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

My point was that words that are fairly OK in the US are almost taboo here. You would not use fanny, spunk or nipples in general conversation in the UK. (Bum, courage and teats (for baby bottles) would be ok though)

I'd say "Venice *really* *is* sinking". But it's not. THe sinking has more or less stopped, as you'd know if you read My and Number Six's Edited Entry on Venice A190045.

Whether it's sinking or not, it's stinking, at least on hot summer days

I'm sorry I don't know what came over me then! Can you yikes your own entry?

Gnomon, I'm afraid that your guide entry, edited, truthful, comprehensive and accurate as it may be, has very little impact on those that write the tag lines for ad posters in the tube. Nice plug though

You can of course, but I wouldn't. Talking about offensive words is not offensive in itself.

Maybe that's why Venice is sinking! Because someone pulled out the plug.

I will be led by your better knowledge on these things. But if anyone says anything I'll point at you, OK?

Surely if someone pulled the plug out, Venice would rise out of the water? Horrible thought, as to what would come to light.

My turn for a plug: A498675 (The unedited version is longer than the edited one because I kept on adding after it had been on the front page)

This is my entry on wrong German usage of English words and related translation and communication traps. As for the invention of English-sounding words, I don't have many in that category, but I could try and look out for some. Or, even better, I could invent some of my own and put them into circulation - they'd sound convincing if they originated from me!

Are there any histories of people deliberately setting out to change a word or part of the language and succeeding?

Well, isn't 'quiz' supposed to be such a word? Invented as part of a bet? Or is that urban legend?

>> Are there any histories of people deliberately setting out to change a word or part of the language and succeeding? <<

Recent examples include holocaust and gay.


~jwf~

The words 'awesome' and 'wicked' are words here in the NZ and I've often wondered how widespread this is

My main contact with 'yoof' culture is via TV, but I don't recollect hearing it on any UK or US programmes

"Awesome" and "wicked" were very common in Southern CA when I lived there in the 80's although "wicked" might have peaked after I left. I still use "awesome" out of habit but I'm not sure if other adults in the midwest US do so much. Some of my language habits have not changed much since highschool. I'm afraid I have used the phrase "gag me with a spoon" in the recent past. I think "awesome" and "wicked" originated among surfers and probably spread to other surf cultures in the english speaking world.

I would have thought "wicked" was fairly universal. Unlike "Bad" which had to be explained to everyone when Michael Jackson made a song about it. At least, I heard it explained a lot of times.

On leafing through a German mail order catalogue yesterday I came across an "English" word for a halter neck (those unflattering things that we wore in the early 70s, I hated them because I have broad shoulders which were emphasised by the. Don't ask why I wore them. It was the fashion. We all wore miniskirts too, regardles, didn't we?) Oh yes, so, the "German" word for these things is, apparently, "neckholder" (The Germans have to write everything into one word - see Mark Twain on this).

Sounds like a noose. Or one of those little bits of wood or bone or whatever that fakirs use for a pillow. Or, for Terry Pratchett fans - a large jar an Igor might find useful.

Comedians often bring new words and phrases into being. "The Full Monty" was invented as a phrase by Ben Elton to mean "the full works" and "You big girls blouse," was first used on a 1960's British sitcom by Hilda Baker as a phrase to describe someone who was a bit daft. Who invented Ginormous (really big)? It sounds a bit Roald Dahl-ish to me but I could be wrong.

http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm9.showMessage?topicID=254.topic:
"The first citation is in Partridge's 1948 "Forces' Slang," which indicates a WWII origin. A portmanteau of Gi[gantic] + [E]normous."


http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/145450.html
"The Full Monty
No definitive explanation of where the phrase originates has emerged
Although the phrase has been in circulation prior to the film there don't appear to be any instances of it appearing in print before 1986. "

I remember it being in use around 1980 meaning "every conceivable accessory / item included".

TC,I actually wondered what one would use to hold his neck with, as neckholder implies to me I had to look up the halter neck, and until now I've never come across the German neckholder, but now that I know what it is,it at least makes sense

Sorry, but I am going to have to question Ben Elton inventing 'The Full Monty' to mean everything. I'm sure I had heard of the phrase before that.

You're probably right. I heard him claim it on a TV programme though.

The best candidate I've heard for the phrase's origins is that it's based on Montague Burton, the tailor, who's business got going just before WWI. During the inter-war period they offered a deal whereby you could get a three piece suit with a spare pare of trousers, and this became know as the full Monty.