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

> mistakes result from an enthusiasm to communicate ideas quickly <


Haist makes haist and never the waist shal part, I guess, so make haste while the sun shines, Nelly.

~j~

It's an insult where I come from. Almost as bad as Jessie. But not as awful as Kevin.

For ages now I have described the hotness of curries/chillies/thai food/anything spicy in terms of their pokiness (this is almost certainly not a real word), as in 'Phew! That red curry is a bit pokey' or 'This chilli could do with a bit more poke' .

Why do I say this? I have no idea where it came from or how it crept into my vocabulary. I am fairly sure I used to use the words 'spicy' or 'hot' for this and can't remember where, when or why I picked it up. Does anyone else say this?

I vaguely remember an advert where somebody said 'That's got a bit of poke Neville' refering to a speedy milk float - can it be related to that?

Poke does seem to be related to the performance of vehicles (or machines in general).
I suspect there may be an earlier, and somewhat earthier source for the expression, but obviously, I'm far too refined to point it out.

> ...'spicy' or 'hot' for this and can't remember where, when or why I picked it up. <

Have you ever picked up a 'hot poker'?

~j~

I don't think I have heard that use! I wondered if it was related to the car thing in terms of being strong, or powerful - having a lot of oomph?

In Scots a poke is a bag. I would often go to the shops as a kid for a poke of sweeties, or a poke of chips. No idea how that relates to spiciness mind

I can't find anything much on this, although it is a phrase I have used myself.
Pokey beer and so-on. Also, it can be used to describe something small 'A pokey little room' frinstance.
Plenty of references to 'pokey' as in half of the song title 'hokey pokey', which is the American version of the English 'hokey cokey'. It was taken home by a GI after WWII apparently. The GI died a couple of years ago. They had him cremated. Initially they were going to bury him, but they had trouble fitting him in a coffin. Apparently when they put his left leg in... I really don't need to continue, do I?

Oh - and back to the point - would the Scottish (and elsewhere) 'poke' (for bag) be related to 'pouch'?

Weir ah cum frum cawling a bloke "Neville" 'ud end up ina gud cloggin!

Poke may well be related to pouch, as in pocket, but I'd always thought that pokey as in a small space came from the fact that pokes/pockets were small themselves.

Was happily supplying a passing American anthropologist with Scots words in the pub on Saturday. We managed not to make any up, but I doubt she truly believed us.

So do Scots use the word 'Jag' where the English would use the word 'Jab' as in an injection from a hypodeemic Nerdle? I'm sure I recall one of my northern friends refering to it as 'going for a jag'.

I suppose she could have been off to buy an expensive rust bucket but unlikely....

I still don't think anyone's explained poke in the motoring sense .... and I must hold you all back until it's been uncovered ....

And please don't say "hyperdeemic nerdle" again .... that's one of the clips from Dennis Norden's programs that always gets me laughing uncontrolabley ....

Possibly something to do with fuel injection? Don't know! This usage is also a mystery to me...

I'm sure I've said it before (where's that index? ) but jag is indeed the Scots for jab. Follows through to anything barbed being "jaggy".
Poke in the motoring sense?
A non driving Munchkin.

Motor-wise, the mental imagery I get is something like the car being pushed along by some automotive deity, rather akin to boys moving toy cars around.

Why 'poke', as opposed to 'push', I'm not sure. The word does sound better, but it's always hard to tell how much that may be due to familiarity of usage.
I do have a feeling that sometimes words with harder consonants sound better when describing actions - possibly due to the north-European origins of English. Most of the best expletives also seem to follow that pattern.

Excluding'power' which is a bit dry and technical, the other word I'd most likely think of to complete the phrase "This car has a lot of..." would be 'grunt'.

Just catching up on the backlog and I've come to jwf's rant about "speeling". Unfortunately, John, I think the British educational system _is_ to blame. In recent years, there has been a move away from pedantic accuracy (that's what they call it) towards awarding marks for the attempt, the spirit, the composition. The theory being that many schoolchildren are put off things like creative writing because they lose (not loose!) marks for misspelling. Seriously misguided in my opinion.

Among other things, it means the perennially troublesome word endings like -ence/-ance and -ent/-ant never get corrected at the early age when intervention might do some good. My personal betes noirs are effect/affect and ensure/insure. Actually, don't get me started on those again....

Munchkin's bag recalls the phrase "pig in a poke".

As for the automotive connection, since poking is related to thrusting something, perhaps this is how it came about.

Well, I guess a car or vehicle with plenty of poke does indeed thrust you forward suddenly. I guess there could be the old sexual connotation here, but poke is a sharp thrust, and hard acceleration in, or on, a vehicle does indeed provide a sharp thrust to one.

Similarly I suppose 'grunt' would come from the grunt of exertion one makes when performing a particularly strenuous physical task requiring a lot of energy. Hence a lot grunt = a lot of energy or power.

Just an aside;
I am conducting a poll of researchers sun signs at A712595.

Alji hopefully waiting for a contribution.