apparently)but I never saw him again so didn't find out

[Tripps]

Looks like no one really knows. Cats and Dogs

Interesting to see that other countries have their own expressions. My favourite is 'stair rods' which I see is also used in Holland.

[Stanley]

I used stair rods in Stanley's view yesterday or the day before David.
What an interesting list! Old ladies with clubs! (Or sticks in Welsh Wales.)

[PanBiker]

I received an email this morning from Skipton Building Society. The footer paragraph advises me that the mail uses tracking pixels to monitor whether the mail has been read or which links have been clicked.

They obviously don't know what a pixel is or what a tracking cookie is either.

[Stanley]

Neither do I..... Should I worry about this?

[PanBiker]

For you edification Stanley. A pixel is the smallest single optical component of an electronic display.

A cookie is what gets shoved on your computer when you visit a website. The tracking variety does what it says on the tin and tracks keystrokes etc.

[Tripps]

I noticed elswhere that the BBC had described Chinese New Year as Lunar new year. Now I hear that LBC have done the same. Never heard that in previous years.

Who decides when such a well known term wiill be changed - and why?

Seems it's the Year of the Rabbit - which is said to be a lucky year. That's good we need one.

Sky are sticking with the old term - for some bad news from USA. California shooting

[Stanley]

I once had my Chinese Horoscope done (very seriously!) by an old man in Los Angeles Chinatown. He told me that I am an Iron Rat and many Chinese would envy me as it is such a powerful sign. (The next Rat Year is 2032 so I might miss it!)

[Stanley]

I used 'Traipsing' Yesterday and wondered what the origin was. Here's what I found.
1590s, of uncertain origin, perhaps from dialectal French trepasser "pass over or beyond," from Old French trespasser "cross, traverse, transgress" (see trespass). Or from a source related to Middle Dutch trappen, dialectal Norwegian trappa "to tread, stamp" (see trap (n.)). Liberman points out that it resembles German traben "tramp" "and other similar verbs meaning 'tramp; wander; flee' in several European languages. They seem to have been part of soldiers' and vagabonds' slang between 1400 and 1700. In all likelihood, they originated as onomatopoeias and spread to neighboring languages from Low German."
I favour the Norwegian or German origin as so many of our words in the North come from these connections.

[PanBiker]

Who decides when such a well known term wiill be changed - and why?

I reckon they call it the Lunar New Year because it lasts all month, or the time of one moon phase.

[Wendyf]

Who decides when such a well known term wiill be changed - and why?

I reckon they call it the Lunar New Year because it lasts all month, or the time of one moon phase.

It's also celebrated in other countries, not just China.

[Tripps]

I like 'traipsing' - I always associate it with a reluctance to traipse - and being dragged along by your mum.

It's also celebrated in other countries, not just China.

Even where there are no Chinese living there? I doubt it. They do get nearly everywhere though

I was just observing from my 'lived experience' that I had never heard it referred to as 'Lunar' at any other time. I stand by that.

Also it would not be uncommon for a Chinese dragon with noisy cymbals to perform outside No 10 Downing Street with TV cameras in attendance. That didn't happen this year. I think the terminology used is a conscious decision, and is probably related to our current political attitude to China.

[PanBiker]

Lunar New Year

[Stanley]

David, I have always equated our Northern traipsing with the Jewish Schlepping.

[MickBrett]

Fizzog slipped out of my mouth yesterday, a word I haven't used for ages. As in:
"I'd better go show me fizzog"

[Tripps]

I have always equated our Northern traipsing with the Jewish Schlepping.

Great minds think alike. That was going to go in but it got lost in the editing. Some YIddish words are just perfect.
Mensch, Meshuganah. Schlemiel, Schmuck, Schmutter . . . . .

I like fizzog too. from physiognomy I guess. I associate it with the upper class - Billy Bunter and Greyfriars school and all that.

[MickBrett]

....oh and shomf as in "are yer blind, Mick? It's right there on the middle shomf !"

[Stanley]

Never heard that one Mick.....

[Tizer]

Great minds think alike. That was going to go in but it got lost in the editing. Some YIddish words are just perfect.
Mensch, Meshuganah. Schlemiel, Schmuck, Schmutter . . . . .

I hope you listen to Michael Rosen's `Word of Mouth' episodes on Radio 4, Tripps!

[Tripps]

On Stanley's recommendation I bought The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten.

No regrets.
**************

PS
No I don't do much of Radio 4. Too much box ticking.

I see that he is featured in The Guardian today (spooky? - probably) Michael Rosen

The state of his desk is remarkably similar to mine. "Books fill shelves. Boxes pile on other boxes. Knickknacks freckle a desk".

I like, and approve of the idea of a 'freckled desk'.

desk.JPG

[Tripps]

Judge Judy just said "I don't want to listen to a whole lot of Who shot John?

I never heard of that. It's hard to understand - and I'm not sure that I do - interesting though.

PS - see the magazine in the in tray in the photo. I read it every month more in hope than expectation but this month have hit the jackpot. There's a 'meet the author' evening locally which ticks all my boxes. If I go, I'll tell you all about it.

[Stanley]

Glad you got 'The Joys of Yiddish' David and yes, Leo being in the Guardian is spooky. He doesn't get many mentions over here....
(Love the knurled knobs on the desk. Freckled with knurls......)

[Tripps]

I heard George Galloway use the word 'adumbrate' in the Oxford Union debate. They say a wide vocabulary is a sign of intelligence. I quickly worked out from the context and my head that it meant 'remove from the shadow'.

Spanish - 'Sombrero'

Une ombre de la rue from Edith Piaf

Actually it means

Adumbrate
To give only the main facts and not the details about something, especially something that will happen in the future:
The project's objectives were adumbrated in the report.


Aren't words interesting?

[Stanley]

They are David and you know I love them. I knew the word adumbrate but would have had to look up the precise meaning.