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

I have no idea. Would it be a bib?

The Stephen Fry programme didn't mention the theory that "Bee's knees" comes from "Business" by the way. It fell into a category with many other fashionable phrases of the time, describing things which were really exceptional, such as cat's whiskers, Eel's elbows, etc.

They did however, present a theory about the d*g's b*ll*cks.

I'll have another listen to make sure I get it right and come back in a while.

According to at least one site on google, burp cloths AND bibs are available, so a burp cloth is exactly that - normal people usually put a clean cloth nappy over their shoulder to "burp" their babies - these are tailor made for the purpose. Small disposable oblongs of layered tissue with a final layer of plastic to protect your clothes from baby's spew.

To further quote Stephen Fry on Clichés (then I'll shut up about him): The "bee's knees" dates back to the 18th Century, we are told, simply to describe something as "very small". In the 1920's it was a fashion to make up elaborate expressions along similar lines to praise things. The "elephant's instep", the "flea's eyebrow" are some of the documented versions.

The OED quoted the D's B's as one of these expressions in the 1950s-1960s.

However, the use of this expression was a little ambiguous, as "B*ll*cks" itself was definitely a negatively loaded word. So it vanished gracefully into the background as an expression of praise.

Except around here change of subject coming

According to the Times, Collins dictionaries are weeding out some unused words. According to Payack, as discussed elsewhere, we've reached a million and counting. It took me an hour to get to level 60 on Freerice (dot com)last night so it looks as though I'd better do some weeding as well. Off the top of my head, the five most needed items in my idiolect are fishkettle,kibosh,dote,wattle and daub, and spindrier, but what can I drop off the bottom of the list?

Wand'rin star, I'm trying to do a Sherlock - your idiolect is relevant to one interest, occupation or... ?

You could pose it on QI?

My occupation for the past 40 years was teaching English as a foreign language(including English for Medicine, Agriculture,Engineering) My semi-retirement from end of July has so far involved heavy use of the above words

Ah.
Perhaps I'll drop 'detective' off my list.

I've never come across a fishkettle, although I can see what it would be, but I regularly use the word dote, probably mention wattle and daub about twice a year and am familiar with spindriers, although I never owned one. The last spindrier I encountered belonged to my mother and I haven't seen it in 30 years. And kibosh is a word I've heard but never said.

A fishkettle is an oval saucepan for cooking fish in various ways without cutting it up(as in the phrases "a pretty kettle of fish' or 'another kettle of fish').The internal walls upstairs in the Lincs cottage are wattle and daub and creating redecorating problems postponed while I get to know the dote, who is the reason for my current temporary residence in Dublin who still can't think of any words she can't do without

sorry -brackets needed round that last phrase

(who still can't think of any words she CAN do without)Think I'd better go to bed, before I confuse the rest of you as badly as I've confused myself

Why drop any at all? You deserve a place as the most erudite English speaking person with a huge vocabulary.

However, if you insist: As your most used words are so unusual and not even Gnomon would count them among his most used active vocabulary, we can't really begin to guess what you would NOT require. Maybe you can forget some Chinese vocabulary?

Yeah that's a good idea. You can safely drop "no ticky - no washy" so long as you have your own spindrier to dote on.

~jwf~

... until the remains of the wattle and daub get jammed in the dote's spindrier and put the kibosh on your laundry plans.

The expression 'get shut' raises many questions to this North American ear.

Is it really 'shut' I'm hearing or is it 'short' or 'shot'? And is it generally used throughout Great Britain or just Weatherfield?

We don't have the expression in this hemisphere; we get rid.
And yes I notice that Brits also get rid. But is there a difference, such as get rid of things but get shut of people?

And what does 'shut' imply?
Is it like 'closing the book' on an account?
Or slamming a door in someone's face?

And not to overload your heads with queries, have you ever considered what 'rid' means? While those with OEDs to quote are much encouraged to reply, all responses are welcomed.


~jwf~

It's get shot of, jwf.

It just means to get rid of someone or something. I think it's used throughout the UK, but it's certainly used widely in Scotland.

Anyone else ever noticed that the linguistic north/south divide in Britain is around Manchester?

What about 'rid', then?

i would think get rid derives form riddance (as in good riddance) but i could be wrong

mini