DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Tripps]

First time I have ever heard the term.....

That surprises me - from the man that taught me what 'labial fricatives ' are.

[Tizer]

I can guarantee it's not a painful condition. I'm now quite proud of being one of an increasingly rare tribe of Rhotics. I don't even have to self-identify as one. Perhaps I'll stake my claim in the next census!

[Tripps]

Perhaps I'll stake my claim in the next census

Go for it!

I'm still wondering why I didn't put my religion down as 'Gallithumpian' as I intended, in the last one. Doubt I'll be here for the next.

[Stanley]

"That surprises me - from the man that taught me what 'labial fricatives ' are."
That pleased me.....
Don't be surprised David, there are so many things I am still ignorant about.....
I have always said that my two regrets are not serving an apprenticeship with Jimmy Thompson the West Marton blacksmith and studying geology.....

[Tizer]

Unfortunately geology has been disappearing from A Levels and university courses, which is crazy when you think how dependent we are on mineral resources and tackling climate change. It isn't just traditional geology that's important now. The term `earth sciences' has come into use which includes geology but also atmosphere science, oceanography, planetary science etc.

[Stanley]

I note that in terms of recruitment, management speak for induction is now 'onboarding'.
I wish people would leave the language alone to evolve organically.
(Or perhaps that's what this is, it's just that I don't like it.)

[Tripps]

This is causing a bit of a stir in Yorkshire. New word to me. . . Could almost qualify as a mystery object.

York sign.jpg

[Stanley]

"obtundity (usually uncountable, plural obtundities) (rare, often medicine) The state or characteristic of having dulled senses or limited awareness."

See THIS for an explanation.
And no, even after looking it up I am no wiser. Another word I have never come across before.....

[Stanley]

I heard a politician who was talking about plans to stop the boats use the word 'dis-incentivise' (or is it a phrase....?)
Why not just say deter? Could it be that a longer word is thought to be more impressive?

[Tripps]

In a timely manner (spooky?) I just heard a chap on a 'radio phone in' use the word 'comtemptuousness' .

I think 'contempt' would have been perfectly adequate.

[Tizer]

Could it be that a longer word is thought to be more impressive?

In the present crazy world and time, definitely!

[Stanley]

In that case may I recommend antidisestablishmentarianism as an attitude that should be encouraged?

[Stanley]

A word caught my attention this morning. Why to we 'slake' our thirst? I went for a furtle....
"Old English slacian ‘become less eager’, also ‘slacken’, from the adjective slæc ‘slack’; compare with Dutch slaken ‘diminish, relax’."

[Tizer]

In the bad old days science teachers would put a bit of quicklime, calcium oxide, on the palm of a pupil like me then a drop of water. The reaction is exothermic and it hurts! The result is harmless `slaked lime', calcium hydroxide - the quicklime has been slaked. I've never forgotten the reaction!

[Tripps]

1. This bugs me lately. (Bigly)

"The Ipswich MP added: “The most exciting young spinner in world cricket has been left languishing at border control - they were obviously terrified.""

The use of the pronoun 'they' (plural) shows me that it was the border control that was terrified, not the (singular) and male cricketer.
This is highley unlikley - and is another example of this recent usage of pronouns. Why use the more general 'they' when the sex of the person is obvious?

Hush child. . . .

2. I read that a Japanese restaurant is about to open in Ipswich and will be called ''Bushido'. There are probably not many left now to whom this name will trigger memories of the book Knights of Bushido, and I'd suggest it is quite unsuitable for purpose.

[Stanley]

I furtled to make sure I had it right and yes, you are quite right. Totally inappropriate!
"The Japanese root word "bushi" means "warrior," and the word "do" means "path". Together, the term Bushido translates to "way of the warrior." Bushido, as an idea for an ethical code, developed between the 11th and 14th centuries, mainly during the Kamakura period (1192-1333)."
The ethical code it produced in the Japanese Army was the root of much of the cruelty and maltreatment that the Japanese were noted for in WW2. Hardly a name for a restaurant!
As for the pronoun game, I have never entered into it and don't understand it so apart from clumsy use of the language, the MP's use of grammar doesn't affect me.

[Tripps]

Uncle Bob used the word "historicity" today. I'd never heard of it but (of course) he uses it correctly.

"Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status".


We could do with a lot more of it, and a lot less 'Myth Legend and Fiction', I'd say - and an easy sure way to tell the difference.




i

[Stanley]

The only way I have ever found to check historical accuracy is to compare the same basic information from multiple sources. That can give yo a fair idea abut it's a slow process. That was the way I assessed evidence given to me by my informants in the LTP. I was always amazed by how well they came out of the comparisons. People are usually truthful and the rogues always slip up eventually and betray themselves.

[Tripps]

The word "piqued" has has a lot of use here in recent days. I recall using it on here a while ago, and looking it up to see if I was doing so correctly. I was . . . .

Here's my first use of piqued

March 2022 "eclectic doesn't come close" Still doesn't.

[Stanley]

I agree with you David. OG has always surprised me and I have learned (and forgotten!) so much.

[Tripps]

SCG used the phrase "fickle jade" today. I'm OK with fickle but jade was a puzzle.

The English word jade that means “to weary” is not related to the name of the green stone jade. The origin of the earlier jade is uncertain. It was first used in Middle English to mean “a broken-down horse.” Later the word for a worthless horse was often applied to a woman (or, very rarely, to a man) considered worthless. Now a jade is more often a disreputable woman than a broken-down horse. Jaded, meaning “worn out,” is also derived from the equine jade. Originally, to jade a horse was to make a jade of it, to wear it out or break it down by overwork or abuse. It was not long before people, too, could be called jaded.

I find that unbeknowns - I know more about the topic than I realised.

[Stanley]

There is more to jade than many might think. What a lovely complicated language!
I used 'kibosh' this morning and looked it up....
The origin of kibosh is unknown — though many people think it's Yiddish, the word's earliest use was probably in an Irish neighbourhood in London in the early 1800s.
Definitions of kibosh. the event of something ending. synonyms: halt, stop. types: cessation, surcease.
Leo Rosten, author of 'The Joys of Yiddish' who is my go-to authority runs through a whole list of opinions but in the end admits he has no definitive answer to the question whether it derives from Yiddish. So I think we would be wise to leave it hanging in the balance.

[Stanley]

I learned another new word today..... 'A luthier is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box."

[Tripps]

And a 'lutenist' is someone who plays a lute - which sounds like a 'flute' but has nothing at all to do with them'

Now I will worry whether my Appalachian Dulcimer is a Lute or not. I think it might be.
No progress at all has been made in playing it. Largely as expected, and Plan B may have to be be invoked.

Here's a lutenist playng Bach very nicely. Evangelina Mascardi

[Stanley]

I wonder how long it takes to tune that?
I tripped over this in my archive. A good illustration of the depths you can get into when chasing word meanings....


DICKY OR DICKER DERIVATION

There’s an old saying, ‘up dicky meadow’ meaning in trouble and a less used one ‘in dicky cormer’ meaning the same thing.

Found this quote:

‘Added to which if the fire is out of control and out of reach of conventional fire engines then you are up Dickie's meadow and all the quad bikes in the world ain't going to extinguish it. Most fires of all kind are well out of control before the emergency services are called anyhow, nobody plans to have a chip pan fire at teatime and rings the fire and ambulance service at three 'o' clock so they can be there early’
[http://www.southportforums.com/forums/s ... p?p=757045]

OE ‘dic’ = dyke or ditch. EPNSoc. Placename elements.

ME ‘dyker’ is a corruption of Latin Decuria=ten. Sometimes thought to relate to a rent of a dicker of iron. [Ekwall]

Dicker. [As a measure]
Dicker
Latin, dakrum; diker, dyker; dacre; L dacrum, daker;, dakir; dakyr (Yorks Mem 1) Latin Dacra, dykur; dykyr; dycer; dikkar (OED), dykker; 6-8 decker; 6-9 dicker; 7 dacker; 7, 9

dicar; 8 dakker (OED) [ME forms akin to MLG decker; all fr L decuria, all from Latin q division or parcel of ten, fr decem, ten].

