DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Tripps]

Yes - definitely the threepenny bit. (That never looks right when typed out )

Half a dollar, where did that go, the dollar, more or less parity with the pound now

Half a crown was commonly called half a dollar, and five shillings a dollar. I've even heard it in rhyming slang called an 'oxford' (scholar).

It's a long time since you got $4.00 to the pound. Today it is $1.25 or so.

In 1940, the British government devalued the Pound to around $4 for every £1. Two further devaluations occurred in the 1960s before the Pound became a freely floating currency in 1971.

[Stanley]

Have we mentioned 'Joey' for the threepenny bit? And yes, I've encountered the 'Oxford Scholar', I think in London......

[Tizer]

In the late 1800s the Double Florin (4 shilling piece) was known as "barmaids ruin" because it was often passed over the counter in smokey pubs as as a Crown (5 shilling piece). That's why it was in circulation for only a few years.

[Stanley]

Never seen one of them Peter....

[Tizer]

Here it is on Wikipedia with extra information... Wikipedia Double Florin

[Stanley]

Interesting. I remember the four crowned shields and sceptres design from the florins.
A word came to me yesterday, 'strickle', have we had it before? The meaning in the dictionary is 1. A rod used to level off a heaped measure. 2. a whetting tool.
I knew it as the latter. It's a hard wood rod with holes in the surface that can be charged with a mixture of grease and abrasive. It was used for putting the final edge on a scythe by the most expert mowers. It had a similar effect to stropping a razor on a leather belt treated with jeweller's rouge, a very fine abrasive.

[Tizer]

People who polish pebbles use cerium oxide as the final and finest abrasive.

[Stanley]

Yes, jewellers and watch makers have grinding and polishing down to a fine art.

[Tizer]

Some pebble collectors take the easy way out - they give the pebble a coat of colourless gloss varnish!

The advice for collecting good beach pebbles is to choose a time when the tide is on the way out because the wet pebbles then show of their appearance better than when dry. Preferably also when the sun is low in the sky and reflects off the pebbles - you walk towards the sun and get the best view of the pebbles.

[PanBiker]

Isn't there some kind of rule that you shouldn't remove pebbles from the beach?

[Tizer]

Yes, there are rules about everything these days. The rule to not take pebbles is intended to stop the people who used to take away wagonloads and destroy beaches. In fact the sea is moving pebbles about all the time and in Cornwall we see a beach with pebbles on one holiday and sand only on the next; then pebbles again a year or two later!

[Stanley]

I seem to remember there were beaches up on the West Coast in Scotland that were famous for being sources of semi-precious stones. When I was on the tramp I once gave a lift to a Canadian doctor who came here on holiday every year collecting such pebbles which he polished in his spare time back home. A very interesting man, I took him from Scotland down to London including a night at home in Barlick.....

[Tizer]

Both the west and the east coast of Scotland are known for agate pebbles. Also various rivers. I have a piece of vein agate from the well-known Burn Anne site south of Galston in Ayrshire. It's derived from the lava fields formed in the Old Red Sandstone era. Burn Anne agate was used to make Scottish `pebble' jewellery in the 1800s and the area was `mined' for agate by coal miners during the 1920s depression to make some money.

[Tripps]

In Uncle Bob's sermon today we find "When Adam delv’d and Eve span" -
whilst in th new Youtube thread we have brass bands in Delph.

Mild spookiness - both from the same root I think - remember " Eleven, twelve, dig and delve."

[Stanley]

Dead right David, a delph is an archaic name for a quarry. Usually used round here for the small quarries often found on the moor where stone was taken for the walls. They didn't carry stone any further than necessary and always downhill. You'll find one uphill of almost all the farmhouses on the moor.

[Big Kev]

I heard anatidaephobia used today, a fear of being watched by a duck. A new one on me

[PanBiker]

I heard anatidaephobia used today, a fear of being watched by a duck. A new one on me

Of course everyone knows that all ducks are actually KGB agents.

[Stanley]

I thought I was quite well read Kev but I have never encountered that!

[Stanley]

I came across this this morning.....
A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.

Example: Our father which art in heaven, Harold be thy name.....

[PostmanPete]

I heard anatidaephobia used today, a fear of being watched by a duck. A new one on me

I had a touch of anatidaephobia last night.....

I bought a Chinese takeaway and on the drive home I heard a rustling noise from the bag. I looked inside and saw two eyes staring back at me. Panicked, I thought it was a rat or a mouse. I pulled it out of the bag as quick as possible.

Turned out it was just a peeking duck....

[Big Kev]

[Cathy]

I looked up ‘skew-whiff’ today because for some reason it was on my mind.
It means something crooked or askew, dates from the 18th century.
Probably more interesting…
My search threw up ‘skew-weft’. Dates from the 18th Century as a term used by handloom weavers, typically in Northern England.
It was used originally to describe fabric which was out of alignment.

[Tizer]

A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.

I remember a discussion in the The Times about the origin of the term mondegreen. You'll find it in the ballad ‘The Bonny Earl of Murray’.

[Tripps]

Oh do keep up everyone. It was only six years ago that we last discussed it.

We've looked at this a couple of times before. Look here Mondegreen

The Jimmy McGregor version has gone, but here's another one.

[Stanley]

"Oh do keep up everyone. It was only six years ago that we last discussed it."
We haven't all got your brilliant memory David. I remember 'laid him on the green' now......