OneGuyFromBarlick

I have it too. I’ve even got the Nightie to prove it.
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I have surmounted my dislike of getting out of a warm bed once more!

I heard a word that is new to me on 'Today in Parliament' this morning. A female MP announced that she was 'mis-gendered' three times in one day and also by staff in the Houses of Parliament.
I am trying to keep up!

I used a word this morning.... 'Twigged' as in realising. Is this common or a local usage.... So I had a furtle. OED says unknown but.....
( Wiktionary says this verb twig is from Irish and Scottish Gaelic tuig ‎(“to understand”).
Take your pick!

I found myself wondering if 'spifflicate' was a genuine word or a figment of my imagination so I looked it up....
I found it exists and means to treat severely or destroy. Thought to be a made up word aiming to resemble Latin Origin.
I think I have only ever seen it used in comics......

After my reference to 'knobsticks' and the explanation I found in Jack Nadin's book I looked the word up in Wiktionary and the usual places. None of them have the explanation I gave, they all witter on about.... 'Strikebreakers have also been known as knobsticks. The term appears derived from the word knob, in the sense of something that sticks out, and from the card-playing term nob, as someone who cheats.
I think I'll stick to my version.....

Yesterday I saw this in a BBC News article about the Chinese moon dust samples brought back to Earth...
`...He shows us the small cylinder where the specs of dust can be heated to 1400C. That will help them extract carbon, nitrogen and nobel gases...'.
I'm sure you'll spot the error. I notice this morning it has been corrected. The article was written by a `BBC Climate and science reporter' and two people on the `BBC climate and science team'.

I had no idea that gasses could get awards.

Well spotted, Ian, I knew it wouldn't take long on OG!

I like it!

Stanley wrote: ↑10 May 2025, 03:18 and from the card-playing term nob, as someone who cheats.

This is from my head - no google involved.

As well as meaning a member of the aristocracy, the word was widely used in the game of cribbage (crib), where it was "one for his nob" and "two for his heels".

It's decades since I played but I think it had to do with when a Jack was turned over for the 'turn card'.
I think it is just an archaic term for 'head', and that knob is as you describe, and not the same word. Over the years nob became confused with knob, and sounded a little bit rude - so it became "one for his hat".

The Sunday lunch time crib sessions at the Boat and Horses were legendary.

My weird velcro memory tells me that a version of Jack and Jill once said "and went to bed to mend his nob with vinegar and brown paper". I can find no reference to that though, but it is hundreds of years old so perhaps has been lost.

Knob now seems lately to be reserved as a term of abuse for the US President.

That usage of 'nob' as 'one who cheats' bothered me as well David, I have never come across it used like that.
As for use of nob in Jack and Jill. Is this what you were thinking about....
"To old Dame Dob, who patched his nob. With vinegar and brown paper. Source: The Dorling Kindersley Book of Nursery Rhymes (2000). ".

Stanley wrote: ↑11 May 2025, 01:57 "To old Dame Dob, who patched his nob. With vinegar and brown paper.

Yes- well done ! That will be the one. The velcro is coming a bit unstuck.

In horse racing circles it was once common to describe a well behaved horse as a "christian". I always enjoyed the term, and imagined it to be a very old way of speaking. I hadn't heard the word used in the last few years, and put it down to the fact that the majority of stable lads are now of Middle Eastern or Indian origin, and unlikely to be familiar with it. I've now heard used it twice in the last few days.

What does that mean - I've no idea.

How about this for an explanation of the use of the word but not why you have heard it twice....
AI Overview. In biblical studies, the term "Christian" can be understood as a form of encomium, a speech of praise or tribute. The term "Christian," meaning "follower of Christ," is a designation of honour and affirmation, signifying a follower of the Messiah's teachings and life.
Used to praise a horse it is also serving as an encomium.
As for the other, it's a spooky old world David!

You may have noticed I was lucky enough to find some haggis yesterday. It was tinned rather than being in the traditional bladder and I noticed that on the list of ingredients the meat content was described as 'Lobes'. This is polite-speak for 'lungs' of course and one wonders whether a lot of people would be put off the delicacy if they realised that 75% of the ingredients was sheep's lungs....
A similar situation exists with black puddings of course, it's generally accepted that if they were described as 'Blood Puddings' again, many would be put off.

I came across a word I did not know the meaning of. So I looked it up.
Transhumance is a type of pastoralism where livestock are moved seasonally between different grazing grounds. It involves herders and their animals moving between fixed summer and winter pastures, often between higher altitude summer pastures and lower valley areas in winter, according to Wikipedia
So there.....

I wonder if Parliamentarians consider wht the phrase "stitched up like a kipper" will look like in say, a hundred years time, in Hansard.

I can make no sense of it now - I've never either stitched up, or seen, a stitched up kipper- so what chance then?

More lack of strategic thinking from our politicians.

Etymology: Probably from done up like a kipper and stitch up, or directly from kipper and stitch up. which makes no sense either.

"I wonder if Parliamentarians consider what the phrase "stitched up like a kipper" will look like"

I doubt if politicians think that far ahead David. I see some very strange turns of phrase being used these days which will definitely not age well.....

Stanley wrote: ↑18 May 2025, 09:30 I came across a word I did not know the meaning of. So I looked it up.
Transhumance is a type of pastoralism where livestock are moved seasonally between different grazing grounds. It involves herders and their animals moving between fixed summer and winter pastures, often between higher altitude summer pastures and lower valley areas in winter, according to Wikipedia
So there.....

Transhumance was normal in the Somerset Levels until recent times, although the high and low altitude areas might by only 50 to 100 feet in difference. It was more to do with the flooding during winter than the temperatures and the distance travelled might be a mile or two.

Thanks for that Peter. Strange I have never come across what seems to have been a common word for the activity.....

I just used an archaic word this morning when I said I twined the mangle for my mother. Was the use of 'twine' for to turn common or was I an outlier?

I first came across it in a letter written to my dad from his sister in Bradford, during the war. She is telling him about everyday life at home and that she has been helping Mum by twining the washing. It took me a while to work out what she meant.