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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
where else are you going to find the words/phrases crinkum-crankums, illicit conubiality, and nooky - all in the same sentence?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
I see the strait-laced OED doesn't profess to exactly understand the full 'in and out' sense of the colloquial that nuncle finds in Partridge! But it does have a description perhaps worth quoting for its sheer economical poetry:
A winding in and out, a zigzag, sinuosity.
and then there's cringle:
1. Naut. A ring or eye of rope, containing a thimble, worked into the bolt-rope of a sail, for the attachment of a rope.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
But the etymology of Kriss Kringle is quite straight-forward: Kriss Kringle [ˌkr©¥s 'kr©¥©¯gəl] noun (Chiefly U.S) another name for: Santa Claus [ETYMOLOGY: changed from German Christkindl little Christ child, from Christ+ Kindl, from Kind
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
> Kriss Kringle is quite straight-forward
yeah, he's good, not nautical :)
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