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#2418 12/20/00 11:34 AM
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enthusiast
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Your friend didn't create "chiz" unless they're a very old friend. It came to prominence in the Molesworth books of Willans and Searle in the 1950s. Molesworth uses it as a sentence-final particle indicating "drat, curses", as in (I'm making this up, not quoting):
The master hav confiscated my conker chiz.

In extreme circumstances it may be doubled or tripled, as in (again made up, but gives the flavour):
All the new bugs dance around me saing go on molesworth you will enjoy it if you try and eventually i find myself joining in chiz chiz chiz.

On its first occurrence it is footnoted as
A chiz is a swiz or swindle as any fule kno.


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old hand
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old hand
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Or if you're not quite starvational yet, you're snackish.

Along the same vein, if not yet exhaustipated, you're nappish.


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addict
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"My wife and I are heading off to the Carribean."

"Jamaica?"

"No, she wants to go."


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addict
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Coined by a friend ...

hijinkery

used in much the same way as hijinx, but sounds so much classier.


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stranger
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So would that be used as in "I don't tolerate such hijinkery?"



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stranger
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Recently, I came up with "stoptional," a word for the driver who believes a stop sign indicates a possible need to stop, with the option of proceeding if there are no pedestrians or other cars present.

You can get a ticket for driving stoptionally.


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wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Molly-Dodd. I once got such a ticket. Do you have an encore for us? wwh


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Pooh-Bah
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Hello, Molly-Dodd. I like "stoptional." Except, all too often, I see it taken as "a stop is not necessary if to do so means you would have to wait for oncoming traffic, but going NOW will let you peel out in front of the oncoming cars, avoiding collision only because they brake."

We need a similar term for the hypothetical color of a traffic light which has already turned red, but not long enough that the opposing traffic is already in the intersection, which means that The Most Important Person On The Road should proceed through the red, since saving a minute or two is worth the risk to the property, health and lives of others. Is there an ugly enough color word for this?


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Carpal Tunnel
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an ugly enough color word

How about puce, with a Latinate hard c?


#2427 03/27/01 07:37 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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In a traffic class for repeat violators -- the instructor repeated made the point that a stop sign meant a full stop, and not just sever slowdown..
they followed up by asking someone in the class to describe the difference between a "rolling stop" (stoptional) and full stop.

the student/violator replied-- "$50 and 3 points."

NYC does not permit "Right Turns On Red"--(after coming to a complete stop)-- but in my experience many drivers have forgot that unspoken phrase.. and think if they are turning rght.


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