h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Moggie" (and more commonly "Maggie") are contractions of the name Margaret.
In the 18th century England, cows were referred to as Maggies (and later in the 1980s, Maggies were referred to as cows ). Since then this changed such that Moggies are now cats and a Mag is a gossip (hence magpie).

Hi jwf

Corry sounds to be hard work for you. Are you doing a thesis on 'Coronation Street English - the only hope to halt the march of Estuary English'? Or is it, 'The deeper significance of Audrey Whatchumacallit's vocab and grammar'?

Do you ever watch Eastenders? You could do a comparitive study.

Spiff

Moggies is Cats then!
Thanks to all.

Spiff, I have long been a fan of the Merry Olde English and grew up listening to BBC radio shows rebroadcast on our CBC. Then later, a few of the BBC TV shows came over. Then fewer and fewer, but Corry was and is always there.

Unlike some of the new British 'cop' shows (which try so hard to be like tuff, mean, hard-edged American cop shows), and even "Eastenders" (which is so London, so urbane, so mod and so 'Americanised'), old Corry had until quite recently retained some of the merry old England I remember from old B&W movies. With real salt o'the earth characters, colourful language and a sense of community (ie: charming and forgivable ethnocentricity) and all the humanistic values based on Magna Carta and the morality of the CoE, as well as a healthy fondness and appreciation for drink.
I don't actually keep a note pad, but as an actor and TV producer, I do watch closely and affectionately. So I have a 20/20 memory for details that elude me.
Especially now that I have somewhere to ask about them!
Thanks again all, for all the 'moggies'.

~jwf~

So all cats are margarets?
Must tell that ginger tom with one battered ear.
Did you know Tunisian cats and english cats purr diferently? ( Based oon a small and probably not statistically valid sample)

Really? Well come on, example please! I'm sure I'm not the only one who is now on the edge of their seat waiting to hear how a Tunisian cat purrs!

It's lower, more guttural and has just the faintest hint of Colonial French.

Doesn't the opening sequence of Corrie (Granada television, not the BBC) feature a cat walking along the walls surrounding the back yards of the terraced housing.
Why are they called yards? is it due to their size (about a yard square )

Ah, kind of mildly-sophisticated-villain type purr?

Hmm, this is getting back to the 'Animal sounds in non-english speaking countries'.

So any idea what word Tunisian uses to describe a cats sound? As in miaow in english ( singularly inaccurate I've always thought).

Perhaps they're called yards because they're reall-y 'ard when you stumble into them at night when you get back from the pub and fall and 'it yer 'ead on 'em.

Bad one, I know, but it's late.

And I wouldn't think it odd if someone referred to a feline as a "moggy" as a term of endearment.

Surely there's no word so inappropriate or ugly that it can't be used as a term of endearment?

Well, ok, maybe there *are* limits!

Spiff

*suddenly doesn't wanna go there*

This post has been removed.

Well that post will be gone soon!
Did anybody else see it ?

Over 300 lines of spam. A 4 letter word.



~jwf~

The researcher's name (the same 4 letter word preceded by a religious icon) has just reverted to U188253.
I suspect by the time I post this, the entry will be gone as well.
A new moderator record perhaps! Under 10 minutes.
But I saw it! And I was deeply offended. I am calling my solicitors in the morn...


~jwf~

Rats,
Missed it.
That U# seems not to be an active researcher, JWF.
Or perhaps no longer an active reseacher.
H'mmm is a four letter word.

is this the first BritEng post to be yikesed? (Apart from the whole original thread, that is) I've always been offended by indiscriminate use of 4 letter thingies as what do you then use in the throes of passion? Don't answer that question - it was rhetorical

Are words needed in the throes of passion

Shame I missed all the happening as things hotted up in what could be described as one of the more sedate and polite conversations on this here site.

Yard, the enclosure at the back of a terrace house, comes from Anglo-Saxon geard which meant an enclosure.

Yard, the unit of measure, comes from the Anglo-Saxon gierd which meant a twig, so presumably they used sticks for measuring.

The word Yard as an enclosed paved area behind the house seems to have been extended in America to mean any sort of area around the house. So a yard in America can have grass in it! In the UK and Ireland, the yard is usually paved. If there is grass, then it is called a garden.

Or green if you are Scotland wards. (Yay, I've managed to say something useful for the first time in ages!) In fact the Scots green probably follows the American yard very closely, as any size of open grass counts, i.e. Glasgow Green, a park by the river where the locals used to hang their washing.
So was the Anglo-Saxon enclosure enclosed with said twigs then?

A green is another word for "common" I thought. i.e. a patch of grass in the middle of the village - usually by the church - where you used to have maypole dancing and where the annual fairground was situated. At least, in our village, we used to call it the village green - must be the sort of thing Hardy's characters were familiar with, let alone the Archers.

jwf - where does Canada stand in the Great Yard Debate?

A yard is first and foremost a unit of measure being 36 inches as established by the distance from Henry VIII's nose to the tips of his outstretched arm. But we went metric when the frog prince, Pierre Elliot Trudeau came to power lo these 30 years ago, so now it's just shy of a meter.

Because Canada has 'room to grow', most single unit dwellings have a 'front lawn' and a 'back yard'.
In older sections of older cities like Toronto, street frontage of older house lots can be a little as 13 feet. If any space exists between the concrete sidewalk and the house it will be grassed, and no matter how small, called the 'front lawn'.
Any space left on the lot behind the house is called the 'back yard' and it can be lawn, pool, decking, paved parking, garage(s), work/tool sheds, gardens, solariums, playground or any combination of these.
Back yards are usually semi-private areas with fencing and considered an outdoor room of the house. The word yard is probably best described as a synonym for 'garden' excepting the other non-gardening functions listed. People have gardens in their back yards.
Only the much larger lots in richer areas would ever refer to having a 'front yard' as well as the 'back yard', and only if it had sufficient space to accomodate some landscaping/gardening other than the standard small patch of grass, in which case it will probably be hedged or fenced for semi-privacy but never really be considered an outdoor room like the back yards, more a public decorative space.
And of course yard also refers to the cross arms on the masts of a sailing ship.
Oh, I've just noticed the sun is past the yard arm and it's time to splice the main brace.
peace
jwf