A m-q for a variety of goods: hides, razors, etc., 10; horseshoes, 10 pairs; gloves, 10 pairs; and necklaces, 10 bundles, each bundle containing 10 necklaces. –c.1243 Select cases3.lxxxvi; v j lesta correi, ij. dakeres minus. c1253 Hall 11: Le daker de gaunz est x peyre. Le dakir de fers de chival est –de xx fers. c1272 Ibid 10: Last vero coriorum ex viginti dikeres; et quodlibet diker constat ex decem coriis .... Item diker cirothecarun ex decem paribus cirothecarum. 1276 Gras 1.227: ii dakers des quirs; 1290 Fleta 119: Item lastus coreorum consistit ex x. dacris, et quodlibet dakrum ex x. coreis Dacrum vero cirotecarum ex x. paribus. Dacrum vero ferrorum equorum ex xx. ferris. c1300 Brit Mus. 13:29. Daker cerothecarum ex decem paribus. c1300 Brit. Mus. 1 148. Et quodlibet dyker ex x coreis 1304 Gras 1 170: Pro iiii dacris coriorum. 1305. Ibid 304. Pro i lasto i dacro coriorum. 1321 Ibid 248. 1 lasta v dacre. 1323. ibid 209: De Quolibet lasto coreorum siccorum unde xx dacres faciunt lastum. et x corea faciunt I dacrum. 1324 Ibid 251: i lastam. et i dacram. et ix coria corioum. C 1350 ibid 179: De x et di. dakeris coreoum- 1381 trans in Cal. Close 13.440 29 dakers of oxhides and cowhides. c1400 Gras 1.214: De qualibet dycer corei tannati. 1439 Southampton 2.24: Pro 1 dykur de hud'. 1443 Brokage 11.57: 11 dyker' coriis bovinis; ibid 170: Cum v dykyr' et ix coriis bovinis. c1461 Hall 17: And x hydes make a dyker. c1475 Gras 1.192: Of a daker calf' skynnes tanned. 1507 Ibid 702: Rede hydes containing x hydes to the decker. 1509 Ibid 565: vii dyker rasours. 1545 Rates 1.35: Redde hides the dekar conteynynge ten skynnes.. Rasures the deaker. 1547 trans in Cal. Pat. 19.399: To export 300 "dykkers" of tanned leather and calf skins. 1548 Trans in Cal. Pat. 19.401: Licence to Edward Vaughan ... to export 200 Dyceres . of leather or tanned leather hides or backs. c1590 Hall 23: Every dicker consisteth 10 skynns. 1590 Rates 2.30: Rasors the dicker containing tenne. 1597 Halyburton cxiv: The daker of Selche skinis contenand ten. 1597 Skene 1. sv serplaith: Ten hides makis ane daiker, and twentie daiker makis ane last. 1615 Collect. Stat. 465: And everie dicker consisteth of ten skins. 1616 Hopton 164: There is also ... Hides, Dickers, and Lasts. 1661 Acts Scotland 7.252: Hides of all sorts ilk three dacker.... Halfe lang skins ilk ten daker. 1664 Spelman 351: Last corioum constat, ex 20. dakirs, & quodlibet dakir ex 10 coriis. 1678 Du Cange sv dacre: Vel Dacrum, consistit ex 10. coriis. 1708 Chamberlayne 205: Of Hides, 10 are a Dicker; 20 Dickers
a Last ... of Gloves, 10 Pair a Dicker. 1717 Dict. Rus. sv: Dicker of Leather, is ten Hides or Skins. . of Gloves, ten Pair; of Necklaces ten Bundles, each Bundle containing ten Necklaces. 1784 Ency. meth. 139: Le last de petites peaux, est de 10 deckers, ou 200 dites.... Le decker de gands, 10 paires, ou 20 dites. 1805 Macpherson 1.471: 10 hides = 1 dacre, 20 dacres ... 1 last.... 10 pairs of gloves...1 dacre.... 20 horse-shoes ... 1 dacre. 1868 Eng. Cyclo. 826: The dicar, or dicker, always 10. 1874 Hazlitt 424: Dicker.---A quantity of iron amounting to ten bars. 1883 Simmonds sv: Dicker, a commercial term for ten of some things. ..as ten skins make a dicker of hides. 1956 Economist 61: 1 dicker = 10 skins. 1 last = 20 dickers.

[from ‘A dictionary of weights and measures of the British Isles’ Ronald E Zupko.]

I think ‘dicke’ is modern German for thick.