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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
What's a skivvy?
I've heard it used in the plural to mean underwear... any connection?
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 122
member
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member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 122 |
skivvy= lowly female servant that's what my dictionary says
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Why in American of English you apply so great deal abbreviations. It's obvious that conversation is pleasure but conversation with abbreviations is alike to conversation two robots and it is incomprehensible for the foreigns.Since nobody actually® bothered answering Krzysztof's request for comprehension... y'all asked for *it... Some would disagree with the notion that conversation is an "obvious pleasure" and I, for one, do whatever is necessary to make it not obvious (the pleasure part that is )... and your analogy with robots, however understandable, would be more appropriately describing what would happen if we all spoke the same language (IMHO). Does this make things incomprehesible for the foreigns... I suppose so, and I would apologize first and then take time to explain. However, I wouldn't give the *native English/American speaker that same courtesy... they're gonna have to LIU or ask for an explaination, but rarely do (ask, that is). Some say it's not worth asking about and I say it's not worth making comprehensible in the first place, which, of course, explains the disparity between our views about conversation being an "obvious pleasure" but says nothing about an intent for understanding. The words people use and what those words mean to them are just as (if not ocasionally more so) intrinsic to commmunication as the information imbedded within them... which shows up nicely in your original inquiry. Now, as to the *real answer... http://ad-free-message-board.com/abbreviations.html
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
skivvy= lowly female servant
that's what my dictionary says Thanks, Rav!!
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
>skivvy
I had never heard the female servant definition before. Up here, it's normally used to refer to a sweatshirt-type garment thingy.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Both, actually, sjm. My mother used to inform us kids that she wasn't our skivvy. We, um, disagreed!
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I collect cartoons about writing and about puns. Somewhere around i have a BC strip from years ago. Clam A says to Clam B, "B, what did the car wax say to the furniture wax?" B replies, "Now stop that, you know we can't do polish jokes here."
TEd
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Ha! I loved the "pillar of truth" series in BC, myself. "Whitey will prevail!". ZOT!
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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what did the car wax say to the furniture wax?" ... "Now stop that, you know we can't do polish jokes here."
Reminds me of the comic set in a newsroom... man says into phone "He's not here, he's out waxing poetic." The next frame shows a man polishing a car and the license tag reads "Poetic."
Skivvy :[ according to OED - "(noun and verb) a female domestic servant; a person whose job is regarded menial or poorly paid; (noun) underwear comprising vest and underpants; an undershirt or vest; a thin, high-necked pullover." In my youth the word skivvy implied that the person (male or fenmale) was uneducated - perhaps only able to write their name - if that - and more probably unable to read or write, often an immigrant who barely spoke English. The skivvy was often taken advantage of by mean employers. And I mean "mean" in the meanest way!!!! In some ways, times haven't changed much have they?
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 67
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 67 |
"don't like the weather? wait five minutes, it'll be different!"
I've heard that for Texas. Is it used for other places too?
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